In Another Life
by megamatt09
Summary: Many people never have a chance for a fresh start, but Harry Potter is going to make the most out of his. He meets someone who is trying to find her place in her brand new world and it snowballs from there. Reboot of the Emerald Flight Series.
1. Chapter 1

It was a beautiful day, summer wasn't quite over, but the first hints of autumn could be felt with a crisp cool breeze. Yet, the beauty still remained with the leaves on the trees having not fallen down at this very moment.

A fancy sports car pulled up at the university parking lot but as nice as the car looked, the person driving it was the real attraction. Therefore, if anyone had bothered to commit the details of the sport's car to mind, they went out of their mind seconds after they saw this vision of beauty. With its sleek interior, powerful engine, and excellent make, they didn't make them like that anymore, that was one thing that they could take to the bank and deposit.

The blonde that exited the car was extremely beautiful, a specimen to say the least. Her short blonde hair hung to her shoulders, framing her gorgeous face. A pair of glasses rested on the bridge of her nose, with a gorgeous smile upon her face that turned more than a few heads in her day. The blouse she wore covered a sizeable chest, and once could see that she had a flat toned stomach, with shapely hips, along with the perfect hour glass figure. Long shapely legs added to her body's features.

Her name was Karen Starr, she was on her way to Met-U, Metropolis University, to study Business Administration, at least that's what her Doctorate was going to be in. She was in position to run one of the key scientific research and development countries in Metropolis and perhaps in the world, so she needed the qualifications to be taken seriously. Otherwise, the Board of Directors would be on her like the vultures they were.

That being said, she was under analysis, her birth name being different. The reason for this was that she was not born on this planet. The nineteen year old female sighed as she approached the front doors of Metropolis University. It was the first day for her here.

Karen was born Kara Zor-L, and she lived on the planet Krypton for many years. The planet's core became unstable over time and it blew up, leaving her its sole survivor. She made her way to Earth over twenty years ago but she got stuck in stasis in her ship, freezing the dam. She landed outside of the Reeves Dam, where she was stuck, trapped for several years.

Until a team lead by Doctor Virgil Swann of STARR Labs managed to find her ship. She was confused and disoriented, plus the exposure to the mysterious green rocks in the lab had poisoned her and led her to bouts of delirium.

Since they were meteors from Krypton, one could call them Kryptonite, she supposed. It was a nice snappy name that rolled off the tongue.

'_To think, if I would have been down there much longer, I would have been in serious trouble,' _Karen said, making her way up the stairs of the Administration office.

There were times where she had to remind herself not to use her powers. This entire secret identity thing could bite big time.

She did befriend Swann's daughter, Patricia, and the friendship lingered past Swann's untimely death this past Spring. Karen smiled, it was good thing that she had someone who could teach her how to mostly fit in here on Earth. Although there were some humans who acted fairly strange, but that being said, she didn't want a huge blipping beacon on her head that said alien.

That being said, she had to stop that little trip down memory lane to meet with the Administration's officer of the college and she knocked at the door.

"Miss Starr, come in," the administration's director said, he shook hands with her. "I must say, your credentials are most impressive, you should have no trouble with your classes at Metropolis University."

Karen could not help but grin at that statement. The blonde allowed her arms to drop loosely by her side. She had to take high school level classes for about a year, but she shattered all records and did so in style.

She was well qualified on Krypton but Kryptonian qualifications did not hold up on Earth. Especially considering that there were a few sciences that weren't even discovered on Earth yet. That would be a hard one to explain if she started spouting off about something so advanced.

"That being said, it's protocol for us to assign you a student mentor, someone to show you the ropes."

Karen raised an eyebrow and smiled, looking at the administration advisor. "Oh?"

"I think that you'll find him qualified," the Administration's advisor said. "He's broken all records last year, and is qualified with what he's done."

Once again, Karen was impressed. She was going to meet the person who set the bar for the records that she's trying to break in her own right.

There was a knock on the door and the advisor smiled. "And here he comes right now….enter Mr. Potter."

The door opened and a young man entered the office. Karen turned around and immediately, she was blown away by his presence.

His long dark hair was unruly slightly, but it added to his charm. He had a pair of gorgeous green eyes behind a pair of glasses that caused her heart to skip a beat. The green eyes were something that a girl could get lost in, not that the rest of him was really bad either. In fact, it was green, amazing, drool inducing, you really add any number of adjectives to it, it is really true.

"You must be my student mentor," Karen said, figuring that she should act professional. The blonde acted like she wasn't dazzled by his mere presence.

"Hello, Miss Starr, I'm Harry Potter," Harry said, reaching forward and shaking her hand. "I have to congratulate you on the high score that you had on your entrance exam, most impressive."

"Thank you," Karen said, but she smiled. "But I'm sure nothing on you."

"Well, I don't mean to brag, but I did set the bar pretty high with that one," Harry said, shaking Karen's hand in a professional and restrained manner.

Karen smiled at the thought of that. "Guess it gives me something to strive for."

"It does," Harry agreed, and there was a sense that he checked her out just as much as he checked her out. Karen couldn't be for sure, for he was now looking her in the eyes. That allowed her to get a good look into his eyes and she shivered. "So, are you ready to take a tour of the university, Miss Starr?"

"Please, it's Karen, Mr. Potter," Karen said and she took Harry's arm, quite brazenly.

"Then I insist that it's Harry," Harry told her and the blonde grinned, allowing Harry to lead the way.

This would prove to be an interesting arrangement.

* * *

><p>Karen was taken to a brief tour of the university but they were running into lunch time. So Harry invited her to a café across the street for some lunch.<p>

"Well I am hungry," Karen admitted with a smile on her face. It would be kind of foolish, not to mention rude to turn down a free meal. "Do you….."

"It's on me, you should feel welcome here," Harry said and Karen smiled, with Harry leading her down into the café. They were greeting Harry as they went inside.

"I take it you're a regular?" Karen asked him, amused by how a few of the waitresses that he went by were checking him out.

"Well, I'm very popular," Harry told her with a smile, waving his hands. "Never mind, a private booth, please…"

"Of course, Dr. Potter," a pretty brunette waitress said, flushing, and Karen looked at him, mouthing the words "Dr. Potter."

"I'll explain later," Harry told her and Karen's mouth hung open. She briskly nodded, accepting that for now.

They waited for their sandwiches, fries, and sodas to arrive, with the blonde leaning back against the seat.

She realized the effects that stretching would have with pulling her shirt tight against her breasts. She saw Harry smile but he said nothing else. They were served by the waitress and Karen leaned back, stretching a little bit.

"Sorry, long morning," Karen said but Harry just waved it off.

"Of course," Harry told her with a smile and Karen opened her mouth but Harry grinned at her. "Well, your first full day is Monday, do you have any questions beyond what we discussed?"

"No, I'm sure that I got it all," Karen said with a smile. "I think that I've got it all."

"Well if you have any questions, you know where my room is, don't you?' Harry asked and Karen nodded.

"I'll be sure to knock, because I sure wouldn't want to see you indecent," Karen said with a saucy smile and a wink towards him.

"Well, is that because of that, or are you afraid that you might like what you see?" Harry asked her, flirting back at her.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Karen said, sipping her soda that just arrived. "So…..I'm sure that you read my file, so you know a fair bit about me."

"Well I want to hear it from your mouth first," Harry said, leaning back with a smile.

"Well as you know, I was an orphan that was taken in by Doctor Virgil Swann after my parents died when I was sixteen years old," she told Harry and he was listening so she pressed on. "I dedicated my life to learning all that I can and managed to get my Master's Degree at an early age but I decided to relocate permanently to Metropolis to try and get my Doctorate."

"There are numerous opportunities, although you better work fast, because it seems like the vast majority of the city is owned by Luthor," Harry said, and Karen could tell right off the bat that this was not a positive recommendation.

"Yes, Luthor," Karen said, she had a run in or two or ten with the man in the past and she found him to be…..well she found his personality to be quite a horrible one.

"Judging by the tone of your voice, that's a bad personal recommendation, isn't it?" Harry asked her and Karen smiled.

"Well, let's keep my opinion out of this for now," Karen said and then her expression brightened up. "But, never mind, tell me about yourself, I'm dying to know about you."

"Well, my parents died at a very early age," Harry told her and Karen looked sympathetic to him.

"Sorry to here that….how old were you…."

"A little over a year old," Harry said but he waved his hand. "I've been through my teenage angst years, and made peace with it. It's a shame, as I wonder what might have been if they weren't murdered…"

"Wait, murdered?" Karen asked and Harry looked at her. The blonde could have slapped herself for the lack of restraint and more importantly the distinct lack of tact. That being said, you don't throw out a word like that without wanting an explanation of some sort. It just wasn't really done, at all.

"Yes, there was a terrorist and his group of followers," Harry said, carefully choosing his group. "My parents worked for a super-secret branch of the British government, and they caught wind of what he was doing. He didn't like that and…..well he came to visit one night. The attack killed my parents, him, and left me with this."

Harry tapped to the lightning bolt scar on his forehead.

"Well it certainly adds character," Karen said and Harry smiled.

"And it's quite the conversation started," Harry told her, and she nodded. "I really do want to put what happened back home behind me, because that chapter of my life is long since over."

"Well, I guess so," Karen said, but she understood how Harry would want to put the past behind him. Those he lost were not coming back.

"I stayed with relatives for the first ten years of my life, and then went to a boarding school where I broke all records, before moving here," Harry said and Karen smiled.

"Breaking records seems to be a thing for you."

"Well, I don't mean to brag but….."

"Actually, being up front and honest about your accomplishments is a good thing, even though it could get underneath the skin of some people," Karen told him. "And there is too much of this false modesty crap going on there that makes people seem phony."

This was another thing that Patricia explained to her. Then again there were a lot of people on Krypton who were cold and emotionless and told their accomplishments in a matter of fact manner.

"I made my way over here, and…..well you see where I am today."

"Just how old are you, if you don't mind me for asking?"

"Eighteen," Harry said and this was a statement that caught Karen completely off guard.

"You're shitting me," Karen said, and Harry smiled.

"No, I'm not shitting you," Harry said, pulling out his driver's license with the date of birth to confirm.

Karen had a sharp eye that could detect a forgery a mile away, but this is legit.

"I mean, no offense, you act like you're much more mature, I've seen twenty some year olds that don't have it together as you do."

"Well, to be fair, aren't we the same age?" Harry asked and Karen shut up immediately. "Seems to me like we're both slightly advanced for our age group."

His eyes traveled briefly to Karen's cleavage and she realized that her shirt rode up. After the growth spurt she had recently, she had not gotten a chance to purchase a new wardrobe.

"So, I'm sorry to hear about the death of Doctor Swann," Harry told her and Karen smiled. "He left behind a great legacy; a lot of his research will be lost mostly because people can't understand it."

"Well I'm trying to," Karen told him with a smile. "I wanted to be able to run STARR labs, but Patricia, you know his daughter, she's doing a good job at running the company."

Karen launched into a bit of what she was doing and Harry was a very attentive listener, giving his feedback when needed.

There was this sense that both were keeping some secrets from each other but that was the nature of the game. If the time was ever right then they would find out. Until then, they enjoyed each other's company.

* * *

><p>Harry Potter returned from what was a light day of classes. He met the new student that he was student mentoring and he found her quite fascinating. It was the perfect combination of brilliant and beautiful, which was the perfect fix as far as he was concerned.<p>

The green eyed wizard approached a set of caves which were out in the middle of the desert. It was a place where absolutely no one would think that there was anything out of the ordinary occurring, so it would be the perfect venue for what he was doing.

Harry thought about Karen, it would be interesting to work with her, given the vast wealth of knowledge she had at her disposal. The fact that she was exceedingly gorgeous, well that was a benefit, actually that was the clincher to say the very least. And he suspected that there was a lot more to her than met the eye.

The green eyed wizard stepped into the caves, which appeared to be deserted. Appearances could in fact be deceiving.

'_Took me long enough to get back on my feet here.'_

Harry wasn't going to dwell on what happened over there, because that was over. A chapter of his life he wrapped up with a nice little bow. A chapter of his life which he doubted would mandate that many pages because it was such an insignificant part of it.

The young man sat cross legged on a large rock. If anyone ambled into the cave, they would have thought that it was rather weird to see him do something like this.

Until they found out how practical it was, where a mysterious energy swirled around him and then a portal opened up in the cave wall.

Harry slipped inside, with a smile on his face, walking down a long hallway to his destination.

His heritage was quite an interesting one, even though he became powerless and drained when he arrived here three years ago.

It was three years ago today in fact that he entered this universe and he walked into a large and spacious manor house. It looked to be very old fashion, with many levels, with multiple bedrooms. It was located all within one rock inside the cave.

Then beneath the mansion, but also located in the rock in the cave was a lair so to speak.

Was this magic or sufficiently advanced technology?

Harry knew the answer to that question and also knew that the lines were fairly blurred. His mind was buzzing with what he learned today.

He sank himself into a comfortable chair in a large library. The tomes had been some of the rarest in the universe, some of them describing forbidden and obscure branches of magic.

'_Not that it matters now,' _Harry thought, testing his power levels.

Much higher than they were a year ago, but still very under par with what he was before he crossed the dimensional barriers or what is potential at full maturity should have been.

'_Well things could be better, but I can't complain,' _Harry continued thinking to himself. He managed to find several work arounds of his multitude of problems, so it wasn't like he was completely crippled.

Plus, to rely on your power was not only stupid, but it was also suicidal.

Harry decided to move over to the next part of library, accessing a state of the art computer system. With a little time and effort, he could pretty much hack into any computer in the world. If he had the knowledge to do so that was.

His mind drifted to Karen, which was quite understandable. He tried not to show it but he had this strange sense of Deja-Vu when he saw her.

The two of them did get along fairly well but then again they had similar hobbies. Karen wanted to run a business and Harry ran his.

'_You're something else, Miss Starr,' _Harry thought with a smile. He had a feeling that there was more to her than met the eye.

There was more to him than met the eye, much more. Both of them were prodigies and done a lot in a short amount of time.

Harry got up, moving to another room in the mansion. It as a room full of antiques and on the wall, there was a picture of three artifacts. One was a stone, one was a cloak, and the other was a very extraordinary looking wand.

"You've caused me a lot of trouble, didn't you?" Harry asked, peering at the picture of the three artifacts, and suddenly, he heard an alarm.

It was time for Harry to go to work at his night job. A job that called on him whenever it chose, no matter what the hours.

* * *

><p>Karen was looking around, just seeing and enjoying some of the interesting artifacts that were around her. Some of them were Kryptonian in nature, others were other obscure societies. Some were from Earth, others were not. Kara Zor-L wasn't for sure but never the less, she was interested in looking at them.<p>

Like this energy cannon for instance, one could argue that it should be…well it should be one of the most potent weapons that anyone would ever come across. However, it lacked a proper power core to function as it was intended. Therefore it was nothing but an overgrown flashlight from her perspective. The blonde laughed at the thought of it, running her hand down the weapon to observe it.

'_Well, the problem about Kryptonians is that leave their things lying around when they observe less advanced planets, good thing the core burned out before anyone picked it up and started playing with it,' _she thought in amusement.

"It's an interesting room isn't it, although I do wish that battle armor was completely intact."

Karen turned around and smiled, seeing a redhead standing there in the room. Her hair was tied back showing her beautiful face and alluring brown eyes. She wore a conservative business suit, with a buttoned up red blouse, a long flowing skirt, and stockings, along with thigh high boots.

"Hi, Patricia," Karen said.

"So, how was your first day at the University?" Patricia asked her and Karen smiled.

"Well, just being shown around the place by my new student mentor, he's really interesting," Karen said with a smile and Patricia returned fire.

"Right, interesting," Patricia said, she could tell by now that her friend was smitten but she decided not to say anything. "So…..who…"

"Harry Potter," Karen said and it was here that Patricia was taking a large drink of coffee that she promptly spit out onto the wall. "Well, you just sacrificed a perfectly good cup of coffee, didn't you?"

"No, Harry Potter…..seriously, your student mentor is, the Harry Potter," Patricia said and Karen looked at her friend strangely, as amusing as her reaction was, Karen really wanted to know why.

"Explain, please, explain," Karen said, and there was a note of urgency in her tone of voice.

"Well…..Harry Potter, that's interesting, that's really interesting," she commented, it took her a while to get her head in the game. "He's only one of the most eligible bachelors in Metropolis, women would line up and pay money to throw themselves at him."

"I wouldn't….well…"

"Trust me, a woman like you, you wouldn't need to," Patricia said with a smile and Karen smiled back. "Anyway….he's shrouded in a lot of mystery but his company….it's making Luthor sweat."

"Not a bad thing there," Karen said, anyone who gave Lex Luthor a hard time, well she liked them already.

"Well no, Lex has to be taken down a peg or two, it's healthy for him," Patricia said, taking a sip from her coffee. "So…..what was he like?"

"Very nice, very mysterious, has his secrets."

"Hmmm, reminds me of someone," Patricia commented, mockingly insightful and Karen gave her a playful swat to her arm.

"And I got this strange sense of Deja-Vu when I saw him that I can't really explain," Karen said, shaking her head. "It's weird, isn't it? There's just something about him….."

"Well, Harry Potter has this powerful presence that leaves many women wet in their panties and many men wet with tears in their eyes because they'll never hope to match up," Patricia replied candidly. "But reputations like that are not done without good reason, are they?"

"Well, yeah, I'd imagine that it doesn't," Karen admitted and Patricia smiled at her.

"So, your place at STARR is open for you, although I'm trying to broker the business deal that my father was working on before he died," Patricia informed Karen and the blonde corked her eyebrow. "And it's interesting to see that the person that we're talking about is the person who is behind the merger."

"Really, it's….."

"And also there's the business deal with Wayne Industries that's on the table," Patricia commented to Karen and Karen smiled. "STARR is going to really be put on the map, and hopefully between the three companies, it will be more enough to squeeze the Luthor Monopoly down to a manageable level."

"Let's really see so," Karen said, she was really excited to see what was happening. "I've got my first class tomorrow morning. But I've got to meet with Harry before then, I want to go over a couple of things."

"Oh, another date, already?" Patricia asked and Karen looked at her, shaking her head. She couldn't help but grin but she also couldn't help but enlightening her friend on the truth of the situation.

"No, not a date, not really I guess, well kind of, but not really."

Karen was trying to figure out where she stood with Harry Potter, but she had a feeling that standing with him would be a very nice place to say the very least. Her blue eyes burned with fierce determination.

"You kind of got lost, didn't you?" Patricia thought but Karen could hear something.

"I've got work to do, you know how duty calls," Karen said with a smile on her face.

She had an early class tomorrow but she only needed a few hours of sleep. The blonde moved into the closet next to her.

Kara Zor-L was ready to fly tonight.

Patricia prepared herself for a nice breeze to come past her and sure enough, she wasn't disappointed as a blonde blur shot past her like a cork.

Still, Harry Potter, that was interesting. She might have glimpsed him once or twice, but he was a very busy man and very hard to get some time with to figure out. He was very hard to pin him down.

Then again, perhaps that's what many women wanted to do, pin him down. Even though judging by the looks of him, it would be the women would be the ones being pinned down.

That being said, there was trouble afoot in Metropolis.

That looked like a job for Supergirl.

* * *

><p>Memories could be a tricky thing to reconcile even at the best of times. And Harry was being taunted by some very weird memories.<p>

Not to mention a strange sense of Deja-Vu when he met Karen but she was unlike anyone he had ever met in that place.

That being said, Harry decided not to dwell on this, mostly because he had to meet Karen in five minutes. Well five minutes in the real world, it could be about fifteen minutes in here, which gave Harry enough time to take a shower, eat breakfast, and get ready.

He had a big presentation to give this weekend and then he had the ongoing talks about a business deal with STARR Industries. It was only appropriate that Karen was his protégé but then again, he did request her.

Anyone who came close to breaking the records that he set was well worth his time and he could groom her to breaking those records. So in reality, pretty much everyone was going to win in a situation like this.

Something that suited Harry quite nicely, as he prepared to get ready for school, and he teleported to his official apartment where he would drive the rest of the way to the University.

'_Cutting it pretty close this morning, aren't you, Potter?' _Harry thought, thankfully he was right around the corner from University.

He arrived there with maybe about a minute to spare, which would have been a good example of a close shave.

Karen was just pulling in right now as well next to him.

"Seems like I wasn't the only one running late this morning," Harry said, both of them getting out of their respective cars.

"Yeah, but to be fair, I was only seventeen seconds late," Karen argued, shaking her head.

She cursed the fact that she couldn't just fly to school, because she would have beaten her mentor here. But the stupid bank robbers decided to pick this time of the morning to try a heist and she had to teach them a lesson.

The only solace was that she beat her mentor was about as late as she was.

"Well, I'm not too late, so I shouldn't be broken up," Karen told him and Harry smiled back at her. "Classes this morning, I'm looking forward to them."

"Remind me what I have again?"

"Well I've got Advanced Statistics," Karen said and Harry pulled a face.

"Not my favorite class," Harry admitted to her and Karen frowned.

"Didn't you get the highest marks in all of Met-U in it?" Karen asked.

"That was mostly done out of spite, and I had to, because my ego would not demand anything else, my lady," Harry said with a smile. "Anyone can excel in a class that they like. Excelling in a class that they hate, that takes true skill."

Karen smiled; she would have to agree with that.

"Then I got Business Economics," Karen commented.

"Solid subject that one, even if the teacher can induce insomnia,' Harry said, looking at her with a smile.

"Thanks for the head's up, honestly," Karen told him but she was used to boring instructors. She got her fair share of them during her studies on Krypton.

The two of them stood there and the first bell rang.

"I have a free period first, I'll walk you to your first class," Harry told her.

"Oh, well who I am to say no from an enticing offer like that?" Karen asked and the grin that was on her face was something that could not be beat by any means.

The two of them made their way inside the school and it turned out that it was not much of a walk at all as it was on the first floor and around the corner.

"So, I'll see you later, Karen," Harry told her.

"Yes, are we still on for lunch?"

Harry smiled. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Perhaps she would get to know a bit more about him and why she had such a strong connection to him initially upon their first meeting. If not, well he had his secrets. Then again she had hers, so fair was fair.

Karen turned and made her way into her first class, to see if it was as much of a drag as Harry said it was.

Harry smiled and walked off to make his rounds around the University. He pretty much had free run of the place after the grant he gave them last year. Which really drug them out of the debt ditch that they put themselves in. Plus there was a scandal involving the Football team.

That being said, Harry was glad than he managed to beat Luthor to the punch in buying favor for the university. Lex Luthor seemed insulted by his very existence, for various reasons.

Then again, the man was sore because it was his records that Harry broke.

First academics and then Harry was creeping in on the business world. Plus, he might have interfered in one or two of his more unsavory endeavors but evidence were only circumstantial. Nothing too concrete to prove anything.

At least not right yet.

**To Be Continued in the Next Chapter on July 22nd 2014.  
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	2. Secrets

For every day during their first week, Karen and Harry met for lunch, going over any concerns that she had for her classes, not that there were too many. Harry thought that there might not be but the fact was that he wanted to help her every step of the way. Someone like her, she had all of the potential in the world and Harry was hoping that she fulfilled it in her own time.

"And there are a lot of people who are starting to talk, about you and I," Karen said and Harry raised an eyebrow, locking his eyes onto her.

"Let them talk," Harry said, lifting his milkshake up to his mouth and taking a long drink. The signs of autumn were active in Metropolis. "You know, a lot of people would do a lot better in their studies if they didn't spend half of their time gossiping."

Karen laughed with a grin on her face. The good thing about Harry was that he always spoke his mind instead of beating around the bush. She really appreciated it because it was refreshing. "That's for sure."

The blonde was dressed in a tight black top that strained against her breasts, along with a jacket, and a skirt, along with stockings. Harry was dressed in a nice shirt and slacks, but one could see his muscular figure within them. It was a more subtle muscular figure but one could see that Harry worked out fairly often.

Karen spent a lot of time studying him intently, for scientific reasons of course, of course.

'_I would like to work him out,' _Karen thought, shaking her head. Given that she found most men on Earth to be rather lacking, she didn't really have any opportunities to work out her pent up frustrations.

The fact that most people never made it past her breasts really did kind of put a damper on things. Then again, Karen was very proud of them, what woman wouldn't be? That being said, she did long for a little bit of intellectual conversation every now and then. And Harry was there to provide it for her and she couldn't be more pleased. The fact that he was easy on the eyes was simply gravy.

"So, did you hear about the new Fusion Reactor that Luthor's putting out next month?" Harry asked and Karen sighed, she heard about it. It was only all over the news.

"Well it's another development from the golden boy of Metropolis," Karen said, and it was hard to keep the agitation out of her voice.

"He says that it's a cleaner, more efficient source of power, but….rumor has it that it was a long process that has an ugly backstory that was covered up," Harry whispered to Karen.

Karen nearly spilled her milkshake down her top but managed to steady her hand before the embarrassing situation happened. "Oh….do tell."

"Well, there were a lot of employees….mostly illegals…who Luthor hoarded in to work on the project, but many of them experienced symptoms that the closest match would be cancer, which slowly ate away inside them," Harry said. "There were also a lot of homeless people that Lex gave a job to….out of the kindness of his heart. They ended up turning up dead. The beta version of the Reactor wasn't very harmless; in fact, one could consider that it was co-opted for a different purpose."

"Like some weapon that could destroy countless villages," Karen said.

"Perhaps, but then again it's hearsay, without talking to Lex, we'll never know, and he's done a good job in covering thing ups," Harry said, he had been keeping a close watch on Lex. The man tried to put his hooks into Harry and his company and had been shut down. Therefore Harry had been after incriminating information to make Luthor's life a bit more difficult.

Sadly, people in the highest positions of LexCorp were not willing to part with anything too tangible. The word of a dying homeless man who was a drug addict was not enough to convict a man who had billions, and Harry knew this. He hated that fact but he was going to have to deal with it.

"Of course, I'm curious about the growing number of mutations that are happening, around the greater Kansas area," Harry said and Karen sat up straight, interested to see where this was going. "You grew up in Smallville before your parents died, didn't you?"

"Yes," Karen said, that was the official story that had been concocted by Doctor Swann that would explain her life for anyone who was willing to dig. She had spent eighteen years in stasis, never aging, trapped in her ship. That would really be something harder to explain.

"Did you ever run into any gifted people?" Harry asked, deciding to prod her for more information.

Karen could barely smile, it seems like she was going up against at least one of them every week since she came out of stasis. Then again, she was pretty gifted herself. The blonde adjusted her glasses. "Well, I've heard stories, I mean it's hard not to hear them. The police are doing their best…"

"The Metropolis Special Crimes Unit had to jump in from what I've heard," Harry told her and Karen nodded in response. There was no use hiding that fact because it was open knowledge.

"Oh yes, it got bad," Karen said. Patricia told her a lot of the stories. There was some weird shit going on in Smallville. For a town that was once known for its Corn at one time, it was now known as the Meteor Capital of the World. "It's really…"

There was a buzz in Karen's ear and she could hear that someone triggered an alarm. At one of the STARR facilities as well. The security there was supposed to be airtight, but that could really be proven wrong.

"I've got to go Karen, something's come up, I'll catch you tomorrow," Harry said and Karen was half distracted by the alarm, that she didn't even notice his hasty retreat.

She was kind of glad that she didn't have to come up with an excuse that sounded like a steaming pile of BS in her head. She was looking around for a phone booth to change in.

There was trouble coming and normally trouble meant some meteor mutants. That never could be good, the power drove most of the people who was infected with the meteors completely and utterly insane.

* * *

><p>"Get out of here!"<p>

A young man with whitening hair barked out a group of terrified lab technicians, who ran in the other direction. They were terrified absolutely out of their minds. Suddenly his breath hit them and they froze up, their bodies completely numb.

His power could paralyze people just by breathing on them. Such a power was useful and could terrify anyone to the bones.

"What do you want?" one of the lab technicians said, her hands shaking and breath coming in and out. Sweat rolled down her cheeks.

"We want what's in the vault," another man said, as the metal around the vault rattled around him. He could manipulate metal, an ability that gave him true strength and power.

"There's nothing in the vault!"

"There is something in the vault," the third meteor mutant said, a creepy oily looking man, who held the man who protested. He waved his hand and the man walked forward towards him and not on his own accord. There appeared to be puppet strings that were manipulating him forward.

"What are you doing?"

"Your movements are not yours anymore," the meteor mutant said with a whisper, and the man nodded in agreement even if he didn't want to. "I can make you strangle yourself to death or your co-workers. All I need is a simple thought. And you are too weak willed to do anything."

"Please don't, what do we want?"

"There's something blocking the vault, I can't rip it out," the metal controlling meteor mutant growled, and his eyes bulged along with his skin and his hands grew even more numb.

"Open the vault, do it," the puppet master whispered in the man's ears and his fingers twitched. He tried to fight it.

The power that was exerted on him forced him forward and one of the other men who was left unparalyzed, reached forward and tapped on the security alarm.

"That was a bad move," the silver haired man said and turned around, breathing on him, his paralyzing breath hitting the man.

"We have to get out of here now," the metal controlling mutant said. "She'll be here soon and we can't deal with her, not without a pan."

"Just wait, I'll put her underneath my power, and she'll be dancing to my tune," the puppet master whispered in an excited voice and it was almost extremely creepy with what he was saying.

"No trust me, we won't be able to handle her, we're going to have to get what we need at another place."

The puppet master smiled and waved his hand. The man's neck that he controlled was snapped back and he fell down to the ground, blood pouring out of his mouth and splattering against his white short.

"You're a sick individual," the metal controlling meteor mutant said as the trio made their way out.

"It's the police," the silver haired man said and the puppet master smiled.

"I'll take care of it," he commented, diverting his attention towards them, and he caused the police to stand straight into a line and he snapped his fingers. Slowly and quite creepily, the oily man turned towards them. "Let's go, I bought us a couple of minutes."

"Just a couple of minutes?" one of the meteor mutants asked, and they scrambled off into the distance.

There was something flying towards them in the sky, looking like a prominent blur. She moved so fast that they only barely caught sight of her.

"There she is," one of the mutants whispered and the puppet master grinned. He was getting very excited about the thought of putting Supergirl underneath his thrall. "Not now, we have a mission to do."

"But now STARR will be on alert…"

"Yes, it will be, but we'll get it eventually, she can't watch over them forever," the silver haired mutant said, his toxic breath filling the air. The only people who were immune to his breath were his two partners but that did not make them immune to the disgusting stench that came from the breath.

He wasn't completely sure if he liked that fact, because he was the type of person who liked his control and when he lost his control, that's when things went really south.

The Major Crimes Unit made their way in, to back up the regular police. They could see that their savior had arrived, but since it was a while before the alarm had been triggered, it was too late.

Karen made her way around the corner, thankfully she had a good idea where the security tapes were, and she could find out what she was dealing with. Backtracking a little bit, the blonde determined what direction she needed to do and darted off, continuing the search for them.

They couldn't be too far, they left on foot, and from what she saw, they didn't have super speed. So, it wouldn't be long.

* * *

><p>The blonde female adjusted the top of her costume. The blue top that she wore strained against her breasts to the point that she thought that a strong wind might snap it, if it wasn't made from such strong material that shouldn't rip. That being said, she was getting the money's worth. Her toned stomach was showed and it was so tight and snug against her. The skirt was a little bit shorter than she remembered.<p>

'_Fuck I hit a growth spurt, didn't I?' _she asked, shaking her head and trying to clear her head. That was the issue with her powers underneath the yellow sun, her growth spurts were completely obvious.

Then again a costume that she made when she was sixteen being worn when she was almost nineteen, yeah, she did a lot of growing between then and now.

Supergirl was the name that she had been dubbed and it was a name that stuck. They got it off of the red "S" that was perched on the center of her chest. It did seem to be one of those names that she would not be able to escape.

Even though she preferred the name Superwoman far and away because in her own biased opinion, she was all woman.

That being said, she made her way from the scene of the crime after checking the security tapes. She nearly stopped, running smack dab into the floating metal that hovered about six inches away from her nose.

More pieces of metal were floating in the air and the blonde Kryptonian placed her hands on her hips, her eyes following the trail. One deduction came to her mind immediately.

'_Well obvious trap, these idiots must think that I was born yesterday,' _Karen said and she used her telescopic vision to locate where the trail ended.

An alleyway, that's where they were going to ambush her, but Karen would go in from the other direction and surprise them.

Turning the ambush around on them, that might not be something that many heroes would do but the blonde was a bit savvier to these things than usual. Watching a lot of Earth television came in handy because she was able to pinpoint these obvious traps.

She shot up, following the trail towards a certain point but then she stopped and dodged around on the other end.

She flew completely in the other direction, circling around the city.

'_They're likely really confused right now,' _Karen thought, grinning. Her skirt flapped in the breeze but she really was going too fast for anyone to get a real treat. People would really be disappointed if they knew.

She made her way to the alleyway, and she heard a grunt of pain. Did they have hostages? That could complicate things a little bit.

The blonde really hoped not because she would have to swoop in and take them. The situation inside STARR was bad enough and she was really pissed that they just killed those people without a second thought. Some people like that, they couldn't be completely messed up by the meteors, they would have been helpless monsters before then. The meteors just made a bad situation even worse.

Karen stopped, nearly losing her balance in midair. She heard the groans and the pleas for help, but they didn't come from any meteor mutant.

The silver haired man with the toxic breath was pinned against the wall, his mouth apparently sewed shut so he could not breathe or anything.

The blonde watched, spell bound, as the metal controlling mutant tried to use his powers but something hyper charged the metal around him. The metal shot out of the corner, trapping him in a metal cage.

He could not even move and Karen watched, as she saw the person who was doing this. He was moving with swift precision, never staying in one place at once. She couldn't be quite sure what he was doing.

At first glance, she thought that the body armor he wore looked very low tech. It was completely black, with perhaps some padded armor on it. Really nothing too flashy.

Karen should have known better than anyone else that looks could in fact be deceiving. The armor was very high tech even though it looked low tech. The most elaborate part of the outfit was the white and black hood that was pulled over his face, obscuring his face and her ability to ID him.

"You will yield to me," the puppet master said, trying to get this mysterious man underneath control and his veins began to bulge out of the back of his head.

A smarter man would have yielded by now but this puppet master was not among the more intelligent people out there.

His will was strong and the puppet master tried more and more, straining his brain to the edge. His eyes became fairly bloodshot and a trickle of blood spilled from his mouth.

He fell over like a sack of shit, his eyes rolling up in the back of his head.

Karen dropped down to the ground and tried to step forward to face this mysterious man. She was kind of disappointed that she didn't have a chance to know these criminals around.

"Um, thanks, but you know I had that handled."

Just like that, the mystery man was gone and Karen was left with the downed meteor mutants. They were detained.

Most certainly detained, and he, whoever he was, managed to manipulate them into doing something stupid with their powers. Said attack brought them down. It was a well placed gambit if Karen had to really say so herself.

"So, I guess you managed to stop them before they killed anyone else, Supergirl?"

Karen turned around and saw a woman with short dark hair arriving there, dressed in a black jacket, armored pants, and a black top, the uniform of the Metropolis MCU.

"Well, someone else beat me to the punch, Detective Sawyer," she told the woman. Maggie Sawyer was her biggest supporter on the MCU, as many of them were a bit uneasy with an invulnerable girl with powers.

Karen couldn't say that she blamed them, even though her intentions were noble. All of the super powered meteor mutants were proof of the danger of people with powers. So she accepted that things weren't going to be that bad.

"Must have been the shadow vigilante," Maggie said to her, and this was news to Karen.

"The Shadow Vigilante?" Karen asked, the name not quite passing the BS test with her. Then again a lot of hero and villain names didn't when you really thought about it.

"Just the name he was called by the MCU, not sure what he's really calling himself," Maggie replied and Karen nodded. "He showed up recently…..his exploits haven't quite made the paper, because no one really wants to admit that he exists. And he hasn't quite passed urban legend status."

"Well he's real, I saw him," Karen said to her. "I just wish I hadn't been so late….."

"Sometimes things like this can't be helped, it comes with the territory," Maggie said, seeing the looks of pure horror etched in the eyes of these three meteor mutants. She could only imagine what they saw before they were contained. "The prison is getting overcrowded, but we did get a donation from someone to help better contain these mutants."

"Let me guess, Lex Luthor….."

"No, actually Harry Potter but….you better go, the Mayor and Luthor are rather close these days and anyone who is seen being friendly with you is going to be in for a lot of heat."

Karen sighed, she clashed with Luthor plenty, both as Karen Starr and as Supergirl. She met him the first time at one of those high society get-togethers and Luthor thought he was being charming but he came across as a bit of a lech.

"Right, I wouldn't want you to lose your job," Karen said, she was interested about Harry donating to the MCU. The problem was bringing that up in a casual conversation.

Maggie watched Supergirl leave, up, up, and away. There was a voice that brought her out of her stupor.

"So, what happened?"

"They got caught, must have had a guardian angel on our side," Maggie said.

"Was it Supergirl or that Shadow Vigilante?"

"Turpin, I didn't see anything, I wouldn't know."

Dan Turpin knew that she knew and Maggie knew that she knew that he knew that she knew or something. He had butted heads with the Mayor recently about the entire Supergirl thing, but the Mayor seemed to be putting pressure on the MCU to hunt her down as a vigilante.

Never the less, the grizzled veteran of the MCU, Dan Turpin walked in, to make sure no civilians interfered with this investigation.

* * *

><p>The vigilante made his way back to the cave, slowly removing the hood to reveal the face of Harry Potter. Overall, he would have to say that today was a perfect test run of the new and improved battle suit.<p>

Then again, he didn't really fight a group of really dangerous criminals. Well they were dangerous because of their powers but once they fought someone who was skilled they were just your average garden variety thugs with a few bells and whistles.

That puppet master might have been the most depraved of them all and Harry could not even begin to think what he did with his powers. It was sick to even think about.

That being said, he checked the suit, and was pleased with the results of the field test. He didn't really get damaged in the fight and it was always a pleasant surprise to come home without a scratch.

He overheard the conversation in the alleyway, switching is suit to cloaking mode, while giving the impression that he disappeared in a blink of the eye.

Which he could also do with the suit but that was beside the point.

It seemed like he was becoming more known, and not among the press, at least not yet. Then again, there had been very few witnesses to his vigilante activities.

Most of them happened at night, but he couldn't wait to test out the new suit. When he received word in the ear piece that he wore that an alarm had been triggered, he figured that there was no time like the present for a more practical run.

'_And it worked well,' _Harry thought. _'Poor devils, they thought they were secure because they had super powers. That's what happens when you rely on your powers and don't use the common sense gifted to a dog.'_

The suit worked out pretty well but Harry could function without it well enough. It was just a measure to minimize injuries on his part.

He was still not up to the optimal level but naturally it would be really hard to determine what the time table to that would be.

That being said, he was pretty pleased with how things were going. He got the quarterly reports back from his company today and that put a smile on his face. Then again, he made sure to handpick people that could run it rather well in his stead.

Of course, the most interesting thing today would be that he ran into Supergirl today. He had heard of her exploits but naturally this was the first time that he had seen her face to face.

He smiled, things were going to get even more interesting. The green eyed wizard saw the reports. All there was, there was a blurb about how the meteor mutants had been taken into custody with the MCU.

According to them, something made their powers unstable and there was a call from the Mayor that vigilantism would not be tolerated.

'_I see the Mayor's name attached to that article, but I hear the words of Lex Luthor flying out of his mouth,' _Harry thought to himself.

Harry got out his cell phone and dialed up Karen's number.

"Hello?" Karen asked.

"Hey, Karen, it's me Harry, sorry I had to run out today, something came up," Harry told her. "It was an urgent appointment, you realize that….."

"Hey, it's no big deal," Karen said, brushing it off. "Just after you left, something came up on my end as well…..I'm interning at STARR you know and….did you hear about the break in?"

"It's just popping up on the news now," Harry told her and Karen nodded.

"I had to check up on my friend, Patricia, to see if she was okay," Karen said, keeping her voice calm and collected. She hoped that Harry would buy it but she did check up on Patricia, who was moving the item in the vault to a more secure location.

Only her and Karen knew about the item being moved, it was under super-secret security. It was fairly dangerous as well if it was in the wrong hands but most high tech things were.

"No problem, is she okay?" Harry asked casually.

"Yeah, she's fine, but a lot of people, well they're not so lucky," Karen said, and she seemed broken up.

"I just saw that, seems to me like the MCU were on the job today," Harry said with a smile. "Hopefully they keep putting the right people away."

Karen did not want to say anything about the Shadow Vigilante, as he was being dubbed. Especially given that it looked like he was being kept out of the official reports.

"So, if we could meet for dinner?"

"That would be great but where….."

"I have an apartment that I stay at when I need a more modest place to crash, it's right outside of Metropolis, how about we meet there in an hour, and I'll make up for darting out on you," Harry said to her.

"That would be great, Harry," Karen said, she wasn't going to complain. Free food was free food.

* * *

><p>Harry heard the knock on the door less than an hour later and the green eyed wizard smiled, walking over to the door and opening it to allow her inside.<p>

Karen stepped inside, looking awe struck. She didn't quite imagine this when she heard about an apartment.

"Karen, are you okay?" Harry asked and that question jerked her back to reality.

"Um, yeah, I'm fine," Karen said shaking her head. "I thought that I got the wrong place but I saw your car parked outside…..a great place you got here."

She caught a glimpse of the master bedroom and it was equipped with soft looking carpet, a nice large bed and a few pieces of artwork on the wall. Karen wanted to get a closer look but she supposed that would be considered a bit too forward for someone that she met about a week ago.

"Thanks, I do try and keep it kept up well, even though I rarely spend that much time here," Harry said. "I either spend most of my time at the college or around the city."

"You do get around," Karen said but she stopped and suddenly looked extremely sheepish. "That sounded a lot cleaner in my head."

Both of them laughed at the question, and Harry lead her into the kitchen area.

"I don't know what that is, but it smells really good," Karen said, and she smiled, looking around. The furniture looked antique and kind of exotic as well.

"Only less than a hundred sets ever made," Harry informed her and Karen raised an eyebrow, as he dished out the meal.

"Well, you do have exquisite tastes….and the food tastes good," Karen said, taking a mouthful of mashed potatoes. "Oh, so good."

"I'm glad I meet your standards," Harry commented, enjoying the food himself.

"Well…..not much of a cook myself, I'm adequate but for the longest time, I could burn cold cereal," Karen said, shaking her head. "And Patricia's not that much better, so there's a lot of takeout. Granted, there's nothing wrong with having Chinese, but still a good home cooked meal is a delight, you know what I mean."

"I think that I have a good idea," Harry agreed with her and Karen continued to munch on the food, feeling good about herself. "I'm just glad that the Penthouse gets some use. I spent a lot of time here when I first moved into town but over the past six months, not so much."

Karen continued to look around, trying not to act nosy, but she couldn't really help herself.

"Well the Swann estate is pretty nice, I'm sure," Harry told her and Karen smiled.

"Nice is rather…..well it's a good description of it, yes," Karen said. "I have an apartment….an actual apartment thank you, and not a glorified palace like this one."

"I actually have a palace, well my family did, it's more like a castle really," Harry said and Karen looked interested about that.

"Well, you're full of surprises, aren't you?" Karen asked, managing to pack away a fair amount of food. With her higher metabolism thanks to her powers, it wasn't like it was going to show any time soon anyway.

She was visited by a strange thought that she almost pushed out of her head right away. Although he would have the resources to pull something like this.

That being said, she enjoyed Harry's company regardless, as they made some nice conversation.

* * *

><p>"Powers, it will be ready in a few weeks, and don't worry about things at Wayne, we'll handle the situation."<p>

The man over the phone was the one and only Lex Luthor. He had long red hair that resembled a lion's mane and wore an ugly looking green suit.

He had been the favorite son of Metropolis, at least until the point where Harry Potter showed up and stole his thunder. Over the past fifteen years, he carried Metropolis on his back, after the untimely demise of his father.

"I sell a state of the art defense system to the government, and it's bumped off the front page about an editorial of how Supergirl is so great for this city," Luthor said but there were whispers of a new vigilante that was in town that also stirred his temper up.

Lex Luthor did not like what he was seeing and he made his plans to rectify the situation once and for all. He controlled Metropolis, and even with the Mayor in his pocket, he couldn't control everything.

Especially given that popular opinion indicated that Supergirl was a good thing, much to Lex's agitation.

Then there was this Shadow Vigilante as the paper dubbed him. It was a fabrication, like the nutjob that was rumored to be haunting Gotham City.

Lex Luthor made plans because that's what Lex Luthor did. Some bitch dressed up in a cape was not going to stop his plans.

**To Be Continued on July 25th 2014. **


	3. Power

"Supergirl, the media darling of the city. A reckless vigilante with powers that put the human race in danger but yet she is beloved by many. And the MCU will not do their jobs in bringing her down because they actually support her activities."

Lex Luthor was pacing in his office like a caged animal, giving a speech to himself that he had been given many times before.

"It's not their faults, not entirely," Lex muttered underneath his breath after a few seconds. He clasped his hands together. "Perhaps they are not equipped to deal with a marvel like Supergirl."

Lex decided not to mention the other person who was haunting the city of Metropolis. For he believed the man to be a rumor, an urban legend, likely stirred up by some people to get others talking. That was the least of Lex's problems, and there were many. Regardless there was one other problem that was glaring at him.

He could see his latest defense contract being swept away from underneath him because Potter offered them a better deal. So Luthor was in a mood most foul and it was just getting worse by each passing second.

The news was enraging him. There was another news bit about the three meteor freaks having died twelve hours after they had been brought into custody, due to their powers having finally caused their internal organs to get out .Normally Luthor would be rather suspect about something like this but he had his own business to take care of.

"Supergirl, Media darling, please," Lex stated, looking over the documents underneath his desk. "These meteor rocks….this Kryptonite as it has been dubbed, they have proven to be a weakness to our young golden girl. But they are also a source of power beyond all human comprehension."

The wheels of motion started to turn in Lex Luthor's head, which was a really scary sight to behold. When Lex plotted, that normally meant bad things were coming down the pike. It was true, Luthor had some ideas in the back of his head. Plans were going to be enacted and Supergirl…..well Supergirl was going to be a mere memory. She would be dealt with. An accident of course, and people would erect statues in her memory.

But in a matter of months, she would be gone, forgotten, and Lex Luthor would be here.

The businessman picked up the phone, and made a call, to see if everything was ready. "Is it ready?"

He nodded as the man on the phone informed him in the progress.

"Get the subject up already," Lex said to him. "He's someone who I paid top dollar to get here, I don't want…..I don't want any consequences, do you hear me? He's the best in the world at what he does, and what he does…..well it's what I pay him to do now. And Otis, if you bungle tis one, you'll be fired."

Lex made his way to the elevator, grumbling about how some of his men were incompetent buffoons. And lot of them happened to be named Otis for some reason, at least some of the more incompetent ones. That was just another day which was par for the course for Lex Luthor. The man stepped forward half of a step and turned his head.

He took a moment to look into the distance at Metropolis, the city of dreams, his city.

Not the city of some bright eyed British invasion and certainly not some golden haired alien. Both of them would need to be discredited or neutralized.

Most frustratingly, Lex had not been able to amass any leverage against Harry Potter. Someone that mysterious had to have a past but he checked out, clean as a whistle. He could not even find an overdue library book to his name.

The man made his way down the elevator once again, and was in the lab.

His security guards escorted a man dressed in prison issue, who had blonde hair and a tanned complexion. He had quite the body, but he would have a better body before long.

"Mr. Luthor, I have to say, I'm curious to why you of all people broke me out of prison," the man said in an Australian accent. "You don't normally seem to be the type to associate with my crowd."

"No, not normally," Lex agreed, peering into the eyes of this hardened killer. If he had been more honest with himself, he would have admitted that it was almost looking into a mirror.

"But why did you call me here?"

"The reason that you were in prison, it was because of Supergirl."

"Yeah, that cunt decided to ruin my plans…..and she crushed my ribs something fierce," the man said with an ugly scowl. "Who does she think she is?"

"Mr. Corben, what if I could tell you that I could give you the means to gain revenge over Supergirl?" Lex asked and the man's interest was piqued.

"I'm listening," Corben said, the hardened assassin looking at him and several men walked into.

"Please take your clothes off and lay down upon the lab table and let these men put you under," Lex told him and the man looked like he was about to protest. "Relax, a trip to the dentist will be more painful than what I'm about to do to you."

Corben relaxed, stripping his clothes off, he still ached from his last encounter with Supergirl.

"When you wake up, you won't be able to feel anything Supergirl does to you next time," Luthor said with a smile, as one of the doctors injected him with a drug that numbed all of the nervous centers in his body.

"Prep him for surgery."

"Dispose of his flesh body afterwards," Lex told his security guard. "It's not like he will be needing it anymore."

Lex turned around, and soon he would have a weapon which to take down Supergirl. The thorn in his side will be removed.

His eyes were fixed meanwhile on the security footage of a museum heist where Supergirl had been grew weakened by the green rocks in a display case a couple of weeks. He smiled, it was a weakness that he would exploit and use to destroy her.

Then without a Supergirl, there would be a void to protect the city, and that would be where his new battle suits would come in.

* * *

><p>The museum heist about a week about was a real eye opener for Karen. She saw the Kryptonite in the case, she knew how it affected her, but she let a couple of hoodlums that she could have trashed in seconds get away.<p>

The fact that they were found tied up a few blocks away didn't really matter, Karen was agitated by the entire matter.

The blonde blew her hair out from in front of her face, crossing her arms underneath her chest. How could she be so weak, she wondered? That being said, there was really no time to brood on it now.

It was time to find a way to negate that glowing, pun intended, weakness.

'_Let's see this armor would work, but the problem is, it will block out the yellow solar radiation, and….yeah that's a no,' _Karen thought, shelving yet another plan.

There were several promising choices but then they all had some flaw that caused Karen to throw them out. The problem was she knew that Kryptonians had a way to negate such high level radiation but all of the knowledge had been lost to the demise of the planet and she suffered a severe mental block at exactly how the theory worked.

'_Damn, now's not the time to have a block about something like this,' _Karen mentally swore, she wanted to head desk herself, repeatedly and often. The blonde shook her head returning herself back to battle.

She could not afford to have a blonde moment now of all times. That being said, Karen needed to meet with Harry.

Karen wondered if Harry could help her out about this problem, he could have had his hands on resources, but that would require her to tell him her secret. While she supposed that she would have to eventually, now wasn't the time for it.

Her ship's hard drive might have held the answer to her problem, but there was just one problem, a minor problem, but a problem never the less. There was an insufficient power source on Earth and she couldn't get it working even if she wanted to.

That being said, the blonde checked her watch for her lunch date with Harry. He wasn't late yet, she was just very early. Her sitting here gave plenty of time to mull over what she had to do.

If someone like Luthor found out her allergy to those fucking green rocks, she would be sunk. That being said, the blonde was determined to keep her head up.

"Sorry I'm late."

Harry showed up and Karen checked her watch.

"Only by about fifteen seconds," Karen said and she could see Harry had been running very ragged. "So, you're back from your trip from Gotham?"

"Yeah, I told you that I'd tell you about it when I got back, I was meeting with an old friend, she just got back from a trip," Harry said, sitting down.

"Well, I'm sure that's interesting," Karen replied to him but she saw the latest issue of the Daily Planet in his hands. Perhaps she had the opening to fish for some information after all. "Supergirl was kind of sloppy with that museum heist, wasn't she?"

"Mmm, yes she was, but I suppose that we all have our off days, I wouldn't be too hard on her," Harry said with a smile. "It's almost like she had some kind of Achilles heel in there."

"Yeah, so it seemed," Karen replied, and they paused to order their lunch. It might be a while because the café was rather short-staffed today. "So, what was your trip about?"

"Business for the most part, Gotham has their own band of misfits, and that Asylum there makes them come out worse," Harry said. "Even since the Bat went off of the map about five years back…"

"He's an urban legend though, isn't he?"

"He was very real," Harry commented, but he shook his head. Karen noticed the past tense of that statement but she didn't point it out. "That being said, Gotham's Police Force is understaffed and what they do have in staff is corrupted. At least the Metropolis MCU is mostly on the level, it's the Mayor that's the problem."

"What's the deal with the Mayor?" Karen asked, even though she already knew.

"Well he's so far in bed with Luthor, that I'm surprised the two of them haven't announced their engagement yet," Harry said and Karen's smile got really wide at that statement.

"Yes, that's the thing, isn't it?" Karen asked, her meal finally coming and a good thing too, because she was so hungry that she could eat a house. Truly a horse would not be adequate enough for her.

"Supergirl was weakened by something in that museum, but if she pinpoints that, she could create some kind of shield," Harry mused.

"Most radiation shielding is clunky and not conductive to movement, though," Karen commented and Harry smiled knowingly at her. Karen drank her juice, so she didn't really notice it.

"Well then an internal shield might do the trick. Based on nano-technology."

Karen had to duck behind the table, acting like she dropped her napkin to hide the triumphant smirk of glee.

* * *

><p>Luthor was right, John Corben had to admit that. When he woke up, he woke up as an entirely different man and he had to say that he enjoyed that immensely. His new body was covered with a synthetic skin that would allow him to adopt a more human approach, while also enjoying the power that this upgrade offered.<p>

After a brief test run with his body, made out of the rare alloy known as Metallo, it was time. In fact, he adopted the name of the alloy as his codename. He stepped forward and paid a couple of hoods with stacks of hundred dollar bills. It was the language that they both spoke, money, and it made the world go around, for both good reasons and evil reasons.

"Here's the plan, cause a disturbance and make sure you get Supergirl's attention," Metallo said, thinking that the money that he gave them should pay for their hospital bills.

"Um, yeah, my jaw just healed from the last time I'm…." one of the hoods said, but Metallo slapped another set of hundred dollar bills in their hands. Any arguments were completely lost "Okay, mister, I'll do it!"

"You just have to distract, and I'll do the rest, got it?" he asked them and the hoods nodded.

Corben made his way into the shadows, and he could see the hoods move around. One of them pulled out a crowbar and the other hand a chain in his hand that he was swinging around like a mad man.

"Let's get them," one of them grunted and he smashed the display of the press stand with a crowbar.

Karen could hear the panic of the people and she saw the two goons that were causing a ruckus, in broad day light, where she could see them.

'_And now we have the two dumbest criminals that I've encountered today, these guys,' _Karen thought to herself.

The blonde looked at one of the criminals, who swung his crowbar like a baseball bat towards her.

That might have worked if she wasn't her, therefore it just bent off of her skull like a piece of rubber.

It messed up her hair just a little bit and that caused her to kick him in the face, sending him down.

The other one rushed into the nearby building, but Karen used her super breath to knock him on his ass. Both thugs were disposed and Karen broke more of a sweat going to class then she did fighting these two clowns.

She prepared to tie him up but suddenly, she felt a little sickness fill her body. She felt like she was about ready to hurl.

A man stepped forward towards her and her knees knocked together fairly shakily. She tried to hold her head up, breathing in.

Kryptonite was here, but where was it? The blonde could feel her vision blur over and it was hard to concentrate.

"This has been a reckoning that has been a long time coming," he said and she pushed herself up and nailed the man approaching her with a huge kick to the head.

She dropped down to the ground, that took more energy out of her that she thought. Her eyes glowed but then flickered out.

The blonde slipped down to one knee. The madman approached her with a leer on his face and bent down to look her into the eyes. Karen felt like an infant trying to pull herself up to walk, but somehow she got to her knees, before he forced her bac down with a huge punch to the stomach.

"You should have not interfered with my plans, it would have been a lot easier on you," he said, cupping his hand underneath her chin and forcing the blonde bombshell to look into his eyes. "But now , I'm stronger, faster, and more able to deal with you. And you're as weak as a kitten, love."

"Oh, you'd be surprised that this kitten still has some fucking claws," Karen said, and she nailed him, causing his jacket to fly off and then heat vision caused him to back off, the fake skin burning off of him.

Half of the skin was still hanging from his face, smoldering, and the metal frame underneath could be seen, with the heat vision not damaging him in the slightest. Karen blinked and she found the source of the Kryptonite.

There was a chunk of Kryptonite resting in his chest. It seemed to be powering that body of his. It was as big as a soccer ball.

'_Oh dear god, I've got to,' _Karen thought, picking up a huge table with her strength.

The bottom was lined with lead, she should be able to take him out.

She rushed the table towards him, nearly tripping over her feet, and slamming it into his chest, pushing him against the wall but he had super strength as well because of that new body.

"Nice try, but no…"

A burst of Kryptonite vision shot from his eyes and caused Karen to fly back into the wall. Her costume was burned, and she felt her skin blister.

He was about read to move in for the kill but suddenly, a figure swooped down.

Metallo's arms were disconnected from his body, along with his legs. He fell to the ground, nothing but a torso and a head.

Karen barely could keep her head up and she could see the man scoop her up and they disappeared into a flash in the air.

"Most annoying," Corben whispered as several cables retracted from his torso, slithering towards his detached limbs to grab onto them. "But you're going to have to do better than that."

His arms and legs attached together. His Kryptonite power source hummed, it wasn't working as much as it should.

He realized suddenly that it had been solidified, transmuted into coal somehow. How could that…..

"Luthor, I have a problem," Corben grumbled, wondering how he was still alive if the very thing giving him life had been negated.

"Do you have Supergirl?" Luthor asked him.

"No."

"Then you have a big problem," Luthor replied swiftly, his voice cold with indifference.

"The power source, it's gone….it transmuted into coal," Corben said and Luthor went silent for a moment. "Luthor?"

"If I couldn't see your bio-metrics, I wouldn't believe it yourself, get back to base immediately, you have only thirty minutes worth of back up energy, I'll give you a fresh Kryptonite heart and I'll find out why it turned to coal," Luthor said without taking a breath. Time was of the essence.

Corben didn't want to mention who did that right now, or that his arms and legs were hacked off. He saw the timer on his suit, twenty six minutes and eighteen seconds full of backup power left before he was sunk.

* * *

><p>Karen shook herself back awake; needless to say, she felt the burn of what happened. Her stomach turned a little bit and the shadowed figure now hovered over her, with a smile on his face, or at least she assumed that.<p>

Without seeing his face, she couldn't really be for sure.

"So, how are you feeling?" he asked.

"Well better now, I guess," Supergirl managed after a few seconds and it did take a while for her to clear any cobwebs. The truth was that her entire body ached from head to toe.

"Metallo…..he's dangerous, but the man who is underneath that Cyborg, he is more so, a professional assassin and part time thief, John Corben."

Corben, Corben, the name was slowly ringing a bell with Karen, but that was not the only thing that was ringing. Her head was ringing for instance. The blonde could feel the ringing increased and it was becoming a bitch and a half to concentrate.

Then it stopped, so she got up to her feet. Knees were still shaky but other than that.

"So, I guess you saved me."

She looked around the cave, and she had to admit that she was blown away. A fair bit of this equipment looked very advanced. Actually more than a fair bit of it, she mentally corrected herself, most, if not all of it looked very advanced.

The interior design was very sleek and inefficient, with the blonde being blown away by what she saw in the castle. Some might call it simplistic, but it was practical. Plus, she thought that there was much more to it than met the eye. She could see the shelves around her of various books and the state of the art computer system.

Her heart skipped a couple beats the more that she looked. She focused on a portrait of a mysterious cloak, a stone of some sort, and what looked like some kind of glowing stick on the wall. Karen deduced that those objects had some sort of significance.

"Well, can I say wow?" she sked and he smiled, or at least she assumed that she did. Something like that was really hard to tell when the person in question had a hood over his head.

"If you want to," he told her, amused by her wide eyes looking around, scoping out the area around her. "But as much I'd like to show you around, we have business to take care of. I've been studying the rocks, and…..you have quite the allergic reaction, don't you?"

"That's putting things very mildly," she said, crossing her arms underneath her sizeable chest.

He walked over and Karen was visited by all sorts of weird theories. She didn't see the entrance to this Lair to be honest, she had been kind of in la-la land, so any clues about his secret identity would have been lost.

"His Kryptonite heart, it turned to coal," Karen said, before she could stop herself. "I didn't even know how that was possible…how was that possible?"

"A special chemical compound in my suit, unfortunately, I have to be up close and person with the Kryptonite….as you call it, in question," he said, and his back was turned towards her, working on something. "Upon open air, it burns itself out pretty quick. Only got a fifteen second window of opportunity to blast it. And before you ask, the lasers on my suit can cut through anything."

He demonstrated, cutting a diamond in half. The fact that he could just easily destroy a diamond like that without blinking, must have meant that he was packing some serious resources. At least that's what Karen assumed.

"Very nice," Karen said with a wide smile on her face.

"Oh, yes, but it took a while to get all of the kinks out," he said.

'_If only you know the trouble I had with the beta version of this suit,' _Harry mentally added. He wondered if Karen was putting the pieces together as to who he was. He kind of wanted her to be the one to figure that out.

"So Shadow Vigilante…"

"That's the name that the cops have given me…..well fitting, I guess," he replied, but Karen could tell him that judging by his tone, he didn't approve.

"Right, well the press gave me the name of Supergirl, which was fitting about three years ago, but I kind of filled out since then."

His voice was clipped and rather amused. "Yes, I noticed."

"So…"

"I've got a cure for your little problem, but you're going to have to trust me on this one."

"Yeah, of course, of course I trust you," she replied, with a smile on her face.

He pulled out a syringe with a bubbling liquid in it. "This will negate the effect that Kryptonite has on you, forming a shield that blocks it, but does not sacrifice your powers. It should work against Green Kryptonite."

"What about other forms?" Karen asked and he smiled.

"Work in progress."

"So, I guess it's time to take my medicine," she replied, stretching back on the chair and closing her eyes.

She did feel a prick in her arm and then she felt herself shifting.

"Here, think fast!"

He hurled a chunk of Kryptonite at her and she caught it in her hand. She almost felt like she had live fire in her hands when she clutched the rock.

Nothing happened, that made Karen want to do a dance. She didn't because she was bad at it.

"So thanks um….what do I call you?"

He paused and continued with a smile. "You may call me Arcane."

* * *

><p>Metallo was now restored, with a few significant upgrades. Supergirl and her mysterious companion might have gotten away, but when there was crime, she would be there. She was predictable in that sense of the world.<p>

All that he had to do was draw her out in the open.

"Freeze, Corben," Maggie Sawyer said, pointing her weapon at him but the bullets had no effect.

"Haven't you read the latest report now, luv, it's Metallo," he commented, looking over at her.

"Yeah, well your new name will be mud," Turpin said, and he rushed Metallo, trying to get in a shot at him.

He picked up the gruff cop by his shirt and hurled halfway across the street. The other members of the MCU got smacked down hard.

"Last time, you helped bring me in, this time, I've got the advantage," he commented and he grabbed Maggie around the wrists, pushing the woman back against the wall. "No need to seem so frigid, love, how about a kiss?"

His lips found hers and her eyes popped open, looking absolutely repulsed.

Corben paused, he could feel nothing, and he was completely numb. While he could feel no pain, he could not feel any pleasure. It was stirring him up angrily as he came to one conclusion.

He would never feel the arousal from a woman's touch ever again.

Corben gave one last growl of agony, shaking his head.

"Impossible, this isn't….this shouldn't be happening," he growled for a few seconds.

"Ah what's the matter, can't get it up?"

Corben turned around and saw Supergirl, hovering over him, looking pristine as ever. His mood improved, if he was not going to be able to feel pleasure then she was going to take it out on her.

"You just made a critical error coming around here, Supergirl."

"Yeah, well you make one every day leaving the house looking like that," she commented, shaking her head.

Corben unbuttoned his jacket and allowed the Kryptonite to be exposed in full force.

"Oooh," she said, dropping to the ground in front of him and Corben didn't expect any trickery.

"On your knees, right before me, like you belong….."

Karen smiled, and he was closer, closer, closer yet. She grabbed the Kryptonite heart with her bare hands and ripped it out, before hurling it out of harm's way.

"HOW?" he demanded.

"Very simple actually," she commented with a smile on her face and she nailed her enemy with a huge rocket buster of a punch, slamming her fist into his face with a sonic boom.

His knees buckled underneath her and the blonde hammered him with a series of punches. When he tried to hit her, she crouched down in the air.

"I might not have my Kryptonite heart, but I have a full hour of back up power, and that's more than enough to deal with you," he said, but suddenly, she used her heat vision.

It didn't slice his arm off and he tried to grab her but she dodged it, again, and again, and again.

Three green pellets flew through the air and broke open onto him. It released a sticky foam that caused Corben to be frozen in place.

"I can't….move," he managed, he felt like his legs weighed too much to lift up.

"Yes, what was your first clue anyway?" Karen asked and Arcane made his way there, invisible, even though she knew that he was there.

"Okay, you're going to tell us who fixed you up like this."

"Just who are you?"

The man whispered harshly in his ear. "Your worst nightmare."

"I'll never say anything to….ARGH!" he yelled, it was supposed to be impossible, he wasn't supposed to feel pain but he was feeling it badly.

"That's just a mere taste," he whispered in a low voice. "Either you tell us, or…."

He made a snapping motion with his hands and the man blinked suddenly, trying to move his head.

"Fine, it was that tosser Luthor, he put me in some kind of surgery, he wanted Supergirl out of the way…..paid me a shit ton of money for it, but….."

Suddenly, his head exploded. It was obvious that someone didn't want him to spill the incriminating beams to the proper authorities.

Supergirl smiled, she heard the name Luthor, and that was all that she needed to know.

"So thanks," she whispered to him.

She had a good idea what was going on right now but that was beside the point. Business called right now and she flew off to pay a nice little visit to LexCorp and put the fear of God into Lex.

* * *

><p>So Metallo was a failure, something that Lex Luthor wouldn't be losing too much sleep over. It was a calculated risk to be honest and if Supergirl had been destroyed, it would have been the risk that paid off. And if it didn't, well there would be other opportunities.<p>

That being said, he had to destroy the evidence and thugs like Corben were a dime a dozen. If he ever made a new and improved Metallo, there would be a thousand prisoners at Ryker's just waiting for a chance to be a part of history.

Lex looked out the window, overlooking all of Metropolis. His city, the city that Luthor build.

That was something that the press called it for years and he was going to keep that distinction by hook or crook. He had to bust some skulls to get to where he was.

Then he had his share of enemies. Lex counted about seventy two separate assassination attempts on him but he survived every one of them.

Whether it was because of some inept assassins or because of a special ability of his own, Lex decided to keep that matter under his hat. He prided himself for being a survivor, a man of great intellect, grand wealth, and most importantly of all a great head of hair.

Suddenly, he could see someone approaching him. Lex slowly turned around to look out his open window.

He saw Supergirl hovering in the windowsill, her cape fluttering in the breeze and a murderous glare in her eyes.

"Well, what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" Lex asked her and she said absolutely nothing, at least not for a moment. "You know, the two of us, we shouldn't be on different sides. I think that we could do well teaming up to make Metropolis a better place to live."

He looked at her and she looked back at him. She didn't say anything which suited him for now, because he had plenty to say to her. And he demanded that he would be heard all of this time.

"Sure, you fly around in that ridiculous outfit, but it does catch a few eyes and you've developed as a super hero within the past couple of years," Lex said with a leer. "If you're willing to play ball, then so am I. Scratch my back, you scratch mine. With my intellect and your abilities, we can do great things. The sky is the limit, isn't it?"

She didn't say anything, rather her arms were folded and her burning gaze was still locked onto him.

"Not the talkative type I see," Lex replied to her.

"No, I have plenty to say," she said and she made her way inside his office. "The fact is I know that you built Metallo and sent him after me."

"All you may have is the word of a convict many times over," Luthor replied coldly. "And you're a vigilante with a price tag on her head. It would be a shame if someone came in to collect on that because I pressed charges for harassment."

"Yes, I might be one," she agreed, her eyes locked onto Luthor with fury. "But, you're not above the law. There will be one day where your millions will not be able to buy yourself out of prison."

Luthor chuckled. "Billions actually, but why quibble about a small details like that."

She looked at him, and her eyes glowed for a few seconds, but he glared back at her with his jaw set.

"I can't prove anything, yes," she told him, gritting her teeth. The blonde hated when someone like Luthor had a point. He was an out and out bastard all things considered. She would like nothing better than to reach forward and ring his neck. "You slip up one time, and that will be the last time."

"Well you can try," Lex said in his usual condescending voice. "But the Mayor would disagree with you and I think that his vote counts more than someone who isn't even a proper citizen of this world. And the Governor as well."

She smiled a knowing smile at him.

"Just watch your step."

She used her heat vision a stack of important looking papers on her desk, causing them to light on fire.

Luthor scrambled to get the fire extinguisher, but the damage had been done. Several pieces of paper, along with a briefcase full of money were burned to ashes. Along with a good portion of his desk sustaining fire damage.

He cursed the very day Supergirl landed on Earth, she would pay for what she did.

"Mr. Luthor, I heard something!"

"Yes, you heard something, too late for you to do anything about it, you numbskull" Lex said to the dim witted flunky on the other side of the door.

He really thought that his staff was inept on some days. And on days like this, he had no doubt.

* * *

><p>"So, did you hear about the people from Wayne Industries coming in tomorrow?" Harry asked Karen without pre-amble.<p>

The blonde smiled knowingly. "Well, didn't your friend tell you anything about that?"

"She might have given me the heads up, yes."

They were eating lunch in a more private place, in a nice park in Metropolis. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, the clouds were fluffy, the birds were singing, and more importantly, there was no crime in the city, at least right now.

That might have be well and good most days, but after her meeting with Luthor, she was really on edge. She suspected some big anti-Supergirl propaganda sweep to hit any minute today.

Of course, the fact that she saved the day against Metallo, there were a lot of people who were on her side.

"I've got two tickets to it, it's happening at Met-U," Harry said and Karen smiled him. "That is, unless of course you have any plans."

"I don't have any plans, not any I can think of," she said, racking her brain for any ideas but she found absolutely nothing in her mind. "I heard about it actually….well rumors, tickets are hard to come by but you have your connections."

"Well, we all have our ways."

Karen was really thinking about something, hard. They were in a quiet private place, and it had been on the tip of her tongue.

"So, the Shadow Vigilante was rumored to be sighted the other day?"

"Yeah, urban legend I think," Harry said with a smile on his face. Wondering if she figured it out but he figured that two can play this game. "Then again Supergirl is getting all of the press, saving the day against Metallo."

It was very hard to argue this point without revealing anything.

"Do you ever feel like that you're on the verge of knowing a big secret, but you can't quite spit it out?"

Harry gave her a smile, and motioned for her to continue.

"Well, did you discover something big or incriminating or both?" Harry asked her.

"Yes, I know your secret!"

Karen blurted out this statement before she could even think of it and regretted it ten seconds later. Then again she was never the model of tact, but she didn't expect it to spill out of her mouth that quickly.

All she had to do was whether the short but agonizing wait that was Harry's inevitable reaction.

**To Be Continued on 7/29/2014. **


	4. World's Finest Part One

"Oh, you know my secret, do you?"

Karen Starr, Kara Zor-L, had been known to shove her own foot firmly in her mouth, and speak without engaging her brain. To her credit, Harry didn't lose it and she just called him out for being a vigilante without any kind of proof or anything. It might be a little bit embarrassing if she was wrong.

Of course, she was a quick thinker, which got her out of at least half of her problems. The blonde blinked shook her head and tried to pulling her figurative foot from her mouth.

"Well, you know, that you run the biggest new corporation in Metropolis, the SLO?" Karen asked her. "You know, if you're not with SLO, you're SOL, as the slogan goes."

"I remember that one," Harry commented with a smile, he was pretty sure that this was not really the secret that she was going to go with, but she was going to allow it anyway. "But, it's not really a state secret that I'm a part of that corporation, I mean, it's kind of an open fact, isn't it?"

"Oh yes, yes, I know, but there are just some things that you're doing, that aren't as open of a secret," Karen said, deciding to choose her words as wisely as she could. "You've been trying to stop Luthor at every turn, the entire business world has been wondering if you have it out for him."

"Lex Luthor takes everything a bit personally, doesn't he?"

"Yes," Karen said and she mentally added something to herself.

'_More than you can ever know.'_

"The fact is, the people of Metropolis do deserve options, and while STARR labs is a great option, as you well know," Harry said and Karen gave him a smug grin at that statement. "It shouldn't be the only great option that the fine people of this city have at their disposal though."

"Oh yeah, there should be more great options, I agree with that," Karen said excitedly. "You're just going to make the people of this city…..well you're really turning things on their head and I know you've been in talk with a couple of companies that are going to…well that have similar aims and are taking a very anti-Luthor stance."

"He's sweating for the first time in forever, not so smug, not so arrogant as he used to be, but yes, I'm trying to make this world a better place for all and if he suffered for it, then bonus points."

Karen blinked and grinned.

"And I'm sure that your friend has spilled the beans, hasn't she, about what I was up to?" Harry asked and Karen looked at him, so Harry had to clarify for her. "You know Patricia Swann."

"Yes, she mentioned you a time or two, in the most glowing of ways, I can assure you," Karen reminded him, taking the drink that she had and drinking it, mostly to give her something to do so she would shut up.

"I'm sure she does, my meetings with her have been nothing but positive, her father would be proud," Harry said and Karen smiled at this. Patricia would have been pleased to see Harry said that, if she had been here that was.

"He didn't exactly leave the smallest shoes to fill, you know," Karen commented and Harry smiled.

"No, he didn't, but some people are well up to working up to the legacy of their parents and then a little bit beyond it."

"Were you?" Karen asked, but then she realized that she might have said a bit too much, yet again. Harry didn't really mention much about his parents, other than the fact that they died when they were really young and when he was not even out of diapers.

Karen turned about ten shades of red, with Harry's eyes locking onto hers. The blonde wanted to find a nice hole to go in and retire for the rest of her life. But to his credit, Harry played it rather cool to be honest.

"I'd like to think that I made my own legacy."

That was a blunt statement if there ever was one but Karen thought that it was a pretty fair statement all things considered. Especially with all of what Harry did, his legacy was one that she thought that she should be proud of building.

"Okay, fair enough," Karen said and Harry let the subject pass without further comment, which was a relief to Karen.

"You know, there is a spot open for you if you want it…..I know you're in with STARR but the two companies are working closely together so…"

"You know, I might have to take it up with you in the future," Karen said, with a smile. She looked into his green eyes and saw sincerity, he wanted to help Metropolis. There must have been something in his past where he failed in helping someone, which was something that Karen could relate to.

She remembered being put on that ship, and the last thing that she saw before being rocketed off of the planet was Krypton falling. She managed to leave with a good deal of Kryptonian knowledge but not everything.

Knowledge that could help her and Harry's future plans together but the problem was telling Harry of her heritage and that was a big step, one that she was not willing to take at this point in time. Not saying that she was not willing to take it in the not so distant future, just not today.

"So, how are your classes?"

"Oh, I think that I'm doing very well in them," Karen said and Harry smiled back at her.

"So, am I going to have to create brand new records for you to break?"

Karen laughed in amusement, but she did enjoy a nice challenge or two.

* * *

><p>The easiest way to figure out whether or not Lex Luthor was plotting was whether or not he was still breathing. The businessman was ready for pretty much anything that he could do and he was currently on the phone with one of his contacts.<p>

"My current…..problem aside, the project is on schedule, just keep up your end of the deal," Luthor told the person over the phone. "Wayne returning would give you some difficulties, wouldn't it? But I could have thought that you had complete control over the company, that the prodigal child returning, it wouldn't be a problem."

Luthor heard his response but he didn't really want to listen to excuses.

"Keep her distracted the best you can, that shouldn't be too hard, given her reputation, there were people for the longest time who thought that she did something stupid and got herself sold into slavery overseas," Lex commented, not caring. He didn't really think that the business world was any place for females, as they were emotional, irrational, and made foolish decisions, especially when caught at the wrong time of the month. "Powers, I'm warning you…just don't disappoint me. I never took disappointment all that well and I certainly won't from you."

There were reassurances on the other side of the line but Lex thought those to be absolutely hallow. That being side, he placed the phone down and rubbed his temple, sighing long and hard.

The problem was that this was one of the more competent of his business contacts. It did make unsurping people's assets and companies a bit easier when the people there did not have that much going on upstairs. But it made dealing with them in the meantime to be a headache and a half.

Luthor tapped his fingers on the table, waiting the intercom buzzed, with Luthor's secretary on the other line.

"Sir, he's here to see you."

Lex smiled, he knew who this person was, and he was not a person who would be kept waiting.

"Well what are you waiting for, send him in!"

"At once sir," his secretary commented in a dry voice and the door opened, to reveal the imposing figure making his way into the office. He was large and cast a shadow over everything as he walked forward.

"I must say, I was surprised to hear that the legendary Lex Luthor of all people wanted to acquire my services."

"Well, to be fair, your reputation precedes you, as you were the man who broke the Bat."

"Yes, the Bat never did recover, I broke him, and the Clown finished him off, taking him down in a fiery explosion, it took both of them in fact" the large man said in the shadows. "But, I'm sure that I can receive a fair amount of credit."

"If you had not crippled him, he would not have fallen," Lex said, his father and the man behind the cowl had been business associates from back in the day. Both were gone and Lex thought that the world was a lot better without them, both of them. "That being said, welcome, have a seat my friend."

"I prefer to stand."

Lex shrugged, fair enough. Even if he stood, he would be giving up a good amount of height to this man. While he was not completely pumped up, he obviously still kept himself in good shape. Given that the rumors of the ravages of the drug that he took, he was trying not to be too dependent on it and became a formidable force without it.

"Fair enough," Lex said, this was not a man that he was going to spend much time arguing with. He was a man that could break anyone he chose, including Lex. "You know of my problem."

"Yes, this Supergirl," the man in the shadows said, cracking his knuckles together. "Did she stand you up or something?"

"Funny," Lex said, but he didn't say any more than that. "She's a danger to the city that I built, and I'm willing to pay you enough to strongly consider retirement if you do just one thing…"

"Eliminate her, I understand," he said roughly.

"I don't want her eliminated, I want her completely and utterly broken, in the most humiliating way possible, so her adoring public can see her downfall," Lex reminded him. "Do so, and I will go with triple your current rate."

"You are very generous then, Mr. Luthor," the man said in his usual crisp tone. "But…what of the other?"

"Just merely an urban legend, I assure you," Lex said, he was trying to keep his concerns about this so called Shadow Vigilante to himself, mostly because if he lost it right now, it would be bad that he would lose face.

"Sometimes an urban legend can prove to be reality, as I well know from the fabled Batman," he warned Luthor.

"Very well, if he interferes, I trust that I do not need to tell you to do your job."

"Of course not Mr. Luthor, I'm a Professional, and I will give you your money's worth and then even more."

Lex smiled, he loved it when a plan came together. Metallo might have been useful technology but the man behind it was not exactly the most equipped for the job. Now he was not going for swift science but rather an interesting combination of both brains and brawn, a deadly combination that could not be beaten no matter what.

"Excellent," Lex said with a smile on his face and he handed the briefcase to his hired thug. "This is half of the money, you'll get the other half when Supergirl is stuffed and mounted in the study in my mansion."

"Oh it is most generous, and clean bills, a rare delicacy," he said, running his fingers over the money that he had. He always had been handed filthy money dripping in grime and disease, but he took some unsavory jobs in his time.

* * *

><p>"Wayne Industries has been known for generations for one of the top companies in the world," a man with silver hair said, standing at the top of the stage. There was plenty of applause, polite applause at that.<p>

The demonstration from the Wayne Industries people at Met-U was there and Harry had scored some prime seats for both him and Karen. A fact she appreciated immensely.

"Derek Powers, he was the acting CEO of Wayne, after the death of the last one, his father worked on the board for years, so…you can imagine how he got his way in," Harry whispered to Karen and Karen studied the man on the stage, what she saw was not too favorable to her opinion on him.

She knew his type, businessman who was able to say all of the right things to pacify stockholders, while also doing shady backdoor dealings. He was giving a speech how Wayne Industries would continue to grow.

"I don't want to consider myself stepping on anyone's toes here in Metropolis, and I am pleased with the work my good friend Lex Luthor has done so far."

Karen wrinkled her nose and Harry looked on at amusement at the look on her face.

'_Good friend Lex Luthor, okay, I don't like you already, and I don't even know you,' _Karen thought, crossing her arms underneath her chest and leaning back in her seat.

Harry didn't catch that thought from her but her facial expressions allowed him to construct a good enough view of what she was saying, so it was all good, at least he thought so.

"Thanks to our effort to clean up crime in Gotham City, costumed psychopaths that were the rage twenty and thirty years ago are now no more," Powers continued. "And now we extend our efforts to Metropolis, where we give these criminals a chance to have a more productive life, to use their abilities for good rather than terrorizing the people. Gotham City has already built a special tasked force with reformed criminals working alongside GCPD personnel and we're going a long way to making the caped vigilante obsolete with these newly deputized agents of the law."

There was some applause, but it was the polite stoic kind of applause, the type of applause where they were only applauding to be polite.

"Thank you for your speech, Mr. Powers."

The person on the stage was the type of individual that demanded the attention of all eyes towards her. Her silky black hair offset her beautiful gorgeous blue eyes, along with a purple blouse, a black jacket, and a long flowing black skirt, along with stockings and high heel shoes, which she moved in rather gracefully.

"Miss Wayne I think…"

"It's been a long time since I've been here in Metropolis, but my father took me here on business for years sometimes," the woman said, and she smiled. "I'm the daughter of Bruce Wayne, Helena Wayne, but the legacy of my father, while great, in more ways than one, should not be something that defines me. Wayne Industries is all about each generation being better than the last, and setting brand new records, standards to strive for. And I've looked into Metropolis, and have seen two promising businesses, that I will be discussing terms of a business relationship with. The Shining Light Organization or SLO as you all know it as, and STARR Industries. I was as saddened as anyone else to hear about the death of Virgil Swann, for he was a longtime colleague of my father and he was pretty much an honorary uncle to me."

There was a moment of silence, some of the teachers at Met-U were hit hard, the lectures that Swann gave on a guest basis until his health became too much were eagerly anticipated by the students. And the teachers as well come to think of it.

"However, the legacy lives completely on through his daughter Patricia, who I'm sad to say could not make it here today," Helena said, and she acted like she was blissfully unaware of Powers seething in the corner after she took charge and took control of the speech. "And the legacy will continue to live in, in Metropolis, in the world, and in beyond."

There was a more generous applause other than the polite one that Derek Powers said.

"Metropolis has already been cleaned up thanks to the efforts of Harry Potter…..who I understand is here in the crowd amongst you as well."

'_Oh thanks a lot Helena, way to put me on the spot,' _Harry thought, shaking his head. He stood up to be acknowledge and there was plenty of clapping, along with a few screamed marriage proposals. Not that he wasn't used to that before but that was behind him.

Karen smiled in amusement, and Harry turned towards her. She had a sheepish smile on her face, as if she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

"One of the brightest students that Met-U has ever seen, Harry has built a company in a short time that has shaken up the status quo in Metropolis, but I'm sure that Metropolis's favorite son could not be afraid of a little competition, especially when it benefits us all."

There was a certain amount of spite in her voice, for those who were a little bit eagle eared and able to hear such things.

The truth was that she, Patricia, and Lex spent a lot of the time in each other's company, unfortunately, while their fathers did business. And Lex had his issues then. Then again, she was surprised that she didn't have her issues, given her father and to a certain extent, her mother.

"Never the less, the clean energy project that SLO and Wayne are working with, is being rolled out next year," Helena said and Derek Powers looked suddenly like someone had slapped him in the face and then went and kicked him in the balls.

He knew that if he interrupted this, things could look bad but if he didn't exert his control over this matter soon, things would be worse.

The fact that she was in bed with Harry Potter, that could prove to be problematic. It appeared that she was doing more on her long trips than going out and being a party girl.

* * *

><p>The presentation went all that well, even though Derek Powers obviously were trying to use it to subvert some younger minds to his future vision of Wayne and the partnership that he was trying to forge with Lex. Harry was amused by the way that Helena pretty much dove in and took control of what was happening in the press conference.<p>

Harry made his way over towards her, with Karen following closely behind her.

"Something tells me that your Acting CEO wasn't really expecting our business agreement."

Helena turned towards Harry, her full attention locked on him, and a warm smile crossing her face as she looked him over.

"The key word is Acting, he's not the official CEO, in fact, effective today, I'm taking control of my company, and…..the Board would be wise to agree with that fact," Helena said and Karen raised her eyebrow at that point.

"I don't want to know, do I?"

"It's best that you don't," Helena said and she smiled. "It was nice to meet you again…"

"So the two of you have met before?" Karen asked and she looked towards the Wayne Heiress, who raised her eyebrow. She decided that an introduction of some sort was in order. "I'm Karen Starr….."

"Oh, right Patricia mentioned you, you were the one that Doctor Swann found and took in," Helena said, but she didn't say anything about that. The two shook hands with each other it was a firm handshake, with Karen taking extra care not to put too much pressure on. "And you must be something special if Harry's taken an interest in you and agreed to be your student menotr."

Karen raised an eyebrow.

"He gets dozens of requests for people to be mentored, mostly they're trying to use him as a tutor to keep their college athletes from dropping out," Helena said. "You know, the people who don't have the grades to officially get in, but they only get accepted because they're star athletes in high school."

"And the type that they think that high school never ends," Harry added, he would rather put himself behind someone with actual potential, and not someone who was one torn ACL away from taking someone's order at a fast food place.

"Well I'm privileged that you came to me…..because you requested me, and…I'm sure that the school was willing to pay you big money to get behind their star athletes and make sure they pass by the skin of their teeth."

"I don't have infinite time in the day, to deal with them," Harry said but he switched subjects. "So how was your trip?"

"Well two cancelled flights and some weird person following me halfway from the airport but other than that, it was fine," Helena said and Harry gave her a brief smile at her.

"Given some of the rumors that were flying around…"

"Do you mean the rumors that I was abducted by pirates and sold?" Helena asked. "Actually, that almost happened, but the people involved weren't very competent so I escaped."

That statement was given so casually that it amused Karen. It amused Harry as well but he was doing a better job at concealing his amusement.

And given who her father was, she was rather capable of getting herself out of any situation.

"Most people would be kind of disturbed by that…"

"My first hostage crisis was when I was five, so you just try and roll with these things after a while," Helena said with a shrug.

"What is this clean energy project, anyway?"

"Actually that's what I was what I'd like to know."

Harry, Helena, and Karen turned to see Derek Powers. The man was standing there right next to them, a calculating look upon his face and if Harry had to hazard a guess, such a look was not good.

"Well, the fabled Harry Potter, it's an honor to meet you, although I do wish Miss Wayne had informed me of the exclusive deal that she secured," Powers said, extending his hand but Harry just smiled.

"Well, you were busy with your new SCU initiative in Gotham City, and I must say, arming dangerous people like that, some people would raise an eyebrow of how you're keeping them under control."

"They've paid their debt to society," Powers said. Jervis Tetch might be long since dead but his work lived on to help put these people in line. "So, this clean energy project, Wayne does have a full plate, so as CEO, I would highly recommend shelving the project until at least late next year….."

"Actually, Acting CEO and no longer even acting because I'm back, and you'll be moving back to your smaller but still very comfortable modest office further down the hallway from mine," Helena said and Derek chuckled nervously.

"Your father liked to be this difficult…"

"Well, you should know because he never wanted you hired in the first place, funnily enough how yours snuck you in when my father's body was still cooling," Helena said and Powers once again looked at her like he'd like to say something or maybe do something but now was not the time with witnesses around here. Especially someone like Harry Potter, because he knew better.

Karen and Harry watched this byplay with interest, it was like some kind of twisted tennis match.

"I'll speak to the Board," Powers said and he walked off, trying to save face, he had already been humiliated once today, twice if you count being blown off by Harry Potter and treated as an afterthought.

"Well, he could be a problem."

"Yes, well I didn't expect him to just concede power quietly," Helena said, walking with the two away from the crowded room. There were too many people around.

"My office is up the hallway, it's secure," Harry said and Helena looked at him.

"Are you sure there are no bugs in there?"

"Believe me, I have an exterminator come by at the end of every day like clock work to make sure," Harry said and Karen could see that Helena accepted that statement.

That statement, it must have been code for something or other, but she wasn't sure what it was. She suspected that she might find out.

"The only reason why I didn't fire him was that I wanted to figure out what his angle was with Luthor."

Harry wanted to know that as well, it appeared that things were about as he needed to.

"Should I even be here?" Karen asked and Helena looked at her.

"Given the partnership that we're building with STARR and the role you're being groomed for, you're going to be part of anything that's going to be happening soon enough," Helena said, waving off Karen's protests and smiling at her.

Harry added, pouring coffee, which both of the women took graciously. "Besides, it would be kind of rude to tell you to leave after all you've found out."

Karen could tell that there was another secret and once again, she really couldn't throw any stones from her glass house because she was holding onto even more secrets than anyone likely.

How much did Helena know? How much did she guess?

There was just something about her tone that Karen picked up.

'_Don't be paranoid, that's how secrets get told before they're ready to be told,' _Karen thought and she realized that she drained her cup of coffee already.

Out of all of the earth things she had, coffee might have been among the most addicting, unless one counted chocolate. Chocolate was far and way the most addicting thing on the planet.

She did realize how beautiful Helena was and she wondered what was going on between her and Harry. Then again, she could say that they both were pretty good looking, much like she was, given that she turned a few heads in her day.

* * *

><p>"An APB for downtown Metropolis, a group of civilians have been held hostage at the Metropolis Plaza in downtown Metropolis, I repeat, at downtown Metropolis. Then men are large and wearing masks and have military grade technology. All MCU personnel report for duty, I repeat, all MCU personnel report for duty."<p>

There was one individual who was reporting for duty. Her all too snug outfit wrapped around her body, and her golden blonde hair flowed through the air. The red cape flapped in the wind as she made her way forward.

'_Okay, civilians, got to make sure that none of them are hurt all that much.'_

Supergirl was on the case and she could take them out, if she made her way through the roof entrance.

Lifting off the panel with her super strength, she slid down and hovered in mid-air. The blonde continued her descent, going closer to where she needed to go.

That being said, the blonde could hear forces and she paused, using her X-Ray vision to see the men, women, and some children on the ground.

It was tense but Karen could take them out, if she timed her attack right at the precise angle. She shot through the air.

CRACK!

All of them went down completely, and Karen helped the hostages up.

"Get out of here, you're safe…"

Karen was grabbed by her cape, choked in surprise and forcefully yanked back into the shadows. She was caught unaware from this sudden display of force.

"Of course they were safe, I have no intention to harm them, they are merely bait, to set the trap for you," a man dressed in a black body suit and trenchcoat with a black mask said, and he raised his large arms, to try and smash them down on her head.

Karen blocked it and pushed him back, punching him in the face hard.

"I don't know what you intended to do with that attack but…"

He hurled a silver cylinder device into the air and it erupted a loud wave of sonic energy to bombarded the hearing of anyone who was nearby. Karen managed to shield her hearing but it caused her to be caught kind of off guard. The blonde shook her head, her mind was completely disrupted.

At least long enough to get a punch to the midsection, powerful enough to knock the wind out of her.

"Just who are you?"

"You may call me Bane, I will be the one that will be responsible for breaking you Supergirl."

Supergirl dodged her large but skilled foe and slammed him down into the wall. He threw a powder into the air and the backlash caused her vision to be impaired.

"You have been protecting this city, a noble warrior, but that will make your defeat all that much more gratifying."

Bane slammed his hands down onto the back of her neck and she struggled to get it together.

She looked up and saw the red solar lamps that flickered above her. The blonde thought that she was growing weaker and that was the proof. He had done his homework.

She tried to fly towards the exit but he grabbed her from behind, slamming her down to the ground.

"Now, I've got you," Bane grunted, wrapping his large arm around her chin and choking the life out of him. She struggled, squirming out of his grip but it was hard to hold on and the breath was driven from her body.

"Yeah, you've got something, bad BO maybe," Karen panted, she could feel something choke out of her body and she nearly blacked out from the misery and the pain. She pushed him back against the ground.

Suddenly, something or rather someone grabbed Bane from behind and hurled him halfway across the room.

"Are you okay?" Arcane asked and Supergirl looked up, purple bruising around her neck.

"Solar lamps," she managed and Arcane smiled, and he lifted his hand, but stopped.

"That's actually a nice trick, releasing paralyzing gas that would knock anyone out who would be taken down by the red solar lamps."

Bane swung an axe and tried to part his enemy's hair with it, but he dodged the attack.

A silver bolt shot from the sleeve of his costume and destroyed the axe. His costume analyzed what he had to deal with.

'_The armor would cause magic to be negated, not that I could do a powerful enough spell to even ding him in my condition,' _Harry thought but he jumped up on the large man's back and stuck his spiked gauntlets right in the eye sockets of the mask.

Bane gave a loud howl, and he moved around, like a wounded bull.

"That might have been a bit extreme," Karen said, and she could still feel the ravages of suffering a beating without the yellow solar energy to heal her. "So, what do you think?"

He pulled a rocket launcher out from underneath his trench coat and fired.

"That's the thing that's a bit extreme," Harry replied gravely.

A loud explosion blew up the front of the plaza but it took all that Harry had to prevent the debris from flying out and killing anyone else.

She could see Arcane slumped over onto the ground, and she saw that he took the brunt of the explosion.

Bane rushed over and mowed them both over with his large body, and then grabbed both of them around their heads.

"And now, I have you….."

Karen managed to summon all of the power that she could to push him off, and send him flying into a stack of barrels which tipped over from the impact.

The blonde dropped on her hands and knees, panting severely and there was one thought that was going through her mind.

'_That didn't do nearly enough, got to find some sun, if I can,' _Karen thought but she could see his hand grab her foot from the debris and he pull himself up.

"Don't you get it, I have you know."

Harry had one more trick up his sleeve but he never got a chance to implement it, when there was a figure that swooped down from high above.

She was imposing, dressed in a skin tight black leather costume, that emphasized her curves, and a red bat log on the chest. It was hard to tell whether the costume was padded but one thing was for sure, it was heavily armored.

Bane turned his attention to her and gave a low rumbling laughter at her presence.

"Well there is a Batwoman…..I'm flattered…..but there won't be one for much longer."

She pulled out a retractable baton and motioned for him to bring it.

Supergirl and Arcane raised their eyebrows, well this was new. They watched this new party smash Bane in the knee cap with the baton and the large assassin turned around, raising his hands, and she dodged once again.

The fight was on.

**To Be Continued on August 1st 2014.  
><strong>


	5. World's Finest Part Two

Bane blinked in complete surprise, he wasn't expecting Batwoman to show up after all that what happened and now he was completely thrown off his game. He only wished to take out Supergirl and the mysterious shadow vigilante but he was always for an added bonus.

Batwoman motioned for Bane to come towards her and he swung the staff but he caught it in the palm of his hand. His menacing glare was directed towards the woman that was staring him down.

"This isn't about you, child," Bane said, picking up the staff, with Batwoman hanging onto it but she dropped down.

She triggered the quick release in the staff and sent a type of gas into Bane's face, causing him to stagger back a couple of steps. Bane was slumped over, hacking and wheezing, and now Batwoman jumped up.

A huge roundhouse kick rocked Bane in the face and the man flexed his fingers, things completely looked numb.

Supergirl and Arcane watched, with Bane pressing a remote control device.

"That bomb is large enough to destroy this entire city block and anyone who leaves the building but me and doesn't enter the disarming codes, will trigger it," Bane said his hands wrapped around the pillar, and he brought it down, causing parts of the roof to fall onto their heads.

Harry blocked it, but he was exerting his energy to its fullest. Activating the anti-gravity fields on his suit gave him a slight bit more room to thrive and survive. The green eyed wizard panted and tried to hold things up.

"Don't suppose he's bluffing?" Supergirl answered, at least bringing the roof down allowed some yellow sunlight in.

"No," Batwoman said stiffly, speaking up for the first time, and she found the bomb. Opening the case of the bomb, she managed to find the wire sequence.

It was a bomb that she knew how to disarm but it needed careful precision and a strong hand. If she messed up even one simple bit, well they should be prepared for an earth shattering kaboom.

Supergirl was able to help Arcane, she wondered what kind of super powers that he had. She sensed something obviously, but that suit was working well enough for him, powers or no powers.

"There, it's done," Batwoman said.

The roof was holding up but Arcane turned to Supergirl and nodded. He managed to send a kind of sticky glue from his suit, which held the roof up.

"There crude, but it will have to do."

"So, that's, that, isn't it, but I'd imagine he'd got away," Supergirl said, the yellow sunlight was there, but she was feeling the bumps and bruises of that battle. Bane was a tough enemy and a professional, that was the obvious thing.

"He got away, for now, but he'll be back," Arcane said for a second and then he turned around.

He was not the only one who turned around, Supergirl could see that Batwoman pulled that mysterious disappearing act.

"Great, and now our mysterious bat has left the building as quickly as she came," Supergirl said and then she turned to Arcane to say something to him.

There was no Arcane. He too had vanished.

'_You've got to be fucking kidding me, right?' _Supergirl asked, Arcane vanished into the night as quickly as he arrived with a sudden and extremely obvious pop.

This was a galling thing, that was for sure, and Supergirl clenched her first together, but then she saw something that was lying on the ground.

Perhaps Arcane's getaway wasn't as clean as he intended, he dropped something and she was lucky enough to find it.

Right, lucky, sure she was.

Now Kara Zor-L, Karen Starr, she knew better, she really knew better. The fact of the matter was that there was this mysterious case on the ground, right where she could find it and it was somewhat hidden to anyone but her.

Karen picked it up and took the back exit as the Metropolis Major Crimes Unit filed their way into the front way.

Clutching it to her breast, the blonde vixen looked at it, and saw that there were coordinates.

A note briefly flashed on the screen after she committed the coordinates to memory.

**I think you're beginning to put the pieces together, aren't you? Meet me at this location. **

Now that was something that Karen was surprised by and she had her theories about Arcane. They were about to be verified, she had a feeling, but it was unwise to jump to the absolute worst conclusions with something like this.

She popped off like a cork, moving faster than a speeding bullet.

* * *

><p>Supergirl flew to the coordinates and she was surprised, this was kind of not what she was expecting, it was a cave that was pretty much out in the middle of nowhere.<p>

The blonde knew by now by the extraordinary technology that she saw, that she should be expecting something like this.

'_Okay, there's more to this than meets the eye….'_

**Welcome Supergirl, we have been expecting you.**

The female voice was soft and sensual and Supergirl flew into the cave. There was a doorway that was opened in the back wall for her to enter further on in.

The blonde dropped down, and she recognized the same cave from where she got her Kryptonite cure many weeks back. She could see Arcane's back as the blonde heroine tentatively approached him from behind.

"I thought that you might turn up, I mean, I did leave you a good enough clue to bring you here."

Supergirl could not keep that shit eating grin off of her face as she went for the obvious answer. "Well that's kind of by design, isn't it?"

"Yes, yes it is," Arcane agreed and he slowly rose to his feet before turning to face her. "And it's no fair trying to peak."

"What, I'm not trying to use X-Ray vision to see who's underneath the mask!" Supergirl said oh so casually but there was a look on her face to indicate that she was busted and how.

'_Or trying to sneak a peak further underneath it at something else,' _Supergirl mentally added to herself.

"There's a field that prevents anyone from seeing underneath, unless I key them in," Arcane replied. "So, you've attracted the attention of a mercenary and a top dollar one."

"So, are you thinking Luthor or am I just being paranoid?" Supergirl asked and there was a momentary smile underneath Arcane's mask.

"My dear, Supergirl, just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean that they're not out to get you," Arcane said. "This Bane, he used to use a drug called Venom but all of the other test subjects and users…..well it didn't end so well for them."

Supergirl felt revolted as the images flashed on the screen of the long term consequences of exposure to Venom and what it offered to them. The blonde blinked rapidly and the fact that they were completely decomposing while living. It was enough to turn the stomach of anyone, thankfully she had nerves of steel.

"Decomposing, reduced to vegetables, not a pretty sight, Bane was a bit more savvy then most of them, keeping himself in the best of shape only without the Venom, and he's trained his body to be the pinnacle of perfection," Arcane explained. "And there are rumors that he's doing expensive medical treatments to ensure that all of the effects of Venom are purged from his body so he doesn't remain anything like the rest."

"So, that's why he accepted a job from scum like Luthor," Supergirl said.

Luthor really was spiteful to be honest and he was only going to get worse. He had security that even most governments would not spring for as well. After Supergirl's little stunt a few weeks ago, she likely wasn't going to have a chance to get up close and personal with Lex again.

"Yes, it isn't personal, merely business," Arcane told her and she sighed.

"I can tell you right now, that merely business can really get pretty fucking personal."

Harry would have to concede that point but he moved onto the next line of discussion in his investigation.

"What I want to know is…..what's the angle for this Batwoman?"

Supergirl was curious about this but Arcane was only too happy to enlighten her in on the fact.

"There was a legend known as Batman, who fought a colorful gallery of rogues, starting almost forty years ago and he finally was brought down fifteen years ago, with no one knowing what caused his demise," Arcane told Supergirl and the blonde's lips curled into a smile. "And Bane dealt with Batman in the twilight of his career, at least that's what I'm able to piece together."

Supergirl could not help but be impressed. "Wow, it looks like you've done your homework. There's a lot going on underneath that mask."

"We all wear masks, it's just some of them are less obvious than others."

Supergirl smiled, if she wasn't guilty as charged, she didn't know what to call herself.

There was this moment where one could have told the other who they were, even though it was obvious that both of them knew. Both wanted the other to make that first move.

That being said, they would have to wait, for an alarm started to kick up, which caused Supergirl's eyes to blink.

"The tracker I slipped on Bane."

She was caught completely off guard by this. "How did you slip a tracker on Bane?"

"Well he was too busy trying to strangle both of us to really notice," Arcane replied, but there was another message on his computer. "And it appears that our mysterious friend wants a meeting."

"How did she know where to send the message?" Supergirl wondered.

"She's Batwoman," Arcane said as if this explained everything and Supergirl shrugged, she guessed that it did.

* * *

><p>Helena Wayne sat in her new and improved Batcave, the cowl off of her costume. It was funny, she never thought that she would be one to follow her father's legacy, but she was following the biggest part of his legacy.<p>

More or less, she was trying to settle an old debt. Her appearance in Metropolis this particular week was not a coincidence, she managed to get information that Bane was meeting with Lex Luthor. The fact that she was able to pretty much undermine Derek Powers, who she had a feeling was in bed with Luthor, that was just gravy on top of everything else to be honest.

That being said, she was at the Batcave and she started to fire up the computer.

"ALFRED, I need all of the information that we have on Bane," she told the computer.

"Very good, Miss Wayne, it will be loaded in ninety seconds," ALFRED said in his usual dry British voice. The computer had been created by the late Mr. Pennyworth, using his brainwaves, with a little help from the late Lucius Fox, to help any future generations.

Helena waited for the information to come to light and she came to a sudden realization that Bane had a lot to gain financially from wiping out Supergirl.

Especially when she saw the other Venom test subjects. Bane was the only one that was holding on and that was due to the strong will power that the man possessed. Another year, maybe less, and he would be on that road. He was opting for a risky procedure to mitigate that. He was not getting any younger, but his mind was skilled and his body, despite the handicap of the drug that once strengthened him, was still as able.

The problem was that Helena had a vendetta to hash out with Bane. It was because of him that her father was broken and left in the state that he was. While he wasn't the one that killed him, that honor had to do with the clown, he did cause Batman to break, after throwing him up against a gauntlet of some of his greatest enemies.

She would find him, the tracker that she placed on him lead him to a hideout. It was a former base of the League of Shadows, a group that Bane had worked with in the past. The League disbanded after the death of Ra's Al Ghul, well the latest death of Ra's Al Ghul. There were several factions out there and about, but Helena didn't concern herself with things like that, right now.

Then there were the two heroes of Metropolis. Sure the paper reported them as vigilantes but Helena sympathized better than anyone else did. There were a lot of people who wanted the heads of anyone dressed like a bat on a pike.

Supergirl and what the police was dubbing the Shadow Vigilante. Only the barest hints of the second one found its way into the papers.

She managed to tip the scales with them against Bane. It wasn't like they were incapable, in fact they were very capable. It was just that she wanted her piece of the action and some kind of payback over Bane. Who had been the Bane of her existence for quite some time, pun completely intended.

'_I have a good idea who they are,' _she thought, sending a message to them. _'But I wonder if they know who each other are or they've figured out who I am.'_

The response to the message was prompt and quick. The dark haired woman smiled, with Arcane reporting back that he would meet them there.

She pulled the cowl up over her face and prepared to suit up and get out. She had a long night ahead of her and said night was still very young. Especially for someone who prowled in the darkness, setting fear in the hearts of the superstitious and cowardly lot.

* * *

><p>Supergirl dropped down to the ground and Arcane followed her. The two of them would be meeting Batwoman in a few seconds.<p>

"So, do you think that she'll show up soon?"

Arcane answered Supergirl's question without any hesitation. "If it is who I think it is underneath that mask, then she's nothing but prompt. Trust me, she's good for it."

"Oh…..wait it almost sounds like you have a good idea who is underneath that mask?" Kara asked and Arcane gave her a knowing smile, even though she quite couldn't see it underneath the mask.

"I might have a hunch, yes."

The two of them stood, there were many words that were unsaid and sure enough, Batwoman turned up next to them.

"So, I'm guessing that you slapped a tracker on him."

"That predictable, eh?" Arcane asked her.

"No, just shows that you have common sense and lured him into a false sense of security," Batwoman said and she turned to Supergirl. "What exactly did you do to piss Luthor off so badly that he would make a deal with one of the highest paid mercenaries in the land?"

"Oh you know, foiled a scheme of his, took attention away from him, same old, same old," Supergirl said waving her hand quite dismissively. "The problem is all of what I did…..can't be proven in a court of law."

"That is a problem," Arcane said, Luthor was dangerous and well protected as well. He had been able to charm his way out of trouble in the past.

That being said, he was sure Luthor was going to do something really stupid with the rate that Harry was undermining him in the business world. It might take a while, but someone like that did not really take being humiliated all too well or at all.

That being said, if they wanted justice to be done legally, it might be an extremely long wait.

"Bane is holed up in here somewhere."

"You came to the same conclusion that we did," Supergirl told Batwoman but she was stoic and all serious business as usual.

"Well, it was obvious, if one researched his past ties, and there were a couple of bases hidden deep in Metropolis, one of them underneath this warehouse district, well abandoned now, isn't it?" Batwoman asked.

Arcane smiled, he was scanning the side of the building for any traps. That being said, there didn't seem to be anything on the outside.

"So, everything secure, either he's not here, he's too confident, or…"

"He's got something else up his sleeve," Batwoman said, prepping herself for anything.

She didn't want to make this too personal, Bane was just another enemy that she needed to take down, swiftly and decisively.

And maybe a bit permanently, that was one flaw her father had, not taking down psychopaths like the clown before they killed thousands of people. Many of them children, and Helena hated to say this, but her father might be just a tiny bit responsible for a lot of death, indirectly.

That being said, she couldn't worry about that right now, that was in the past.

Arcane stepped forward, he changed into a slightly modified version of his suit. It had never had a field test yet but all of the baseline testing worked.

And he had to bring it out and use it in a practical manner sometime, otherwise things would get messy in a hurry.

"Pretty low tech lock on here," Supergirl commented, watching Batwoman pick the lock.

"All much the better, but it's what's inside that counts," Batwoman said and she slipped inside.

There was nothing but scurrying rats on the floor. Appearances could once again be deceiving.

There was a lone crate, sitting in the middle of the warehouse and Arcane stepped forward, picking up the crate.

There was a small remote control device, which Arcane hooked up to his suit and began to scan. He was not about to press a button for a remote control device without knowing exactly what said device did. There was stupid and then there was suicidal and this kind of was borderline suicidal, just a little bit, maybe.

That being said, he could hear a beep, beep, beep, sound and his eyes followed the progress of the vault door sliding open.

"And there you go, super-secret entrance to villain base."

* * *

><p>Bane sat on the ground, cross legged, and trying to return himself to sanity. He kept his mind active, knowing that the moment that he allowed it to slip, it would go into a vegetative state.<p>

He got to his feet and continued to make the next move on the three games of chess that he was playing simultaneously, whilst thinking of a plan to take down Supergirl. Now that the Batwoman was in the equation, the situation changed a lot.

Bane growled, making his way to his feet, and he heard someone coming down the steps.

The question was how did they find him?

He saw the crate with the remaining supply of Venom, the tubes already loaded up. He picked up one of the tube injectors, holding it in his hand. It was like holding white hot coals in his hand, and his eyes peered onto it.

The temptation was there but Bane had been fighting returning to that addiction for nearly fifteen years. He only kept them there was a constant reminder that he was stronger than that now and he was stronger than any of them.

He could see them, the Shadow Vigilante lead the charge, along with Supergirl and Batwoman.

"You know, the hunt isn't really as fulfilling when the prey willingly comes into the hunter's den."

"Oh, you didn't get the latest memo, you were the one being hunted," Supergirl said, hovering in the air, her hands on her hips and ready to attack. Now that he was distracted, it was time for someone else to make her move.

Batwoman threw a throwing dagger at Bane but he caught it in his hands.

"You're going to have to do better than….ARGH!" Bane growled with the throwing dagger exploding and knocking him back.

Arcane went behind Bane and took his legs out from underneath him. His bones cracked and snapped, the second that he landed on the ground.

He just managed to drag himself out of the way, with Supergirl trying to curb stomp him. She cracked the ground when he narrowly avoided her attack.

Bane had the venom tubes still near him and he grabbed them.

"I will have you, my honor will be restored…"

The venom tubes were summoned into Arcane's hand before he could use them.

"You've long since passed the point of that when you started using short cuts to win your battles," Arcane said and he nailed Bane with a slicing motion coming from his suit.

Bane lifted up into the air and crashed through the windows, landing onto the ground hard in the next room.

"The rate that your brain is degeneration, you might only have six months of conscious thought left….."

Bane held one of the injectors in his hand, Arcane managed not to acquire this one and slammed it into his forearm.

"And with that, you only have six hours," Arcane said, and Bane completely and utterly bulked up, his injures healing.

The problem was the Venom that he had taken was completely unstable and his muscles kept growing, including his heart which struggled and strained to pump blood.

A nine foot tall Bane towered over them, and started to smash the pillars, growling.

"I will crush you all," Bane growled, his heart struggled to pump the life blood that was needed for his body.

He just committed suicide, more or less and Harry wondered what would happen first. Would his head explode first or would his heart?

"Look," Supergirl whispered and Arcane noticed what Bane was doing.

Crushed to death by falling rubble worked as well. The three jumped back and that entire room, cinderblocks, steel, and glass all came down on top of Bane.

There was a second of silence and Bane's grotesquely pumped up arm slammed his way through the rubble, and ripped through it like it was tissue player.

"Come fucking on!" Supergirl yelled but then she heard it.

His heart struggled to pump blood and he took half of a step forward, dropping down to one knee, and then dropping down, landing face first onto the ground.

Bane was dead but that was far from the only thing that was happening. There was some kind of blipping sound.

"And he has a bomb in the base, where if he dies, anyone inside gets taken out, it's kept inactive by his heart beat," Batwoman said, she should have known that there was some kind of catch.

The trio made their way outside of the temple, with Arcane shielding it to the best of his abilities behind him.

Click, click, click, BOOM!

The rest of the temple went up in the hottest fire, including any evidence that Bane might had on him to point back to Lex Luthor.

Supergirl watched, she knew that some people were desperate and she turned to both of her companions.

Both of them who vanished without saying good bye.

'_Okay, this is kind of getting a bit annoying,' _Supergirl said, throwing her arms across her chest and giving a long and labored sigh.

She figured that now was the time to leave and see things. At least she knew the location of the super-secret Arcane lair of magic and mystery.

Which did sound like something out of a cheesy comic book, she had to admit, but then again, Karen admitted that half of her life was something out of a cheesy comic book.

* * *

><p>"The abandoned Hackman Warehouse in Metropolis went up in flames today, but MCU were shocked to learn that the remains of the master assassin known as Bane, the man who broke Batman fifteen years ago, was found in the wreckage of the warehouse," a blonde woman on the screen said outside of the warehouse remains and the temple. "There seems to be little on the way of evidence in what Bane was doing in Metropolis but eye witness accounts indicate that the mysterious Batwoman was sighted in the area. Is she any relation to the legendary Batman or is she just some well-meaning fan who decided to play tribute to him?"<p>

'_Interesting,' _Lex thought, watching the news report. Sure he lost the down payment but he could flush a few hundred million dollars down the toilet and not be too bothered about it. He had those kind of resources to burn.

"The rumors of a business partnership between Wayne Industries and the Shining Light Organization are picking up traction," the female on the screen said. "Helena Wayne has taken control back from the company from Acting CEO Derek Powers, and already Wayne Industries stocks are being valued higher."

Luthor crushed the piece of paper that he held on his desk. This was the first that he heard of this and the first of Powers being turfed.

"While Powers will be kept on as a consultant, many are suspecting that he may be phased out of the company and encouraged for an early retirement," the woman said and once again, one could see the smoke almost coming up from the back of Lex Luthor's head and he crumpled the ball of paper even further into his hand. "I'll have more at twenty five after the hour. Coming up, it's the Lombard Sports Report. This is Cat Grant at the Metropolis Daily News, signing off."

Lex flipped off the television screen, his lips curling into a bit of a sneer and he slid back onto his desk.

He tried to dial Powers but the man wasn't picking up.

This was not going as planned.

Then the lights went out in the building.

Some idiot likely blew a fuse and that didn't improve Lex's mood at all. Then there was something that made the hairs stand up on the back of his neck, grabbing him from behind, and slamming him into the wall.

"Who….what…"

Lex was slammed right through the large window of his building and he was dangled across the city streets. The man struggled against the grip of this mysterious, invisible force.

"You…..what the hell are you doing?" Lex demanded, struggling to breath. "SECURITY, SECURITY!"

"They can't get in your office, because the doors are locked and they can't get it open without the power in the building," a modulated voice said. "Amusing, isn't it, Lex?"

"You're him, aren't you?"

"Very good, I am, you think that you're untouchable just because you're Lex Luthor, but people only pretend to like you because they like your money. You are only Metropolis's favorite son until something better comes along."

"I don't know what you're playing at, I'll have your head for this," Luthor said, squirming underneath the grip of this man and he kept dangling from the window.

"No, Lex, I'll have yours," the young man said, and he kept dangling him from his grip and Lex tried to escape his grip.

Lex found himself dangling from a gargoyle in the window, he pretty much was in a position where someone could pull him up, but the rain water was coming down and the gargoyle was getting pretty slick.

There was a few seconds where he tried to hang on and finally the power came back down on the building.

The doors opened and Lex looked at the security guards, who gawked at him.

"PULL ME UP YOU IDIOTS!" Lex yelled but his grip slipped from where he was hanging.

It was only his luck that there was some window scaffolding that was set up, but his legs landed hard, shattering every single bone in them. He blacked completely out, with lightning flashing through the sky.

The scaffold creaked and threatened to fall down and Luthor's security staff was not the brightest bulbs in the box.

It wobbled perilously with Lex trying desperately to hang on but he was failing from where he stood.

* * *

><p>Arcane sat at the lair, he was waiting for Supergirl to appear. He suspected that after his disappearing act, she would have tracked him down.<p>

Sure enough, she appeared, her cape blowing behind her.

"You do have a busy life, don't you?" Arcane asked her. "But I guess that super powers help you juggle all that you do."

"Well…..what are you talking about?"

"Well between classes, work at STARR Lab, and being Supergirl, you do have a full life, don't you?"

The blonde's mouth hung open, her expression kind of priceless to be honest.

"You've figured it out as well…."

"I'm sure most people are distracted by that amazing red "S" of yours," Arcane told her and she smiled.

"Well given what it's attached to, I guess….it's really a family crest, someone decided that it should stand for Supergirl, and the name struck…"

"Funny you're called Supergirl, when it's obvious that you're all woman."

She smiled, bright blue eyes meeting his.

"So, did you figure it out, or do you want me to reveal it?" Arcane asked after a second and the blonde looked at him.

She played coy, mostly because she enjoyed the game that they were playing. "Reveal what?"

"Oh you want to play that game…"

"You know, I do want to properly thank the person who bailed my ass out of trouble at least two times now."

"Yeah," Arcane commented lightly, staring her down. "It was at least two times."

"At least, and I'm sure that there will be plenty more times in the future," Supergirl replied. "So, you figured it out…"

"Yes, Kara, I did," Harry said, using her given Kryptonian name which had been given in the press when Supergirl went public and smiling at her, his mask slowly retracting a little bit. "Is this a big enough hint for you…"

"That you're Harry Potter….yes I figured that out a while ago," Karen said with a smile on her face, looking at him and she could see his face. "You know, I was about ready to blurt out what I learned…..when I told you that I knew your secret."

"I figured as much, you were a bad liar in there, with how abruptly you changed the subject."

"Yeah, but I'm getting better…..so did you have any interest of me because I'm Supergirl or was it because….."

"Well, I had a theory that you were Supergirl, it was just easy to put the pieces together, but it was your grades that put me onto your trail, " Harry confirmed for her.

"So, how often were you looking out for me before you met me?"

"Now, Kara, a gentleman never tell his secrets, especially if he was a wizard," Harry said and Kara was interested in this.

"Are you….wizard, really?"

"Yes, Kara, really," Harry told her, a smile crossing his face when he looked at her. "You're an alien from another planet and you think that the wizard thing is a bit of a stretch."

"Well no, come to think about it, and there were magic users on Krypton…"

"You do have the potential for it, I can feel the aura around you," Harry told her and the blonde placed her hands on her hips, which was an attractive look for her.

"That sounds like a cheap pick up line if there ever was one," Karen told him and Harry laughed.

"It kind of is to be honest but…"

"I don't mind, I really don't," she said looking him over. "So I guess that our secrets are pretty much on the table…"

"I thought that you would force the issue a bit sooner to be honest."

Karen smiled. "I can be really patient when I choose to be."

She stepped closer but Harry did not back off.

"And I want to thank you for all of your help, both as Karen Starr and both as Supergirl."

Karen wrapped her arms around Harry and Harry returned the favor. Their lips met in an explosive kiss.

There was something that flashed through both of their minds, a sense of familiarity. They could have sworn that they done this before but they weren't going to complain too much. Their arms entangled around each other, with their tongues trying to battle each other for domination.

The kiss lasted a long time, but not long enough as a distress signal caused Karen to jerk her head back.

'_Really, now of all times.'_

"I guess this looks like a job for Supergirl," Harry said and Karen smiled.

"That sounds like something out of a cheesy comic book, but I guess it fits," Karen said and she placed her finger on his neck, running it down briefly across his chest plate. "We'll finish this later."

She gave him another quick kiss and bolted off, but going slow enough so she could tease Harry a little bit by swaying her hips when she departed.

"We shall."

**To Be Continued on August 5****th**** 2014. **


	6. Interactions

Karen smiled; one would say that the truth would set someone free. The entire secret identity thing, well she read the autobiographies of some retired heroes, who said that it was murder for their social life, the secrets that they had to hold from the ones they cared about. To the point where they considered giving up the life. But some of them admitted that they could not get rid of the rush that came with being a hero.

The blonde had to admit that she felt that rush every single time that she came out there but now that she found someone that she could share that experience with, she could have even more of a rush.

Needless to say, she found out a fair bit about Harry, but she had to admit that there were pretty good reasons why he didn't want to talk about his past all that much and Karen had to respect that to be honest. The blonde was dressed in a nice red dress that hugged all of her amazing curves. Her blue eyes shined out brightly and a nice pair of stockings covered her legs.

She waited for the door to open, and she could see Harry standing there, dressed in a nice suit. He looked like the vision of perfection as far as she was concerned.

Harry smiled at her, looking over her body. The dress was something that added to her beauty but at the same time, made sure that it left something to come, and Harry was perfectly okay with that. His green eyes traveled over her body and he beckoned the blonde to follow him.

"You look beautiful Kara."

"Thanks, you look pretty good yourself," Karen said, she didn't even recall the interview that she gave all that time ago, when she revealed that her birth name was Kara Zor-L, but Harry pointed it out to her. Boy, where did the time go anyway? "So, are you ready to go?"

"I've been ready since the moment we arranged this first official date."

Karen wasn't going to say that they might have been technically dating since the first day that they met, although her studies weren't going to be the topic of conversation for this one.

Not that she wasn't pretty proud of how well that she was doing. Rather the blonde followed Harry, her arm wrapped in his, with both of them making their way down the steps of his apartment to his nice sport's car.

It was a picture perfect day in Metropolis, there was not a cloud in a sky, or a hitch in the arrangements. That being said, Karen hoped that she had some unrestricted time with Harry.

"Rumor has it that Lex Luthor is recovering from his little ordeal, that'll put him on the shelf for a while," Harry said and Karen's eyes flashed with amusement.

"Good, I hope that he got the message."

Harry thought that Luthor had the dumbest luck possible, because a fall like that should have crippled him at the very least.

"And he's not having a good time in the business world either, as SLO has replaced LuthorCorp as the favorite corporation of choice in Metropolis."

Karen grinned once again, the two of them driving to a nice park in Metropolis, where they could have their picnic. For October this was a nice enough day, so they wanted to make the most of it.

"After all you've been through, I thought that someone like you would want to have a quiet life…..I mean no offense," Karen said and Harry smiled, setting up the picnic lunch that he had provided.

"None…..taken," Harry said with a smirk. "There's a lot to be done in this world, although the people here appreciate it more."

"A lot of people do," Karen said, but it was just bad that the politicians in charge didn't really appreciate her standing. The police did, the normal citizens on the street did.

"Well, a lot more will now."

Harry placed the latest edition of the Daily Planet in front of Karen who read the headline that described many of the heroic feats of Supergirl recently, including saving a bus of children from going over an unfinished bridge when the bus driver had a heart attack.

"I'm sure that's going to remind people that you've done a lot of good from the city," Harry said and Karen looked at him with a surveying look, chewing on her sandwich.

"You didn't have to….."

Harry placed a finger to her mouth and looked her in the eye.

"I learned a lesson far too late that the press is a vital tool, and if people like Luthor can manipulate it before you do, then you're fighting an uphill battle. It's a necessary evil to deal with."

Karen nodded, she would have to agree with that to be honest.

'_The last of our kind, the both of us,' _Karen told, taking a large swig from the juice that she had.

"Wayne Industries is now moving along forward as well, without any difficulities, the Board agreed to send Powers back to his modest office down the hallway," Harry said with a smile.

"I don't suppose you would have anything to do with that."

Harry smiled and decided to answer her question with a very obvious statement, deciding to offer a strawberry dipped in whipped cream.

Karen took it into her mouth, her tongue brushing against his finger very sensually, with the blonde nibbling on it.

"Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no lies."

Karen decided to return the favor, feeding Harry a strawberry of his own with a smile.

"It's just that…..well it's obvious that you and her have been meeting together a lot," Karen said with a smile.

"Are we trying to imply something, Miss Starr?" Harry asked.

"Absolutely not," Karen said, nearly jumping up, which gave the lovely effect of making her breasts bounce before him. That was an alluring sight to say the very least.

She looked into his dazzling green eyes and they were something that she could get lost in forever.

Karen actually didn't mind sharing Harry, as long as she came first or any other versions of her came first.

She wondered where that thought came from, that seemed oddly specific. Granted, she had read theories about alternate universes and all that.

"Are we lost in space?" Harry asked, and he decided to grab Karen, and pull her into a nice kiss.

The blonde was shocked but she returned the favor and playfully grabbed Harry by the shoulders, pushing him back onto the ground, getting on top of him. The blonde's tongue worked into his.

Harry could feel her breasts press against his muscular chest and her lips press against his, it was like feeling fire onto his mouth. The green eyed wizard explored her body with his hands and she did the same thing with his. Things were getting even more heated by the second.

Karen thought that she couldn't hold back much longer. She was not ashamed of her body after all and therefore she wanted to show it off. After all, if you got it, flaunt it.

The blonde undid Harry's shirt, her hands roaming over his muscular chest and he had nothing to be ashamed about her. She could feel his hardness pressed against his thigh and it looked as good as the time that she waited for him, why he showered.

She was only human…..well actually not really, but her point still stood. She did have needs after all.

Harry reached up with a smile, his hands on her side but suddenly, a silent alarm caught both of them off guard.

"Well, guess the party's over."

Karen shook her head, being Supergirl was good and all but those retired heroes had a point, it was kind of a bitch for a person's social life.

Harry smiled, he could see her change into her Supergirl outfit, and a brief flash of her nude body caused a smile to spread over his body. It was pretty much by design what she showed, he had a feeling. Not that her body wasn't all that grand as well, with her tight blue and red top forming over her full breasts, showing her nice stomach, and also her flowing red skirt that might have grown a bit shorter since she last had the costume.

"So, are you coming?"

"Well that might be the problem," Harry replied to her and Karen smirked at it.

"Down boy, I'm sure there will be other chances," Karen said playfully.

'_Likely after I murder every single criminal in the city,' _Karen thought, but she was half joking.

She watched with Harry pressing his watch and his costume grew onto himself, armor and all.

'_I need to get me something like that.'_

"So, what is that, some kind of nano-tech armor?" Karen asked him and Harry smiled.

"Pretty much, yes, so are you ready?"

Supergirl and Arcane were ready to roll.

"So, there's a charity ball that Helena Wayne is holding in Gotham City this weekend, are you interested in going?"

"Patricia mentioned that, and she said that she might attend, but if you're asking me…"

"She invited me, she thinks that it would be best if I made an appearance, the stuffed suits at Wayne Industries are afraid of me for some reason," Harry said and a smile crossed his face.

"Yeah, I'll go, of course," Karen said, her skirt shifting in midair, which made Harry able to get a view of her panties. Not anyone else mind you because she was moving at super speed but she had a feeling that Harry could slow down her super fast movements with his mind.

Not that she was complaining, oh she was not complaining, not in the slightest. Arcane and Supergirl dropped down to get a good look at what their enemies were doing.

They were using some kind of drill to burrow underneath the bank and they had a tank to boot.

Karen smiled, that was just child's play for her. Cracking her knuckles, she locked eyes with Harry and the two of them made their way inside.

* * *

><p>"You actually almost fucked him in the park."<p>

Patricia said this to Karen and the blonde turned towards her friend. She was dressed in a nice black dress on her way to the charity ball that weekend. They had not really had a chance to talk, Karen was busy with her studies and saving the day, and Patricia was busy with the budding three way partnership between STARR, Wayne, and SLO.

"Well, if you must put it so crudely…..yes, I did," Karen said without any shame.

"So, taboos are far different on Krypton than on Earth…."

"It's not just that, it's just that, underneath the yellow sun, my hormones could get strong, it's hard to hold myself back, but most of the time since then…..well Harry has been about as busy as you are on the business front and the teachers have started to bury us underneath a mountain of homework," Karen told Patricia and she placed her hand underneath her chin. "I don't know how the people without super powers cope with that."

"You know, when we tested your powers, I didn't know that super libido was a part of them," Patricia said, the two of them walking down the winding set of stairs. They flew to the hotel in Gotham City, one of the nicer parts of Gotham City.

She just hoped that she wouldn't get mugged regardless, although she had the best bodyguard.

"So, there are a lot of people out there that's talking about, you, you are getting pretty famous, even outside of that tight costume that you wear," Patricia said, with a teasing glint in her eye towards Karen. "There are rumors that you, Helena Wayne, and Harry are in a threesome relationship."

"It's a work in progress," Karen said shrewdly and Patricia blinked for a second, that was not quite the response that she expected. "Tonight could be the night that something breaks on the Harry front, you know."

"Oh, I know," Patricia responded to her, with a smile, and she could say that Karen chose the absolute best that she could have in Harry Potter.

"You know, if you want a night with him, I'm sure that I could convince him…"

"Karen, I don't know where that idea got in your head," Patricia said and she looked at Karen with a teasing glint in her eyes. "It's almost like you're trying to build him a harem…"

"First of all it's a collective, and second of all….being the Alpha of a strong Alpha Male like Harry, that's a source of pride," Karen said with a smile on her face and speaking of the man, here he is.

Karen rushed forward but stopped, realizing that tackling Harry through the front wall of Wayne Manor might not endear themselves to their party guests.

That being said, she stopped, giving Harry a strong hug and a powerful kiss, which he returned, overpowering her which was quite a feat.

Patricia watched the scene next to her, kind of amused all things considered. And she would be lying if she didn't say that she was the tiniest bit aroused by what she was saying.

Karen and Harry got it out of their systems and broke apart. The grin was not fading from Karen's face any time soon and she turned around to acknowledge the fact that Patricia was still there.

"Oh, by all means, take your time."

"It's good to see you again, Miss Swann, although the last time I did, your father was still alive," Harry said with a smile and he reached forward, taking her hand and planting a kiss on it, which caused shivers to go down her spine.

"I think that he knew that his research would go on, so it was his time to go," Patricia said, managing to reboot her brain from the kiss on the hand. Karen must have tolerance of steel to manage to withstand one of those on the lips. His lips could be registered as lethal weapons. "Although he was an advocate and a follower of your work, even after he didn't make any more appearances in public with his health failing."

"Glad to see that he thought so highly of me."

"There are many people who think extremely highly of you, Doctor Potter," Patricia replied, trying to keep herself on a steady level and needless to say, the three of them went in together, with Karen taking Harry's arm and Patricia following them, rather amused.

"Harry, it's good to see that you showed up."

Helena stood there, looking rather stunning in a flowing blue dress that emphasized her curves. They were not as ample as Karen's but it was nothing to sneeze at and she was about as good as any non-super powered female could hope for.

"Are you kidding, I wouldn't miss it for the world?" Harry asked and Helena stepped forward, giving him a kiss, right in front of a group of men who looked to be currying her favor.

Helena stepped back, with Karen raising an eyebrow. The Wayne Heiress, knowing her reputation full and well, and deciding to milk it.

"I'm sorry, how rude of me," Helena said, seeing that the cameras were right there. She heard of the rumors that were flying through the tabloids as of late and she decided that she'd really give them something to talk about.

Karen could feel Helena's hands on her hips and the dark haired woman leaned forward, kissing her straight on the lips. The blonde managed to return the kiss for a little bit.

"And now, I'm the one feeling cheated," Harry whispered Patricia, who smiled and patted him on the shoulder in a consoling manner.

Karen pulled away and turned towards Harry. "You know, all things considered, I wasn't really expecting that one."

"I'm sure you weren't," Harry told her and Karen crossed her arms over her chest, her lips curling into a pout.

"Well, I wasn't," Karen protested, defiance in her voice and Harry smiled, patting her on the top of her back, and the two of them decided that it would be best to enjoy the party.

Harry nearly ran headfirst into a blonde who wore a slinky black dress and was admiring the scene. He could have sworn that she was looking at Helena's ass, but perhaps he was imagining things.

"Sorry, I didn't…..I wasn't paying attention," the blonde told him and her eyes averted up to the painting. "It's just that my family is a big fan of the arts, and…The Wayne family has one of the extensive art collections in all of Gotham."

She stopped and blinked, with a smile crossing her face and something hit her with the not so subtle force of a freight train.

"You're Harry Potter, aren't you?"

"Well, I see my reputation follows me, what can I do for you Miss….."

"Walker, Melanie Walker," she told him, the blonde shifting, and adjusting her glasses, staring at him with a smile. "You broke a lot of records, and well you have a lot of fans."

"Would you be one of them, Miss Walker?" Karen asked with a smile, and Melanie looked up at her, because Karen was more than a head taller than her.

"Well, I think that you better than anyone else would admire my good taste, if I was," Melanie said boldly when she looked Karen in the eye.

Karen smiled, she had to admire the girl's honesty to be honest. Harry could see Helena in the corner, talking to a pair of fine looking females. It seemed like that the only male she really wanted to give the time of day was him, although given some of the figures that were around here, and looked to be wanting to get into her pants, Harry couldn't say he blamed her.

Some were old enough to be her father, and even older than that.

That being said, Harry made his way over to the hostess of the party, she smiled. She was talking to a beautiful young blonde in a tight white dress, with her curves overflowing, and there was a dark skinned female that was standing next to her as well.

"Is this your boyfriend, Helena?' the blonde said, before helping herself and Helena opened her mouth, but the blonde looked up his body.

"No but…"

"You kissed him you know, you might not want to send him mixed signals," the dark skinned woman teased but then again, it was very tempting to kiss him.

Patricia made her way over, to join the fun, while Karen would be joining them shortly.

"I thought I'd recognize you two bundles of trouble anywhere," Patricia said with a smile on her face, approaching the two of them.

"Trouble, weren't you the one who…"

"That was years and years ago, get over it," Patricia said, cutting off what she knew was an embarrassing story and Harry looked at her, to the two girls, with interest dancing in his eyes.

"This is Sapphire Stagg and Tamara Fox, I went to Gotham City University with them, and reconnected with them when we did business," Helena said, and she had a lot of apologizing to do to Tamara in particular, given the disgraceful way they treated her father Lucius after Helena's father died. The man gave the best years of his life to that company and was shuttled further down the hall, until he went out the door.

Helena thought it was fitting that Derek Powers was going through the same thing, given that he was the main architect.

"Sapphire Stagg….the CEO of Stagg Industries…"

"Yes that one," Sapphire said, after her father got himself killed some years back, she needed to step back and redo his damaged reputation. Stagg made a lot of money but there was a fair amount of ill-will towards the community to be honest. "But I…"

"I know, you've done a lot of good."

"The sins of the father, they're often visited upon the daughter," Sapphire said and there was a long wistful sigh that went from her lips.

"Well, your father might be rolling over in his grave knowing what you've done to his company," Helena said and Sapphire smiled.

"Given that you've inherited your father's…..nocturnal reputation, I'd be surprised if he isn't rolling over in his grave as well," Sapphire said and Tamara smiled.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Harry, don't mind those two," Tamara said, shaking his hand with a smile on her face. "And you too as well Patricia…..it's too bad that Kate couldn't join us, the entire gang would be back together again tonight."

"Not sure that would really be a good thing," Patricia said in a warning.

"Oh, you mean you don't want to relieve the glory days, of hiding people's clothes when they hit on us in all of our drunken glory," Sapphire said with a smile in his face.

Karen was amused, she wanted to hear more of this but Helena stepped away. She could see several famous celebrities, including Vicki Vale, who still looked good for her age despite being on the North side of forty. But that was what exercise and healthy living would do to you.

"It's a nice night though, isn't it?" Karen asked to Harry.

"Almost a perfect night," Harry said and he resisted the urge to say that the night was too perfect, because he didn't want to jinx anything.

Helena made her way up to the podium, and she cleared her throat, preparing to give a speech.

"I've been all over the world over the past couple of years, I'm sure some of you assumed that I wouldn't be back, and I'm sure many of you out there were hoping that I wouldn't be back," Helena said with a knowing smile and she could see some of them shifting guiltily, something that she took great satisfaction out of. "Wayne Industries lost its way since the death of my father, but I assure you that with these new partnerships, we're looking for a brighter and btter world, along with a brighter and better Gotham City. With their permission, I would like the guests of honor for this party, Harry Potter, of the SLO Corporation, and Patricia Swann and Karen Starr of STARR Industries."

Harry was given the head's up that this was coming and obviously Patricia did as well but Karen looked on and shrugged, she was just deciding to go with the flow.

"Helena couldn't have said it better herself, Wayne Industries was something that was a foundation of Gotham City, and brought this city through some very good times, even when there were a lot of criminals on the street," Harry added with a smile on his face. "And this is a brand new beginning in Gotham City, and not only for Gotham City, but in the rest of the world."

Derek Powers stood in the shadows, watching. He knew that being moved back to his old office was only one step away from getting pushed out the door. There was still a couple of tricks up his sleeve. He couldn't deal with Luthor, Luthor was in a foul mood after his encounter with the Shadow Vigilante.

"I'll concur with both of my counterparts," Patricia said, stepping up to the podium and giving her speech. "And the three of us, we're going to build a business empire that will give back ot the people that need it the most….."

The doors of Wayne Manor blew open suddenly and it jarred everyone out of their attention towards the speech on the stage. There were five individuals rushed their way into the Manor, dressed like Playing Cards.

The leader, the obvious King, held his staff in the air. It was fairly high tech and he pointed it towards the crowd in a haphazard manner.

"Alright, all you need to do is part with your valuables, and no one needs to get their hair messed up," the King said in a posh British accent.

The Queen, dressed in a skin tight white bodysuit that hugged all of her womanly curves, turned around, and she smiled. "Oh, the art of this mansion, it's completely exquisite."

"No time for window shopping….." the King said and his wife gave him the look. "Honey, we came for the valuables."

"But that's an original…."

The young son, Jack, made his way forward, with his sister, the alluring Ten, stepping forward, her curves emphasized in the skin tight body suit that she was wearing. The large and brooding Ace followed behind them, cracking his knuckles.

"They're like this over every heist," Ten muttered, disgust brimming through her voice and suddenly, there was something that swooped down from the ceiling.

The Batwoman appeared in front of her and Ten went to nail her with a punch, but Batwoman grabbed her around the wrist and pulled it back, before hurling her to the ground like she was nothing.

"Hey, no fair picking on my sister, she's not as good of a fighter as I am," Jack said, and he pulled out a pair of glow sticks, running at her.

Batwoman dodged the attack, and grabbed the young punk around the back of the head, slamming him down onto the ground.

The King swung his staff at Batwoman, but Supergirl show forward, grabbing the staff from his hand, and kicking the large man in the face.

Ace grabbed her from behind in a gripping bearhug but Supergirl flipped over the back of his head, and swung a super powerful punch at his chest. The punch cracked through the chest plate and the blonde pulled her way away from him.

She wondered who she was dealing with.

Ace made his way around but four throwing daggers hurled through the air. All of them sliced him through the tendons and a result knocked the large man down to the ground with a thud.

King rushed forward, his large staff primed and ready to humble Supergirl, but she aimed her heat vision at it, burning his staff to cinders.

The blonde then kicked him, causing to land right into the caviar, which was absolutely disgusting to say the very least.

"As always, I have to pick up the slack when you don't hold up your end, but that figures," The Queen said with a smile and she turned to her children. "Playtime's over, children, time for the grownups to take charge."

The woman pulled out a deck of playing cards but these weren't any playing cards, they packed an ionic charge that would have an explosive ending to any party guess.

The explosion blew up the dining hall of Wayne Manor and all of the guests scurried around.

Karen sighed, people would have to panic like chicken's with their heads cut off, which made saving them difficult.

The Royal Flush Gang slipped out the back door, only managing to acquire a few valuables to be honest.

No one was hurt, but they had gotten cleanly away.

Helena returned from the other side, and Sapphire and Tamara turned around towards her.

"Where were you?' Sapphire asked Helena.

"I ducked in to call the cops but….they got away didn't they?"

"Pretty much, yes," Harry said, he had left a holographic copy of himself standing amidst the crowd because it would raise too many questions if Karen, Helena, and he would have all disappeared at the same time.

The Royal Flush Gang, he could have sworn that they were around at the height of the original Batman, but perhaps a little bit of research was necessary.

"Wish they wouldn't have gotten away," Karen whispered to Harry, returning back to his side.

"At least you destroyed the King's overly large staff," Harry told her and Karen corked her eyebrow. "He must have been compensating for something with that one."

"Judging by how annoyed his wife was, I would have to say yes, but an attempted theft kind of puts a damper on the party."

Melanie poked her head from behind the sofa. "Is it….is it safe to come out now?"

Harry looked at her, nodding. "They're gone….they didn't get anything, they were chased off…..by Supergirl, Batwoman, and….the Shadow Viglante."

He hated that name, he really did but that was the name that the press was officially calling him so calling him anything else would lead to a huge blinking beacon.

"Miss Wayne, a word if you please about the robbery…"

Vicki Vale hadn't lost a step and she had been right in the middle of all of the chaos. She would have had her head taken off by flying shrapnel if it hadn't been for Supergirl, but that being said, she recovered quite nicely.

* * *

><p>"Supergirl once again assisted in saving the day at Wayne Manor but the notorious Royal Flush gang is still at charge, now we go over to Gotham City where Vicki Vale is on the scene with a special news report."<p>

Lex turned off the news report in disgust, his leg wasn't healing all that well and he was helpless. His minders were being paid well but the greatest doctors money could buy could not find a way to repair his legs, they came to the conclusion that they had to heal him naturally.

One of his scientists barged into his room, without even knocking.

"If this isn't a way to get me to walk again, I don't want to hear it," Lex said crossly.

"We found some more of the Kryptonite….."

"You obviously haven't received the memo about how useless it is now since Supergirl found a way to shield herself from it," Lex said, and his patience was completely and utterly at an end. His leg was propped up and his bed could easily turn to a wheel chair thanks to the science that Luthorcorp had available for it.

"But this isn't green, it's red….."

"Red Kryptonite?" Lex asked, looking at the scientist, his interest actively piqued.

"I've never seen anything like it, it must have passed through a cloud of red cosmic dust or something," the scientist said and Lex looked at him, interest flashing through his eyes.

"Or something?" Lex muttered. An educated man using such childish vernacular was amusing.

"The Kryptonite is much more potent in radiation, to the fact that it causes the scientists working with it to become restless and agitated with each other….."

"If the red Kryptonite affects humans, then it might negate any shield that Supergirl would have to block the green Kryptonite," Lex said and he had a good idea where he wanted to go with this, it was all about a matter of planning to be honest. He was a businessman and he was a scientist.

It was time to see what this Red Kryptonite could do against a Kryptonian.

**To Be Continued on August 8th 2014.  
><strong>


	7. Crimson

Autumn weather was in full force, not that Karen minded the breeze blowing into her face. It was before classes at Met-U which meant that it was a perfect time for some crime fighting. Her and Harry were going to have a date after school, and Karen decided that tonight was going to be the night that they were going to take their relationship to their next level. She had a good feeling, a very good feeling about that.

It would have been taken to the next level at least twice, if she hadn't been cock blocked by someone committing a crime. That being said, the blonde rushed forward, seeing a woman who was backed off, with two knife wielding psychos. They had ugly leers on their face and Karen could see that they were dangerous and meant a lot of business.

Why was it that every time she had plans, some knife wielding psycho decided to attack?

She dropped down onto the ground, the blonde looked towards them and spun one of them around.

He went flying into the trash where he belonged, causing it to knock over. He scrambled to his feet but slipped in the trash, falling backwards and knocking himself out.

"You know, I don't think that you want to enjoy your pal there, so why don't you just give up?" Karen asked and the man went towards her, slicing at her with a knife.

The woman watched, in terror, but the blonde blocked the knife, bending it with her hand and then she kicked him right in the ribs. She picked him up by the scruff of the neck and hurled him hard onto her partner.

Both of them were ready and primed to be picked up by the police. Supergirl smiled, it always felt good to have a job well done. The worst thing was she didn't break a sweat.

She turned towards the would-be victim, a young brunette in her early twenties, she looked like she had a decent body. It was obvious what the crime was for, and the jewelry on her was an added monetary bonus as well.

"T-thank you," she said, her voice trembling and the poor girl was shaking, barely able to keep her head up and Karen smiled towards her.

"Don't think me, it's just….it's just what I do," the blonde told her and the brunette nodded.

"I couldn't even imagine what those two would do to me…..I want to thank you…..I mean you're amazing, helping save the day like that, every day, and with that power you can do anything in the world."

The blonde smiled, despite the fact that it wasn't the reason why she was in the super hero business; it was nice to be appreciated.

"I want to thank you….give you something for your trouble…I mean, you do so much and get nothing in return," the woman said breathlessly, almost tripping over her words but she managed to hold on.

"You don't have to do that….."

She caught Supergirl in a hug, which was kind of awkward to say the least, but it did convey her thanks for being saved.

She pulled a necklace from her purse with a glowing red pendant hanging from it.

"Here….take this…..you can have it, as a gift, from the people of Metropolis, appreciate all that you've done," the brunette said, her voice quivering as she held out the necklace.

Karen looked at it, the pendant did look beautiful but she didn't know. It seemed to be kind of….tacky to wear jewelry. That being said, the brunette looked kind of insistent, almost pleading with her.

"Please, just think…..it would be an honor to thank you…..and…."

"Alright," Supergirl said, she didn't want the poor girl to break down in tears, which looked to be the case.

She breathlessly took the necklace from the female, it did look pretty nice, she would have to admit that much.

And she did put it on, why wouldn't she. It did rest nicely between her breasts, but she supposed that it would look better on her when she was out of costume.

That being said, the blonde moved off, the red glinting in the sun, and she felt a rush of adrenaline as she shot into the air.

The blonde was thinking about Harry, normally they met during lunch for a little bit and Karen licked her lips, she knew what she'd like on that particular menu. Maybe she would jump Harry's bones right then and there and take him there.

The thought of what she could with him made her panties stick to her, and she closed her eyes, feeling an increasing rush of warmth fill her body.

The rush that she felt, the adrenaline pumping through her veins, it was second to none and she could not wait for the inevitable. Then again she normally felt rather worked up after a morning patrol but that was something else.

The brunette watched Supergirl fly off with a smile and she looked down at the thugs.

"Mr. Luthor will bail you out in a week, we need to make this look convincing enough, and if you walk today, she'll suspect that something is up," the brunette said, looking over her shoulder. There was no other vigilantes in the shadows, at least that she could see. She decided to dial up the boss himself. "Mr. Luthor."

"Is the package delivered?" Lex asked.

"Yes, it is," the brunette confirmed to her boss.

"Excellent, expect a bonus," Lex said and the brunette could almost picture her boss rubbing together his hands on the other side of the phone in glee, mostly likely because he was.

That being said, the woman could not help but feel some kind of a rush about what was happening. Even though she was playing a part, seeing her up close and personal, that had to be the thrill of her life, perhaps just a little bit.

Still the red rock would cause her to give into her most primal urges and she would be disgraced, just like Lex Luthor wanted.

'_The boss really holds a grudge,' _she thought, but never the less, she prepared to play the part of the victim that had been saved by the hero, as the goons on the ground nursed their injuries.

Of course, there was really no acting needed on their part, because Supergirl really did knock the snot out of them.

* * *

><p>"Powers isn't given you any trouble, is he?"<p>

Harry was sitting outside of Met-U, waiting for Karen to show up for their lunch together and he was conducting some business with Helena over the phone whilst he waited.

"No, he's actually been quiet, which means he's up to something," Helena said and she looked at Harry. "The secure line that we set up, it should hold."

"Yes, because I'm sure Luthor has all of the traditional channels tapped and with his high powered satellites, he does have the resources to do just that," Harry said, the cell phone clutched between his fingers. "He's sweating….especially after the encounter that he had…"

"I heard rumors that he was found on a broken scaffolding set up, dangling, with two broken legs," Helena said, and she was not going to say the other part of the theory. She knew that he knew and he knew that she knew that he knew so there was really no reason to take this conversation any further.

"Well, maybe," Harry told her with a smile on his face. He hoped that warning would correct Luthor's behavior. The next warning wouldn't be a warning, because Lex would skip the hospital next time, even though if this warning would have likely killed him, he wouldn't complain. But unfortunately he didn't.

The problem was doing it in a way where Supergirl would not get blamed by the idiots in charge of the city.

That being said, the man was on his best behavior. Sure he was up to shady evil businessman things, but there had been no attempts on Karen right now. So he was willing to just take him down a peg in the business world as opposed to take him down personally.

"So, we're going to launch it on the 30th, right?"

"I don't think people have realized how long we've been working together on this, while Powers is working on whatever he was for Luthor, speaking of which, have you had any luck on trying to figure out what that was?" Harry asked her and Helena answered negatively.

"No, I'll give that slippery bastard some credit; he managed to wipe out whatever he was doing from the system."

"There's always a backdoor, we'll just have to find a way to exploit it," Harry said and the backdoor could potentially lead to something that would get Luthor into big trouble, legally speaking.

At least that was the theory but as Harry reminded himself, Luthor always had a good way of covering his liabilities.

Harry was distracted by something, a low sensual voice that said, "Hello Harry."

The young man was caught with this vision of beauty before him. Karen was standing there alright, her beautiful face shining with a completely naughty smile that inspired visions of things that were sinful. She wore a completely tight black dress that her cleavage was almost spilling out of and Harry could see that she wasn't wearing a bra, but then again, with her breasts, she had to get something like that costume made. That being said, her black dress came down just a bit above her knees and she wore thigh high black boots and fingerless black gloves. The red necklace that hung between her cleavage was the only thing in her outfit that wasn't black.

"Hi, Karen," Harry said and she stepped forward, her warm body nearly pressed up against his.

Harry prided himself on the best self-control possible, although the thought of fucking her right here and now in front of the café, even if people were watching, that was something that turned him on right now.

"Who are you talking to?" Karen asked, placing her hand on his chest with a smile.

"Helena," Harry told her, managing to get his wits about himself, not the easiest task in the world when she was standing there, wearing that particular dress. He could feel the blood rushing from his head.

"Tell her I said hi, and she should join us some time, we should get together, just the three of us," Karen practically purred, and her tongue trailed against her lips in a very suggestive manner. Helena had a nice body, her breasts were not as large as hers was granted, but that shouldn't be something that she should hold against someone. That being said, she had a nice ass and Karen wanted a chance to worship it and perhaps dominate it.

"So, I'm guessing that I should call you back later," Helena said, trying to be casual.

"Yes….."

"Why don't you show up in person, that will be a lot more fun?" Karen whispered and Harry looked at her with a smile on his face.

He envisioned bending her over her car and spanking the daylights out of her for interrupting his conversation like that.

'_The naughty girl, she'd like it though,' _Harry said and he could find Karen's arms wrap around him once again, her warm body pressing against his, her crotch up against his, the barrier of clothing was the only thing that separated them.

"So….what's gotten into you?" Harry asked, managing to return somewhat to sense, although there was a large part of him, a very large part of him, that was screaming why.

Karen writhed over his body, not caring who was watching and she shifted behind him, her breasts pressing against his back. "You, hopefully, if you want it, and I know that you want it."

Karen's hands started on his stomach, and she ran further down. The blonde smiled, when he rested against her chest, she was enjoying winding him up.

The main event, it was going to be really awesome, and she rested her hands against his crotch, her hot lips against his mouth, sucking on his neck.

"You know, I think that we should skip lunch….and go straight onto dessert…..mmm I'm in the mood for something creamy, aren't you?" Karen breathed seductively, slowly easing her hand into his pants and Harry looked through his green eyes at her.

He could see the lust burning through her eyes, the fire was rather strong and one ignited in him as well, not to mention the swelling that, her fingers were scant centimeters away from.

He could feel energy pulse off that pendant on that necklace that was hanging between her breasts.

"Where did you get the necklace?" Harry asked her, her hand was about ready to ease his tensions, and her crotch grinded against his ass.

"Oh, this thing…..a fan gave it to me, I didn't want to take it at first, but…..I guess that she talked me into it, the poor girl seemed to be a fangirl, she looked like she wanted to jump my bones, maybe we should track her down, give her some real fun, break her of her shyness."

Karen's hand was really close to tightening its grip around him but right now it hung loosely and teasingly.

The blonde would have loved to go all of the way but she heard the telltale signs of the alarm. She tried to fight her impulses, just to ignore it but her conscience got in the way of her hormones.

"Ugh, is every single fucking criminal in this town a mother fucking cock block?" Karen asked, shaking her head.

The blonde managed to shake off the cobwebs and she moved in front of Harry, wrapping her arms around him, pressing her breasts tightly against him. She grinded against his body, which he returned and they exchanged a kiss.

'_No, no, bad Kara, not now,' _the small part of her brain that had not been fog bound by lust stated and she shook off the cobwebs. The blonde took a step backwards, she could feel a certain warmness that went between her thighs, and she breathed in and out.

She was trying to…..well to be honest, she was trying to focus but she found it extraordinary hard to focus with the promise of what Harry could do with her, and the bulge that was in his pants, something like that should be able to roam free and be worshipped.

Harry was intrigued, that necklace was giving off energies, that affected him even, causing his hormones to explode in interesting directions. He really wondered what was going on but he suspected that he would find out really soon.

Things got curious and curiouser the more that they progressed.

* * *

><p>A couple of thieves looked really pleased with themselves, having knocked off the jewelry store. They managed to steal some high tech weapons from an abandoned warehouse, they were just lying around to be honest, hence the term abandoned warehouse, so they managed to obtain them with the very legal, "finders keepers, loser's, weepers" clause that any smart criminal would take full and complete advantage of.<p>

That being the case, the two criminals were feeling pretty good for themselves, feeling extremely cocky even and they were behind the wheel of a car. Said car began to peal rubber as fast as it could down the street.

"Man look at the score we got."

"Yeah, we can be kings of the city, no one can stop us."

Smash, because someone stopped them and that someone was Supergirl. She ripped off the hood of the car, fury dancing through her eyes, and punched her way through the windshield. The glass did not harm her knuckles like they would a normal person if they punched through it.

The blonde grabbed the thug by the scruff of his shirt and yanked him through the jagged glass.

"What….what….."

"It was you, you knocked it off, didn't you?" Supergirl asked, and she didn't wait for the answer, rather she hurled him across the street.

He bounced off of the street, his face smacking against the pavement, splitting his lip wide open and knocking more than a few teeth out. The criminal skidded to a stop, moaning and groaning in agony.

The other thug tried to take Supergirl out with the laser blaster but the lasers bounced off of her, and she nailed him with a rocket busting punch, putting him flat on his ass and most importantly down for the count. The blood of the criminal stuck to her hand.

"Did you really think that you would get away with something like that?" Supergirl asked, pretty much foaming at the mouth.

"Get….get away from me, you're crazy, help police, arrest me, please, there's a mad woman after me!" the thug yelled, pretty much wetting himself and he looked up, seeing her eyes focused on him and the focus was extremely dangerous.

"You think that you can put innocent people in charge, in my city, with your petty crimes, you better think twice, I'm so sick and tired of chasing down some criminal, who fucking feels the need to steal because he's too lazy to get a real fucking job."

Karen's heat vision formed an outline around the criminal and fire began to burn around him. The blonde looked rather terrifying to the powerless man who whimpered like a little girl.

"Please, look, I'll…..I won't ever steal again, I'll be a janitor, a garbage man, I'll even sell shoes to fat women just please don't hurt me, don't hurt me."

"You're kind of sad and pathetic, so hurting you, I wouldn't really get any pleasure out of doing it at all, you know," she told him and she hung her head and shook at it. This was the kind of person that she would not really get any pleasure in taking down. "But…..if I don't set an example now, people like you…..you'll continue to cause trouble over and over….."

She took the bag out and looked over it.

"Over only a couple of hundred dollars of merchandise," her eyes continuing to flash with red, she said and the man shook his head. "That wasn't worth burning, was it?"

"No, just lock me up, no tv, no computer, no women, no nothing, spank me even," the man whispered but then he realized what he might have implied. "No, no, I didn't mean it like that, argh….."

She picked him up by his head with one hand and he whimpered. He was getting a bit of a headache.

'_It would be so easy to take out someone like this, just crush his skull, just like that,' _Karen thought and there was a hand that was on her shoulder.

She spun around, nearly taking off the head of the person but she stopped, when she realized that it was Harry.

"Kara, that's enough for today, the MCU are on their way, you've made your point, I think."

Karen's chest heaved in and out of her, with Harry's hand on her shoulder. It caused her….well it caused her to calm down just a little bit. At least to the point where the only thoughts in her mind were not rage, murder, and bloodshed and Harry being there replaced them with something else.

"Yes, I know," the blonde said, and she allowed Harry to steer her away from the scene of the carnage. "I think…..I think we should head back to my apartment….before things get intense."

One moment of clarity in a scene of insanity, that was what visited the blonde. Plus burning rubble didn't seem to really get her in the mood, and the blood and teeth of the thugs that she just trashed, equally not as much.

* * *

><p>"Kara, I'm not going to lie, you've been acting rather strangely today."<p>

"Perhaps I'm running a fever, you should give me a complete and through check up," Karen said, as the two of them landed on the balcony of the Kryptonian's apartment. She could stay at the Swann estate but it was far easier just to rent an apartment if she was driving back and forth between classes.

Harry sighed, even though the thought had to be tantalizing. Oh why did he have to be the level headed one in all of this mess?

"Karen, I was being serious."

"I know, I was as well," she responded, running her hand up and down his chest, smiling and she looked at him.

"It's the necklace, isn't it?' Harry asked her and Karen's mouth hung open but then she managed to beat out her lustful hormonal thoughts to think about this…..well mostly logically but not completely. That being said, the thump, thump, thump of her heart against her chest was evident.

"The necklace, yes, of course, it would have to be that," she managed; her primal urge to jump Harry's bones and have him fuck her until they both blacked out was rather high. That being said, she shook her head.

The blonde saw the glow off of the pendant and she shook her head.

"It's red though not green…"

"Maybe different colors affect you….differently," Harry managed and they were inside the apartment, Karen backing him up against the wall, quite literally. Her breasts had him trapped, not that he was going to go out of his way to correct this position.

"Yes, maybe," she breathed in his ear, her hot breath hitting it. "So green hurts me…..and red….it causes me to lose all control of my inhibitions."

Her nipples poked so hard that they hurt against the outside of her costume and Harry's eyes looked towards her. Her lips were so succulent and he took them into another kiss, the green eyed wizard pushing his tongue deep into her mouth, with the two of them wrestling for domination with each other.

The kiss was so intense, that it left both of them primed and ready for much more. Their hands hungrily roamed their clothed bodies but they had to stop to continue, hopefully conclude, their discussion.

"So, I guess that I better take off the necklace then," Karen managed, and she looked around. "Don't suppose that the same lead shielding would work from it, do you?"

"I don't know, the cure was only from the green Kryptonite, we should…..here let me," Harry managed, his hands brushing against her breasts which caused Karen's eyes to close and a lustful moan to escape her lips when he touched her.

He barely touched her breasts but it got her all hot and horny.

"There should be a lead lined box….in the closet somewhere…..you never know when you were going to run into the green stuff," Karen managed and she got a good look at Harry's ass in those tight leather pants.

'_Yummy,' _she thought, staring shamelessly at his ass.

"Can you behave yourself?" Harry asked, without turning around.

"Well, if I don't behave myself, I guess you're going to have to bend me over and spank me," Karen replied saucily.

"Don't push your luck."

Harry found the lead lined box and put the necklace into it. They could study it later.

"Now, are we done yet?"

"Wait, I took it away, and you still feel horny, don't you?" Harry asked and Karen's eyes shamelessly averted downwards, staring at his package, straining against those tight leather pants.

"Please, like you have room to talk, and it looks like you don't have much room," Karen said, with a smile, and she placed her hand on his crotch to examine him closely. Then again, she preferred the more hands on approach to studying things.

"Well, I think we're going to have to sweat this one out," Harry said and Karen smiled, if any criminals decided to pull something now, she would fry them. Literally, there would be a criminal barbeque out in the middle of Metropolis.

Lips met lips and this time they were not going to end their passions until they were both finished and given how wound up both of them were, that would be an extremely long time before that.

* * *

><p>"The worst thing about that is the mess that I'm going to have to clean up afterwards."<p>

Karen's apartment was completely and utterly trashed, you would think that a riot went through it. Most of the furniture was pretty much destroyed from what happened. The blonde had the mattress that was from once her bed sprawled out on the floor, even though she was more sprawled on Harry than anything else.

"Don't tell me you regret it," Harry whispered to her and Karen smiled.

"Not on your life, not on your life, not at fucking all," Karen told him, placing her hand onto his chest and a deep smile increasing over her face. "Most fun that I had in a really long time and I mean that, from the bottom of my heart….period."

"I'm glad that you do," Harry whispered to her and Karen leaned over, her hips straddling him, with a wicked grin on her face.

"Yes, I do," Karen said, running her hands over his chest, his chiseled physique was drool inducing. They did what two gorgeous people in their positions would do, indulge themselves in each other.

"You do realize that we're way late for class, don't you?"

Karen had a wicked and naughty look on her face. "You know what, fuck class. We're the two smartest students to come out of Met-U in some time. If we can't fucking skip a couple of classes every now and again, that's pretty sad, isn't it?"

Harry found it argue to argue with that position, especially when she was in that position. She dipped down lower, her naked breasts pressing against his chest, and she leaned down, with a deep and passionate kiss, her tongue working into his mouth. He returned the favor hungrily with the two of them.

"In fact, we should do something fun…"

"You mean that wasn't fun," Harry told her and Karen had a naughty look on her face, moving over to find a set of clothes. She was pretty sure that she had a costume somewhere in the carnage here but she wasn't sure.

"Oh trashing my apartment with wild passionate animal sex, trust me, that's very fun," Karen breathed sensually in his voice, and she finally found her costume.

She kind of needed to get a new costume because she had a growth spurt since she had it. That being said, she liked the reaction that it got out of her boyfriend, hence why she wasn't changing it just yet. The blonde thought about having a new one for public and another one for private showings.

Plus the thought of Harry fucking in brains out in that costume seemed rather hot and she could feel the pleasure build between her thighs the more that she thought about it.

"So, are you ready?" Karen asked with a smile and she managed to find the change of clothes in Harry's bag and toss it to him.

"What do you have in mind?" Harry asked her, he was equal parts excited but there was also the fact that he wondered if he was biting off a little more than he can chew with her. That being said, the blonde watched him get dressed, with great regret.

The high from the Red K was down from her, at least mostly. That being said, there was just the door for her hormones that she already had that already had been unlocked and super powered hormones were an adventure enough.

"Let's go to Vegas," Karen suggested with a smile on her face.

"Vegas?"

"Yes, you know, Sin City, we can have some real fun, and it isn't that far of a flight there, given that I can go around the world in minutes," Karen said and she scooped up Harry, pressing the back of his head against her beasts, with her arms wrapped tightly around his torso.

"Well you won't have to ask me twice," Harry told her, and Karen smiled, she could clean up this mess later, come to think of it, she really didn't like that furniture anyway. "Karen, you do realize something?"

"What?"

"The fact that I can fly on my own…."

"Oh, I'm well aware of that," Karen replied with a smile but then she paused. "Exactly how…"

"Another story, will tell you later, interesting what Phoenix Tears and Basilisk Venom can do though," Harry told her, the blonde holding him halfway up in the air. "But anyway, there was really no need for you to fly me….you know I can do it on my own."

"I know…..you know I believe we already established that point that I knew, didn't we?" Karen asked and Harry looked over his shoulder towards her, with a lengthy sigh escaping his lips. "But, are you going to turn down resting your head on my breasts all the way to Vegas?"

Harry decided that was not something that he was going to contest and her arms wrapped firmly around him. He decided to enjoy resting his head on her amazing globes.

* * *

><p>Lex Luthor found himself rather disappointed, he expected a bit more from this quite frankly. Supergirl was given the Red Kryptonite by his subordinate and the lab tests have caused the scientists that were exposed it to be sedated and put in a private facility. Given that they were either attempting to strangle everything in their path or go at it with anything like rabbits, depending on their perspective of the person, Lex was hoping for a lot more.<p>

A couple of thugs got broken teeth, busted lips, and were traumatized for life. That was really something that Lex didn't expect. She should be taking down criminals more violently than that, and any citizens who wanted to take her, well she would take them down in a different way.

What went wrong?

The necklace was supposed to be a fool proof plan and Lex didn't like to be proven to be a fool. That being said, he wanted to find out what went wrong.

He did have satellites that could monitor the activity, so he should be able to in theory track her down. The man was going to see what he could do to find the fundamental flaw in his plan.

He could see the an image of the blonde, going from Metropolis and Lex followed her progress.

Well this would be interesting, potentially, as she was on her way to Las Vegas. The type of debauchery that she could get into there, it fit into Lex's plans rather well.

Lex was waiting to see what happened but the blonde had found somewhere and they were heading off to Vegas. He supposed that what happened next seemed to be inevitable.

The plan didn't fail but it did not succeed either. Quite the paradox to be sure.

**To Be Continued on August 12th 2014. **


	8. Royal Flush in Vegas

Batwoman was on the hunt and that hunt lead her to Vegas. Some time ago, the legendary Royal Flush Gang decided to pay a trip to Wayne Manor and try and steal the art in the place during a benefit for charity. Their plans were soundly foiled. Nothing was stolen, given that they were stalled by Batwoman, along with Supergirl and Arcane.

The Royal Flush Gang had been around in many forms over the years, this was the latest incarnation of them. She believed that this was the third version of them, it may have been the fourth version, it was hard to tell, and there were times where such records got muddled.

Something accidentally dropped by one of their members clued Helena in that something was amiss.

Vegas was a happening place at any time and this was no exception to be honest. The woman had many trips here, business for the most part, but she'd be lying if she didn't enjoy the scenes.

Helena stood outside of the art show, given the extravagant tastes of the Queen of the Royal Flush Gang, if they were in town, then this would be a prime target for this dastardly gang. All the Batwoman had to do was watch and wait and something would happen.

The crackling of a police radio jerked her back around to life and sure enough there was an announcement that proved that her theory was right.

"Calling all cars, a gang dressed up as playing cars just ransacked one of the casinos on the strip, stripping all of the patrons of all of their money."

Helena once again listened in, the signal was dodgier for some reason but she got the general gist of where she needed to go.

Even if the Royal Flush Gang had left already, perhaps she had been mistaken about their motives, what brought them to Vegas. Her grapnel launched her across the street and propelled her across the city that didn't sleep.

Batwoman knew not to be seen, especially in broad daylight. And with the cloaking device on her suit, she most certainly wouldn't be seen, so things were looking up for her.

It was the sort of thing that her father wouldn't have approved of, because he tended to want to do things the old fashion way. That being said, her father wasn't here and she was. The woman landed on her feet with a solid thump, and looked over her shoulder. Her heart raced when she could see the police mulling around to investigate.

Any clue that she could find, that would be good. The energy signature around the doors indicated that the King had got a brand new toy after Supergirl busted his overly large staff during their last encounter.

Helena could not help but smile at the memory. Someone pompous like that deserved to be taken down a peg or ten. Never the less she needed to stay focused on the mission.

'_The Royal Flush Gang…..rumors are that whoever is under the mask are rich, so why would they be committing crimes like this, when they don't need the money,' _Helena thought and the answer struck her suddenly. It was so obvious that she could have smacked herself for not coming up with it sooner. _'It's for the thrill of course, you should know that.'_

Most criminals did things for the thrill; it was how they got their sick kicks. Helena passed behind a row of overturned slot machines, with a few coins spilled out on the ground.

"So, did you hear about the playing card gang?"

"Yeah, they didn't clean us out as much as the two who were here earlier, I mean, you know these machines….."

"Yeah, what about these machines?" a guard asked and the second guard gave his counterpart a smile.

"Not really supposed to give the people too much love, well an initial windfall really, but most people who use them, they don't stop while they're ahead, therefore they sit there and keep using them," the guard said and his counterpart nodded, he knew the game. It was Vegas, and they were in it to make sure that people left their savings here, not leave Vegas with a new windfall of savings. "We make back all that they get in the first pull with some added interest."

"Nice con they've got going here."

"Yeah, but that guy who was in here, I swear…..you'd think that he was some kind of magician or something, he kept winning, and the girl that he was in with, she kept winning as well," the guard said and he gave a smirk. "The boss, he was kind of pissed but what were you going to do? Mr. Fortune told them that they better go somewhere else and then these playing cards come in and rob the place. It hasn't been a good day, has it?"

"No, hope it doesn't get taken out of our paychecks, you know."

"Man, how much more can be taken out of our paychecks when we're making peanuts to begin with?"

Helena waited for the two guards to disappear and the daughter of the World's Greatest Detective swooped in, making her move. She scanned and sure enough, the King's new weapon was able to create a trail that would be mostly easily to follow, at least that's what she assumed. Actually there was no reason to assume, because she knew right away what she was after.

She figured that after their last battle, the Royal Flush Gang took some time to upgrade themselves, so any strategy that worked in the past might be obsolete now.

That being said, she would just have to improvise on her feet and she decided to enjoy a challenge. It was time to track them down and bring them to justice, they had run from the law for way too long.

* * *

><p>"You know, if they didn't want us to win that way, then they should have done a better job in rigging their slot machines."<p>

Karen laughed at that statement from Harry, because it was accurate. The two of them flying side by side in Vegas, their hands interlocked with each other. This was an amazing trip although a fair bit of their Red Kryptonite high had come down when their adrenaline from earlier wore off.

That being said, they came to one conclusion. Karen turned towards Harry, with a smile on her face and looked him over, her eyes flickering with naughty intentions. Not that Harry lacked naughty intentions of his own. "You know, that wasn't all because of the RedK."

"Oh, I'm well aware, something like that would have to be in us all of the time," Harry said and Karen smiled, turning towards him. Inhibitions were just a barrier, one that was shredded by the allure of the red Kryptonite.

The two were floating up right in mid air, with Karen now up against Harry. Their eyes locked onto each other and Karen's gaze burned towards Harry. The blonde slowly trailed her tongue around her lips, teasing him a little bit.

"You know, I'd like you in me all of the time, or at least once a day," Karen said and she smiled at him. It was obvious that her lust had not been sated.

If she could help it, it would be far more than once a day, and she wanted that to be an every day occurrence.

"You know that I'd have no argument about that," Harry told her with a smirk and Karen smiled back at him, her arms wrapped around him, bringing her boyfriend's muscular chest towards her breasts.

That being said, the blonde could have just fucked him in midair right now but she had a bit more inhibitions then she did earlier. So she barely managed to reign herself in but it was hard, it was very hard. The self control was another super power that one would have and she didn't quite master that one.

"Mmm, I figured that you wouldn't," Karen said, looking over her shoulder. She was really surprised that there was not more trouble, because she figured that Vegas would have something going on. All of those people with wages that were just waiting to be drained from their bank accounts, it was just ripe for the taking.

The blonde turned around, watching the sunset with Harry, her legs crossed in mid air. Harry returned to a position with his legs crossed, both of them having their arms intertwined with each other enjoying the sight.

"You know, this is a moment that I'm sure that both of us can share, when we cement our relationship with each other," Karen told him, her hand locked onto his and the green eyed wizard smiled, staring forward. "And the more the merrier you know."

"I figured that you'd be open minded about something like that…"

"You're only a fraction of your true potential right now but you use that fraction better than a lot of people would use their full powers."

Harry wondered sometimes if he held himself back in certain respects because he wanted a challenge. Because allowing things to happen too easily wasn't something that he was too entirely fond of but sometimes he had no choice.

"Well, I guess one could say that."

"Sure, you're not perfect, but hey….who am I to judge?" Karen asked with a grin and both of them laughed but then Harry grew suddenly somber and serious.

"Magic is a weird thing," Harry whispered and Karen raised her eyebrow before Harry started to elaborate a little bit. "There are people who use it and there are far more people who grow extremely dependent on using it like it's a drug, and if they couldn't use it, well they'd die."

Harry recalled how he had to live without his powers for about six months completely, although they slowly trickled back in. He was resourceful if nothing else, working around the lack of abilities and he only could use his powers sparingly at that. He was exhausted if he overshot his target.

Karen shivered, but that's why she decided to start training in fighting styles that didn't use her powers. She didn't want to be in a life or death situation that meant that if her powers were gone, she would be fucked in every which way except for the good way.

The green eyed wizard smiled, with the two of them turning in mid air in the midst of the sunset, the blonde leaning in towards him, her legs wrapping around his body, her arms wrapping around his neck.

The two of them met with a kiss and as usual, it felt like there was pure electricity going through the two of them. Harry grabbed her supple rear in his hands and she moaned in pleasure, with his hands going underneath her skirt. She returned the favor with her hands traveling down his back, about ready to feel him up and the two of them were about ready to engage in some passionate actions in the middle of Vegas, high above the strip.

But it turned out that was going to have to wait as an alarm went off thus ruining the moment. Karen gritted her teeth, giving a rather obvious growl and Harry appeared to share her misery.

'_Well, I guess that I couldn't stay lucky for too long,' _Karen thought and there was a scream from above, along with a laser light show from high above.

There was a man on a hovering playing card and Karen looked down towards him. When there was one of them, the others could not be far behind.

"These jokers again, really?"

"At least we don't have to look far for them, do we?" Harry asked and Karen nodded, zipping off and she returned with her costume on, with Harry's already in his.

The two of them dropped to the ground and saw the King holding court and holding a group of civilians hostage.

"Now, everyone, there's no need to be alarmed, just hand over your money and jewelry and anything else valuable that you may have on you, and we'll let you go home."

Jack laughed and he added. "It's not like all of you weren't going home empty handed to begin with."

"Which is funny, because that's about all I expect you to go into Vegas as, empty handed, which would do nicely with your empty heads."

All of the members of the Royal Flush gang turned around and saw Arcane standing right before them, a smile on his face.

Supergirl dropped down next to them and the King turned towards them, holding up his large, and new and improved staff, before he blasted a huge wave of energy towards both of the heroes. They dodged the attacks, and caused a slot machine to blow up, with a shower of silver dollars flying through the air.

Some of the men dove to the ground to try and get the silver dollars, not caring that King was shooting high level energy from his big honking staff.

"Is it just me or is he still compensating for something?" Supergirl asked, and the energy cut through the air, nearly blasting them extremely hard.

"Yeah, I think he just might be, a little bit," Harry replied, once again dodging nearly getting his head taken off, again and again. The King's weapon was powerful but his aim sucked big time.

"You know what, I just might have to take that toy away from him."

Supergirl clapped her hands and caused all of the members of the Royal Flush gang to fly head over heels, slamming onto the ground.

"Perhaps we should give this up as a bad job," Ten said, trying to remain focused on the task at hand but Arcane was distracting her, something that she found herself growing increasingly annoyed at. She was normally so much better at staying focused and keeping her mind on her work.

"Come, show these peasants what royalty is made of, they aren't going to humiliate us again like they did the last time," The King said, holding up his staff but Supergirl sent her heat vision at the staff, incinerating it in his hand.

He gave an anguished scream of horror with the cinders of the staff following to the ground.

"Not again…"

Jack jumped into the air, swinging a roundhouse kick at Arcane, who took a half of a step to the side, and the green eyed wizard watched his enemy crash and burn onto the ground in a tangled heap of limbs.

"Well that was entertaining," Harry said dryly and the King loaded up a pair of brass knuckles but the Queen grabbed him by the shoulder.

"We better go…."

"Just because your father was the previous King, does not make you my ruler, I have a score to settle with these two," The King said, charging forward to them, but a baterang popped him in the face, knocking him onto his rear.

Batwoman was in the house and the rest of the Royal Flush Gang were even more nervous about their chances.

"Get her!" The King yelled to his family and his two children, along with his wife, and along with their servant looked at him like he was crazy.

There was no like about it, the King was blooming mad, he was.

* * *

><p>Earlier that night, Batwoman was on her way from the Casino, tracking the trail. There was a really big business convention in town, where a lot of business owners wanted to try and sell new products for those people who had top dollar in town. She kept moving towards it, and that's where the trail was picked up. Not only the King's energy trail got stronger but there was some big wig art dealers that would be unveiling some masterpieces.<p>

So it wasn't hard to put two and two together and get what she wanted, and to be lead in the right direction. The party might have always started without her, and the sounds of combat from inside pointed her in that direction.

The Wayne heiress could hear the signs of battle inside the complex, never a good sign. That being said, she could also hear voices and two familiar ones.

She deduced that the battle from Wayne Manor would be picked back up and would reach its mostly logical conclusion. That being said, she swooped in, seeing the King gear up with a pair of brass knuckles, ready to lay the smack down on someone.

She smiled and hurled a baterang, knocking him in the face and the King staggered back, looking around before his eyes focused on Batwoman who appeared before their very eyes.

He pointed one of his large fingers towards her and yelled "GET HER!"

That got the desired reaction from his family, all of them who looked rather angry at the fact that they had been dragged into it. That being said, the lumbering and large Ace was sent in as a sacrificial lamb to fight Batwoman.

Batwoman dodged the attack, and she could see Supergirl rush in, super punching Ace through the wall. The large member of the gang flew hard and they were reminded once anew he was a robot. And he took a huge hit being disabled and out of this fight just like that.

"What did you hope to accomplish with this, we need to leave before they get us!" The Queen yelled and the King raised his hands, and shook his head. "Listen to me you stubborn old….."

"I am the king of this castle…"

The Queen scoffed at his rather pompous declaration and fired back with the obvious retort.

"Please, the only throne you're fit to occupy is the one in our bathroom."

The King pretended not to hear this rather cutting remark from his wife, instead he rushed forward, zipping towards his adversary, but Batwoman crouched down. The female crime fighter ducked the punch, crouching down to avoid his punch, and then a second punch.

It was time to end this, and the King's arm twisted behind his back, before she flipped him onto his back with a well-placed judo throw.

"Hang on, dad," Jack managed but Batwoman nailed him with an off handed back hand punch, sending him flying straight into the wall with a thunderous crash.

Ten made her way to the back door but she backed into Arcane. The female member of the gang turned around, looking at him, and took half of a step back. She was intimidated and not in a good way.

"So, going my way?"

She knew that this was going to suck so she raised her hands into the air.

"Okay, looks like you got me…"

The King rushed forward once more but Arcane blocked his attack with brass knuckles of his own on his costume. The two knuckles clashed together, sending sparks through the air, with Arcane channeling enough power through them to cause King a slight shock.

Ten slid away but Batwoman shot a rope from her gun which wrapped around Ten, ensuring that she was tied up without a place to go.

"She looks good in ropes, doesn't she?" Supergirl asked with a smile on her face, and once again, Jack tried to jump up to attack her.

Jack still became O-Infinity by getting knocked down again by a casual back hand punch from Supergirl.

The Queen sighed, she rummaged through her purse for something but Supergirl flew past her, yanking it away.

"I'm sure you were looking to blow us up, but we're not going to really have any of that."

"Believe me sweetie, I have something for just the occasion right here," she said, pulling a hair pin out of her hair and flinging it like a projectile towards the blonde heroine.

The explosion blew a hole through the ground and caused choking smoke to fill the air.. Batwoman was injured, Supergirl was more annoyed.

King lifted into the air and went flying into the restrooms, crashing through the stall, the battle with Arcane ceasing. And he came up on the short end of the stick.

"There, a throne fit for a king," Arcane commented, as the King struggled to free himself from the toilet which he flew in head first.

Needless to say that might have not been the flush that the King was looking for when he went to Vegas.

Supergirl shuddered, she would feel kind of sorry for anyone who got sent head first into a public restroom toilet.

The Queen looked around, taking off her wedding ring.

"Most use this thing ever got me," she said and she flung the ring through the air, and it started to spin like a top, shooting laser arrays at them both.

Harry caught the ring in an energy bubble that emitted from his suit and disabled it rather handily.

"Should have known that anything that he bought would have been useless….."

Arcane bound the Queen, and caused her to go to fall to the ground. She struggled with all that she could through the ropes, but she found that there was no way out.

"I don't understand, there's never been anyone who had been able to stop us before."

"Well, I guess that your luck ran out," Supergirl said, smugly placing her hands on her hips and Arcane moved around, to see that the entire gang was held.

When they verified they were, the police could in fact take it from here. The King got the worst of it, which was perfect in many ways.

"I guess the family who plays together, does time together," Supergirl said and Arcane exited next, followed by Batwoman, who was moving a bit gingerly, she had hurt her knee in the fight, and she had been scratched up as well.

"So, not up for a quick escape now when we're not looking," Arcane said and Batwoman looked at him with one of those penetrating glares that her father patented so well during his time as the god damn Batman.

"I'll live, I've had worse," Batwoman said and she held herself against the wall, managing to stand just barely.

Supergirl smiled, holding her up with her body. Batwoman grudgingly let her do so.

"You might have had worse, but I think that your perception might have been skewed, if you think that you've had worse….."

"You two have figured out who I am, didn't you?" Batwoman asked and Harry smiled, despite himself.

"Didn't you?"

"Yes," she replied, she could not help but think that her father would be giving her a lecture about being so sloppy from behind the grave if he was here.

"So, are you ready to go in for some medical attention?"

"Yes," she replied, deciding to lean on both of them, with a lengthy sigh once again.

* * *

><p>Helena Wayne had nothing to be ashamed about but she had to admit that being in the presence of Harry Potter, wearing nothing but a black bra and a pair of panties, it was something that caused her to be a tiny bit self-conscious.<p>

The stoic look that was on her face would tell you that nothing was wrong, but as his hands moved over her body, gently brushing over certain areas, there was a fire that ignited in her that she felt for no other man. Some women one could make an argument, but they were just ways to relieve some obvious tension.

This was something else entirely, his hands roamed completely over her body and she breathed in and she breathed out.

"Are we okay?"

Helena was trying to keep back the cutting comment that she had in response to that question but it was very hard to do so.

"Yes, I'm fine," she replied, feeling his hands roam over her body just a little bit more.

Harry smiled, he could tell that he was getting to her just a little bit, just a little bit at the very least. The RedK effects had lingered on a little bit, his magic added to the exotic rock's pull and expanded it even.

That being said, her body was something that he had admired from there. Her silky black hair stretched down, framing a face with high and soft cheek bones, along with an alluring set of blue eyes, a different shade then Karen's. Her full firm breasts were contained in a nice black bra. She had the best breasts that a human could hope for, and she was fit, with a flat stomach with muscle tone and long lovely legs that were the right mix of muscular but sensual.

Her ass was obviously the best feature on her but then again, from what Harry could find out, she inherited most of her assets from her infamous mother. That was neither here nor there, as he took the ice and put it down on the bruised knee.

"Tell me how you feel about that?" Harry asked her and her eyes closed shut, a pleasurable moan escaping from her lips.

"Much….much better," she admitted, trying to return to some sense of being focused. Harry made it difficult. She both hated and loved him for that but never the less, she was on the mend.

Helena hoped that he did not see the moisture that formed on her panties. It was a good thing that she had a couple of spare changes of clothes, because there was every hint that this investigation could have gone on for a couple of days.

Thankfully it didn't, and she could feel the soreness in her knee going away. It was replaced by a burning desire that was bubbling elsewhere.

"Walk it off and see if you feel any pain."

Helena got to her feet, expecting to hurt when she put weight on her leg but she felt nothing but the normal feeling that someone would feel whilst walking. She thought that he truly had magic hands but to say so, she thought that it would sound kind of corny, so she kept her tongue grabbed.

She took a few more steps to test out what she was feeling, and the woman looked around, with Harry sitting on the bed, casual as if there was not an extremely attractive and young female walking around the house in her bra and panties.

'_The type that's cool under pressure,' _Harry thought once again, crossing his arms once again.

"So, how does it feel?"

"Feels good actually…mind if I use your bathroom to take a shower?"

"Karen's in there….she should be finishing up, in fact there she comes right now."

Karen made her way from the bathroom and Helena was stopped in her tracks. She could see the blonde woman step forward, dripping wet, wearing nothing but an extremely tight white towel around her breasts, barely stretching down to cover what needed to be covered. Helena drank in every inch of her skin, liking what she saw and wanting to see more, so much more in fact. Her heart kept racing when she stared the beautiful blonde down.

"So did you manage to save some hot water for me?"

"I think you seem more like a cold shower person to me," Karen said with a suggestive wink and a smile and Helena's heart thumped across her chest once more, she could feel…..well she could feel a lot of things. It was obvious what Karen was suggesting but she wasn't done suggesting it. "You know, if you wanted a shower, I wouldn't have said no to you joining me, there's plenty of room in there for at least three people."

"You know, there just might as well have been," Harry said and Helena thought that she could handle one or the other but not both at the same time.

Her strong will power managed to push on through, just barely declining that tantalizing offer.

"Not….now," Helena said, managing to keep her composure which was getting harder. She wondered if there was some trait about their powers that was devolving her into a hormonal wreck. That being said, she shook her head to clear the cobwebs.

"Well, that would be interesting, but take your shower, we'll be here for you, when you get back," Karen said, popping her lips with a slightly suggestive kiss and Harry smiled.

Helena made her way into the bathroom and Harry turned towards her, with the blonde parking herself down on his lap, still dressed in only the towel.

"What?" Karen asked him and Harry corked his eyebrow at her, when she shifted teasingly against his lap.

"You know what…"

"She does have a nice ass," Karen said, looking right at the door when she said that and Harry tightened his embrace to her. "You know that I'm right."

Harry smiled, combing her hair, which was all entangled.

"You're not watching her in the shower with your X-Ray vision, are you?" Harry asked, shifting Karen slightly, so she was straddling his lap facing him and looking into his eyes.

"Maybe…and I think that….."

Karen was distracted by something else, namely Harry's lips on hers. She was pretty sure that the pheromones that they were shooting off only increased as opposed to decreased when they were engaging in some kind of intimate activity. That being said, Harry's hands roamed over her body.

"So….now what?"

"Play your cards right, and we'll see…"

Helena exited the bathroom, dressed in a black t-shirt and a tight pair of black leather pants. She stepped forward, still seeing that Karen was dressed in only a towel.

"I think that we should hit the town tonight," Helena suggested abruptly and Karen smiled.

"That's a great idea, we'd make quite the threesome."

Helena raised her eyebrow at the innuendo but Karen darted in and out. She was dressed in an extremely tight black top, a black skirt that only barely maintained modesty, and a pair of black boots.

"I'm ready," Karen said, and Harry was already dressed and ready to go.

The night was young, so were they, and it was Vegas.

* * *

><p>Lex Luthor did not practice patience all that well, when you were a man of his stature, time was something that you could not and should not afford to waste. He tapped his fingers, drumming them on the table, and he checked his watch, waiting for someone to call him back.<p>

'_Five minutes late, it's not like he has anything better to do, all the time he has on his hands, he sits in his office making paper airplanes half of the day.'_

Lex got reports back from Vegas that there were a pair that was causing havoc, and he suspected that it was Supergirl and her friend, at least that's what his assumption was going to be right now. The man made preparations for what could happen because he assumed that the Red Kryptonite would cause more damage than that but you know what people said about assumptions.

There was a buzzer that came off and Lex lifted his hand, tapping it. His voice was crisp, curt, and to the point. "Yes."

"Mr. Luthor sir it's….Powers, he's here."

"Took him long enough," Lex said, not even bothering to disguise the contempt in his voice. He cleared his throat. "Well what are you waiting for, send him in?"

The doors opened and a very haggard looking Derek Powers made his way in, and already he put Luthor in a bad mood because of the drivel that spilled from his mouth.

"After all I've done for you, I think that I deserve a job at LuthorCorp…."

"All that you've done….for me?" Lex asked and he looked amused at his brazen attitude. "Let me make one thing perfectly clear, if it wasn't for me, you would be Gotham City trash, trying to slum it in Ghost Town, hoping for a hand out. So don't start talking about what you've done for me, because what you've done for me, is absolutely nothing and you know it about as well as I do."

The face of Derek Powers twisted into an ugly scowl and he was about ready to attack Lex but he thought better of it, at least for a second. That being said, it was a stand off between the two of them.

"You're making a big mistake, I know about…"

"Let me make one thing perfectly clear, my reputation could suffer for the short term but yours would be damaged for the long term," Lex said, staring in his eyes.

"You're not your father…"

"Yes, I'm not," Lex agreed, pride in his voice to the fact that Derek Powers made that distinction. "And you're most certainly not yours, that's for sure. Your old man wouldn't have folded when he got sent down the hall."

Luthor and Powers stared down each other, neither willing to back down from the other. That being said, both came to an understanding that they were not going to get very far on that line of conversation.

Business called because of them were businessmen first and foremost.

"So, did you come into my office in some sad attempt to blackmail me or do you have a more practical reason for you to be here?" Lex asked and there were seconds where he paused and a very obvious tone of, "well I'm waiting, to his voice."

"The first round of test subjects have come back."

Powers thought that he got Luthor's attention with that one. He was waiting for these results for a very long time.

"You tested it…"

"It was very easy to call in a couple of favors from Blackgate," Powers told him and Luthor said. "The criminals thought that they were being sent to an island to get put on a work release program. They were put to work, building a new facility off shore that we could put further tests and then…."

"Then you tested it on your own workers…"

"It isn't like they're going to be missed, the administration at Blackgate told me to use them as you see fit and if you dispose of them, they'll take care of the paperwork," Powers commented to him and he held up the palm top computer that he had. "These are the test subjects that are still alive, although perhaps not by the time that I get back."

Luthor looked at them, He would say that they were skin and bone, but rather ash and bone would be a better assessment of the matter. The haunted look in their eyes was the one that he saw in the eyes of many enemies as he took their companies over and assigned them to menial jobs.

"That's just the more tame ones….the remains aren't fit to be removed, they're too radioactive to be safely removed…..I had my men bury them in lead lined boxes underneath the ground….I have DNA samples encased in lead at the facility as well, where they are being studied."

Lex watched, awed by some of the more graphic images. He could sell this to the United States military and all it would take is one canister to wipe out in an entire enemy army. No more mothers would have to wait to hear the dreaded news that their sons had perished in battle, it would make war time casualties to this country obsolete.

"We don't know the long term side effects for it though…."

"Well that's something that you study over time," Lex commented in a calm voice, he knew that this weapon would put millions if not billions of dollars into his pocket. He was excited about what could potentially happen.

"I just wonder if we should have this conversation here," Powers said, nervously looking around.

"I can assure that my office is secure for any conversations, but I have to congratulate you, you've proven yourself not to be useless after all."

Lex once again looked through the pictures, and that was just from the prototype strain of the gas. Slight alterations can be made and perfection could always be improved upon.

Anyone who challenged him would be at his mercy.

**To Be Continued on August 15th 2014. **


	9. Merger

The night that was certainly was something. The first rays of sunlight found themselves poking in through the room and Harry Potter managed to stir himself back to a state of being awake. He wasn't completely coherent yet but the pieces were slowly falling back together.

He took one look at the hotel room and one conclusion dawned upon his mind. This was a room that had in fact seen far better days. He was nearly amused by what happened, very nearly amused but he might be even more amused if he figured out precisely what happened.

Harry wondered how much he had to drink last night but never the less, there was a very high tolerance to what he ingested. And the two females that were lying next to him was proof that something amazing happened.

His sleep deprived mind slowly, very slowly managed to piece things together, as hard as it was to do. A few drinks rattled around some brain cells, and Harry must have had some of the strong stuff because he had a higher tolerance than most. The green eyed wizard could feel the cobwebs shape from his mind. Something managed to happen last night.

Helena was leaning against his back, she pretty much had a death grip on his waist and obviously did not want to let go. Which was funny, because Harry didn't peg her as a heavy sleeper, obviously, for obvious reasons.

Karen was tangled up somewhere in the area of his legs, her head resting near his lap. Again, there was a lot of thoughts that was in Harry's mind when he tried to return himself back to a state of sensibility, where he could…..where he could figure out what happened. So far, there was absolutely nothing.

They had beaten the Royal Flush Gang, that much had been clear.

'_What happened afterwards, I think that it was pretty amazing,' _Harry thought to himself and he could only remember bits and pieces of it. Slowly, with a smile on his face, he lifted his finger up and he could see that there was one addition to it.

There was a wedding ring on his finger and Harry blinked for a second or more. He didn't…..but he should have expected, perhaps, maybe. It was not exactly as cut and dry of a situation was one would think. That being said, the green eyed wizard now recalled more than last night and after a quick check, he could see rings on Helena's and Karen's fingers. Both of them had satisfied smiles on their face and judging by the state of the room, it was obvious that it had been a wild night.

Words might not describe it what happened but it would be fun to make the effort to do so.

Harry figured that it was about time to wake up but it was obvious by now that Helena was not about to relinquish the hold that she had around Harry's waist. The green eyed wizard smiled, she looked extremely comfortable from where she was and Harry hated to have moved her but the problem was that his shoulder was about ready to give out so he had no choice.

"Helena," Harry turned and whispered to her. She shifted against him, not waking up straight away. She was sort of out of it, which was extraordinary given who was involved.

Karen was stirring awake and she managed to lift her head up. The blonde slid down the bed, managing to cover Harry's chest completely with her ample breasts. She leaned towards him and gave him a smoldering kiss to the lips. "Good morning handsome."

"Well it looks like you're up and ready to go," Harry told her and Karen's face contorted into a nice grin.

"Yes, and last night, it was you who was up and ready to go," Karen whispered to him and the smile on her face got bolder and wider, with her fingers traveling down his chest, with a smile. "You worked Helena over something fierce, the poor girl's out of it."

"Yes, and she won't let go…."

Karen giggled at the predicament that her husband found himself in. "Well that's….a bit embarrassing."

Harry raised his eyebrow at her and she was trying extremely hard to keep a straight face, even though it was something that she failed at. His stern look caused her to descend into a full blown fit of laughter.

Helena grumbled, she was being woken up about six days before she was ready or something like that. "Could you keep the volume down, please?"

"Sorry, it's time to get up….it's almost after noon," Karen said, getting up still bare ass naked and making her way towards the window, her ass swaying the more that she walked forward. She placed her hands on either side of the window and looked down, a smirk on her face despite herself.

"Almost, but not quite," Helena said, she was still feeling the ravishes of the night that was and she was a bit sore between her thighs. That being said, it was worth it, more than worth it because it was like a dream come true.

It had been a long time since she had let loose like that, because she could not afford to let her guard down. That being said, around Karen and Harry, she let her guard down a lot and this was the result.

Her hair was also messed up something fierce and she decided to coax herself out of bed, even though she kind of didn't want to. But then again, she really had to, with her knees feeling like concrete when she moved to the edge of the mirror, peering towards it.

The naked dark haired female lifted her hand up and it was now in her delirious state that she noticed that there was a brand new addition to her hand.

It took a seconds for her to reboot her brain, her mouth hanging open, and then she slowly turned to Harry and Karen, recognizing that they had the same additions. She then spoke in a matter of fact voice without breaking her stride or missing a beat. "We got married last night."

"Well she is the World's Greatest Detective," Karen said and Helena gave her sister wife a long glare that would have made Batman proud.

Harry cleared his throat and both of the girls turned towards him to see what he had to say. "Why don't the three of us take a shower together…..clear the cobwebs, and then we can have some breakfast."

"Wouldn't it be more like lunch now?" Karen asked with a cheeky grin and Harry threw his hands back into the air with an exasperated sigh attached to his moments. "I'm just making a p….."

Harry smiled at her, waving his hand. "Breakfast, lunch, might even be dinner by the time that we're done in the shower. Or it might already be breakfast tomorrow for all we know."

Karen smiled at the implications of that statement. "Okay….we take a shower, get dressed, and go downstairs….have some of whatever meal it's time for by the time that we get down there, it sounds like a plan to me."

"That would be the ideal thing to do," Helena agreed, and she stepped forward, with Karen and Harry helping her up. "I'm okay, I just need a moment to recover, you know."

"Are you sure?" Karen asked her and Helena nodded.

"Yes, I'm sure," Helena said, wondering how long it was, because it seemed a lot more than a couple of hours from her perspective, so she wondered what the hell was going on. That being said, she was naked, so she didn't really need to get undressed.

She was not sure if she could right now but the cold water snapped her out of the state that she was in right now, which was good. That being said, she could feel Karen and Harry enter behind her and she felt like she was trapped in a perilous predicament.

* * *

><p>They managed to make it down in time for a late lunch which surprised Harry as much as anyone. That being said, they weren't just in Vegas now for a pleasure trip and Helena smiled leaning back.<p>

"We better get this taken care of now, because just because Powers got kicked down the hall, it doesn't mean that he doesn't have his share of supporters in Wayne," Helena said and she looked tense. Harry's arm wrapped around her shoulders and she couldn't help but smile. It relaxed her, she would be lying if she said that it didn't. "I've been slowly undercutting their power but that's a process that takes a lot of time."

"You can't just fire them…"

"No, sadly, Powers made sure to get his people some cushy jobs that would make it difficult for anyone to get them out of their contracts unless they quit," Helena said and there was a fair bit of agitation attached to her voice as she spoke. She could afford some pretty good lawyers but unfortunately Powers could. It would tie up too much money and resources for a legal battle. "I'll be honest, he did a pretty good job there, most people wouldn't have but he did."

That being said, there was more than one method to deal with some unwanted pests.

"SLO managed to avoid a lot of that corporate BS structure I see," Harry said and Helena gave him a sharp smile.

"Well, to be fair, many people would be too terrified of you…"

"So, you would consider me to be terrifying?" Harry asked and Helena waved off that statement.

"Not me personally but…there are just a lot of people who know that you are ruthless with your business deals, and you're going to get the most out of them," Helena said and she had the deal right in front of her. To be fair, it was a fair deal to her, more than a fair deal in fact but there were a lot of people at Wayne who would pitch a bitch with how much power it would give Harry.

Mostly because they would have pushed for some kind of controlling share of SLO and try and get Harry out of power. Which he was not going to fall for, because he understood how the game worked.

"I do want you to think that you have more than your fair say….even though you and I will be co-owners of Wayne based off of this deal," Harry said and Helena nodded crisply in response.

"I think that this is more than fair, others would have pushed for more but I'm not really that greedy," Helena told him and Harry nodded with a smile on his face.

"Patricia said that this deal was good, and it was the fairest possible to all parties," Karen said, and she looked towards Harry. "Not that we won't make money, but I think that Harry is the one who is going to make the most money."

"It isn't like I'm screwing you…"

"Some people at Wayne will see that though," Helena reminded him, but naturally the person who had the final say did not see it at that way.

"They wanted controlling shares of SLO, don't they?"

"Yes, they did," Helena said, and she knew for a fact that Powers in particular would be salivating at it.

"I'm not about to give up control of the company that I built from the ground up, and…a lot of his projects have contributed to some of the worst performing quarters that Wayne has had in about twenty five years or so, haven't they?"

Helena winced at that fact, one of the reasons why she had such an uphill battle to deal with. "I know, don't remind me."

"And the fact that he's in bed with Luthor….yeah bad image I know," Karen said and both Helena and Harry pulled faces at that statement. She cleared her throat. "You know Luthor isn't about to give up his control."

Harry smiled, he figured that since the three of them were married, he would just leave everything out on the table.

"Well I've been slowly buying up stocks in LuthorCorp."

That got the intended reaction from both of them and Karen's mouth hung open, and there was a moment where she started blinking.

"Are you serious?' Karen asked him and Harry nodded with a smile.

"Keep in mind that it's been slow going," Harry said, and he wanted to do it slowly, not to let Luthor in what's up.

"That makes perfect sense," Helena told him. "The last thing you want to do is let Luthor in on what you're doing."

"It's amusing really, because Lex is really trying to find a way to bring me down, and he's really not able to figure out what's happening underneath his own nose," Harry said and that was kind of amusing to be honest.

That being said, Harry was really not going to rest easily until someone like Luthor was completely out of power. Someone like him, he was untouchable or felt like he was. By slowly removing his power, it would be a lot easier to go in for the kill.

Then again, if one of Luthor's other enemies were pissed off, then it was only a matter of time. He was surely in desperation mode right now and he would incur the wrath of others.

"You do realize how easy it would be to just fly in there and finish him off."

Helena answered Karen's question with a swift statement. "Perhaps it would be, but with his influence, if any of us are caught in the act, it could mean that the hammer could be brought down on us and that would be a huge problem"

It went without saying that all three of them were hunted vigilantes and something like Luthor's sudden death, that would make them worse off than they were already. Harry looked at both of his wives, thoughtfully at that.

"Luthor's time will come soon…..one would think that strong warning that I gave him would have been enough to tell him to knock it off."

Helena blinked, and she recalled what Harry did and she smiled. "Yes one would think that, wouldn't they?"

"Lex is dangerous because of who he is, not what he can do," Harry summarized, taking a bite from his sandwich, thoughtfully looking at both of his wives. "We have to remove his identity…"

"And you went a long way towards doing that when you usurped his role as Metropolis's favorite son,' Karen interjected and Harry smiled, she hit the nail right on top of the head.

"He still has a lot of friends in power, most annoyingly the Mayor," Harry said and Karen groaned, throwing her hands up in the air in frustration. "And you're not the biggest fan of the Mayor I take it…."

"Don't get me started on him…..he thinks that he's doing good but…he's really causing this city to be flushed down the sewer because of how far in bed he is with Luthor," Karen ranted, and Helena looked at her new sister wife, with a sympathetic smile. Gotham had its fair share of corrupt politicians, which allowed the criminal element to increase and expand "And you would think that if they put at least half of those resources to capturing the criminals that I have to end up hunting down because they're hunting me down….."

Karen nearly smashed the sugar bowl in frustration but Harry's quick reflexes pulled it away so she only hit the table.

"There's no easy situation to this," Harry told her. Well actually the easy situation would be to exterminate Luthor like the cockroach that he is. And if Harry had his full power, that would be a lot easier and he would be able to hide any misdoings better.

The problem other than that was that suspect number one would be his lovely new wife and she was getting hunted down enough by the Mayor and his new task force. He didn't want to make matters worse for her. So his hands were tied, at least until he provoked Luthor into doing something that even he couldn't cover up.

"Back to business," Helena said, and she looked at Karen, with Harry having placed his hand on hers and squeezing it tightly. That caused the blonde to calm down.

Both of them nodded in agreement, even though Harry was the one who said it. "Right, back to business."

"The deal has been structured such that the main pains in the neck shouldn't be able to get involved," Helena said, when she quickly read the documents laid out on the table. Harry told her what they entailed before and while she believed him, it was still best to check things over. "Powers especially, and with you getting brought in as a new part owner, he's power will be even more marginalized."

"And if he's working with Luthor, he'll come right to him in desperation….." Karen said and she stopped. "I wonder if Luthor will throw him under the bus and pretend that they never met."

That was a rhetorical question that they all knew the answer to and Harry smiled once again at them.

"It wouldn't surprise me at all," Helena told them swiftly, tapping her hand on the table over and over again. "That being said, we've got more than a few problems here….."

"Putting it mildly," Harry told her as he looked over the Wayne records that Helena dug for him. There was something that stuck out for him like a sore thumb. "What has he been doing, buying up all of that off shore property?"

"That's what I've been hoping to find out, there's some kind of secret project between him and Luthor and this is more proof, and you don't want to know what I went through to get my hands on this information," she told them and Harry nodded, he had a pretty good hunch that she went through something. "That being said…"

"Some kind of secret project, likely with Luthor," Karen chimed in.

"Actually there's no likely about it, it's definitely with Luthor. Otherwise, why would he try to keep it hidden?"

"There's almost enough incriminating information here," the Wayne heiress said and Karen held her hand up to stop her.

"What do you mean almost enough incrimination information?"

It was here that Helena's expression grew rather grim. It was a good thing that her hair was clipped back. "The wheels of justice in Gotham City…..well let's just say that they move rather slowly, especially someone who has bought enough favor into the GCPD force like Powers."

"There's another problem there, he has the GCPD in his back pocket," Harry said and that was a problem.

"The moment Gordon retired, things held steady for a while, but they backslid into their own pre-Gordon, pre-Batman state," Helena summarized for them, helping herself to a piece of the pie that was set out on the table for dessert. "They're not as bad as they could be, there are a couple of honest cops that aren't on the take, but they're so low down on the totem pole that they might as well not be there. And they wouldn't be the type that are willing to do anything."

She could see her father rolling over in his grave and James Gordon rolling over in his. They rolled over so much that the Earth might as well have shook.

"His daughter was Commissioner for a while, but she disappeared about five years back," Helena said and there was an obvious implication of what disappeared meant in a place like Gotham City. The dark haired woman sighed, that was a shame and a tragedy. "A good person she was but I guess that the good people are the first to die in Gotham City."

"The good people are always the first to be killed any place and the wicked somehow live forever," Harry said and Helena raised an eyebrow, where her husband decided to clarify. "Just a lesson that I learned….back home."

He had not told Helena about his full origins yet and he would have had to take her aside to do so later. Or at least That being said, he had business to deal with.

"So, the sooner we get this partnership of the ground, the healthier the future of Wayne will be," Harry concluded and Helena smiled, taking the pen and getting ready to sign the deal.

They had discussed most of the terms of this agreement previously; it was just a formality that she would have to sign it and make it all legal.

Helena read it over one more time, to make sure everything was in order and she signed on the dotted line. Then Harry followed it up by signing it as well.

"It's a pleasure doing business with you," Harry told her and Helena offered him a small shadow of a smile.

"Given that this merger is more ways than one, I would have to agree," Helena told him and Karen smiled.

STARR, SLO, and Wayne would be a trinity to be reckoned with and she almost pitied Lex Luthor, the key word being almost.

* * *

><p>Lex Luthor felt like he was on the top of the world today. Sure there were a minor setback or two and Supergirl appeared to have flown under the radar. The businessman felt pretty good because the nerve gas weapon was created and would be about ready to be used against anyone who stood in his way.<p>

The first round of tests was quite nasty as Powers illustrated to him. And now the next round of tests would prove to be the most vital to ensure that the weapon had its maximum potential. Lex refused to let those tests happen out of his sight, so he rounded up certain expandable employees.

If they refused because of the danger, there was deportation or he could send them back to prison, depending on who he was dealing with.

His cast would come off tomorrow and he had been playing the events of that night back over in his mind since the moment that he sat down. His leg had been wrecked something fierce but he could pay for the best doctors in Metropolis and around the world.

"This is Cat Grant here with a special news bulletin, late breaking news regarding a special partnership between The Shining Light Organization, Wayne Industries, and STARR Labs."

It was a good thing that Lex wasn't drinking right now, otherwise he would have spit on the television. That being said, he clutched his hand against the briefcase that he held and leaned in, for a closer look.

"I've flown out live where I'm on location in Las Vegas, where this ground breaking business deal is about to be announced."

Lex tried to remain calm and he looked at the screen with beady little eyes. He reached over to the side, grabbing his phone. With swift precision, he dialed up Derek Powers.

He waited, impatiently, for the phone to ring. There were seconds that passed before Powers got on the phone on the other side.

"Hello?" Powers asked him and Lex spoke to him in a snappish manner.

"Powers, did you know about this?"

"Know about what…..Lex…."

"Well, I don't think that you'd be a very busy man for much longer, so you've got all the time in the world to talk to me," Lex said to Powers over the phone. "Harry Potter is about to give a speech, the partnership between Wayne and SLO is official…"

"Miss Wayne had a minder to tell me of all of her movements….company policy, and….I'll get ahold of him and get back to you," Powers said, wondering how much this was going to screw him over.

"Yes, you do that, you see if your lackey has messed up something fierce," Lex said, hanging up the phone and waiting.

"I'm pleased to announce the new partnership between Wayne Industries and the Shining Light Organization which will bring us to higher heights yet," Helena declared with a smile on her face and Luthor almost figured out that she was smirking at people like him. One day, her arrogance would be her downfall. "Since I have returned, I have taken a look at some of the decisions that Wayne Industries have made and I only want to do what is best for business and more importantly what is best for the people of Gotham City and for the rest of the world."

There was a lot of applause and Lex waited for the call back, getting more agitated by each second that he was left hanging.

'_Damn it Powers, what's taking you so long,' _Lex thought and he could see Helena continue to give her speech. His agitation grew with every second, with that smug bitch looking really pleased with her.

"It's a bold decision that my father and grandfather would have approved of that would help move this company to the next level," Helena commented and Lex grabbed a pen from his desk, mostly to have something to clench his fist around. "Please welcome a man who I have brokered a deal with to give him partial ownership of Wayne Industries, Harry Potter."

Lex's mood shifted from agitated to completely foul. He looked like he wanted to strangle something or maybe someone. Never the less, he took several really calming breaths in his attempt to keep his mood down to a level where he wasn't about ready to pop off and strange someone.

Tempting as that was, tempting as that was, he must not…..he would not…..because he should not. All would be lost if he did something irrational now. His teeth gritted together in fury.

"It's been a while in the making and I'm happy to see that the Wayne family is still an institute in Gotham City, a city that is home for so many people, and a unique city that presents some unique opportunities," Harry said and there was plenty of applause. "Wayne has outsourced a lot of its jobs, but I promise to help bring the company's focus back to Gotham City, and then we can expand out outreach far behind to Metropolis, Central City, Star City, and all other points in between."

Lex could hear the phone ring on the side of the desk, which allowed him to turn away from the speech on the screen.

"Took you long enough," Lex practically growled over the phone. Anyone who had seen him now would have thought that Lex was about ready to pop a blood vessel in his head and they would have been right. And they would pity anyone who incurred his wrath.

"Sorry," Powers replied an apologetic voice but there was a tone that he knew that he was screwed, but he really didn't know how bad he was screwed. "It's…..well it's….."

"Do me a favor and spit it out," Lex said, his tone was nasty and there was no question about it, he was someone who was at his wits end.

"The minder, he was found passed out in his bedroom, a whiskey bottle in his hand."

"Is he still breathing?" Lex asked, watching the progress of the press conference on the television through the most critical eyes.

"Yes, he's still breathing."

"That's unfortunate," Lex replied, his voice chillingly uncaring, and to be honest, he was blaming this hapless Powers lackey.

"He'll be fired for this….."

"You should worry about your own job, given that Harry Potter has been made partial owner of Wayne Industries…"

"I thought it was just a business partnership," Powers said and he was sweating a little bit. This wasn't going to end well for him. "Well, there's no need to….no need to worry, I have everything under control."

"You don't sound like a man who has everything under control," Lex replied and true, the Derek Powers he knew a couple of months ago wouldn't sound so flustered.

"You should worry about yourself, because he's been gaining more ground in Metropolis."

"The name Luthor still holds a lot of clout in this city," Lex replied stiffly. He was confident that he would be able to defeat this flavor of the month. "Just because some rich boy who people are dubbing the second coming of the Beatles is gaining popularity does not mean that I'll be easily forced out."

"I'm not easily forced out yet, I'm still at Wayne, they can't fire me, only re-assign me," Powers said.

"Yes, and I expect Potter will take a close look at that contract, to make sure you don't have any loopholes in it that he can take you out with," Lex said, and he hoped that happened. He would be able to have a lot more leverage for this deal if Powers was a desperate man "For your sake, I hope that you have a good attorney."

"Now if I go down, you'll go down with me, Luthor," Powers fired back and Lex shifted his eyebrow.

"Are we really going to try this game, because you won't win, I can guarantee that much."

That being said, the press conference put Luthor in a foul mood and he had to step up the time table on the gas, because Potter could find a paper trail leading to him and he needed to make this deal before it could happen. It was almost time to cut all ties to Powers.

Perhaps permanently.

* * *

><p>Helena made her way back up to the room after the press conference and she waited for her new husband to join her. Karen promised her some alone time, and while Helena was a bit reluctant to allow the younger girl to roam Vegas alone, Harry assured her that Karen would be fine.<p>

That being said, after getting kicked out of three casinos for almost bankrupting them, Helena thought that they had a rather profitable little trip all things considered. She looked up after a few seconds and saw Harry standing in front of her.

"So…..you're not from around here," Helena said bluntly.

"And I'm sure you mean other than Britain," Harry said in an equally matter of fact voice.

"Yes, but you're not from another planet, are you, it's something else?"

"Something else, yes," Harry agreed with her, sitting down on the side of the bed. "I'm going to give you the quick version if you want it….."

"Whatever you feel is best," Helena said, leaning towards him and giving her husband a nice kiss on the cheek.

She already deduced that there are parts of Harry's past.

"I was born in an alternate universe, there was a secret society of hidden magical users that I was born into," Harry replied. "My parents were killed by the evil dark lord, my mother's protection saved me. I was sent to my relatives for ten years, we had a strained relationship. I went to a magic school called Hogwarts where I had all kinds of misadventures there. Made some friends ,made some enemies, defeated the Dark Lord, and then I was sent through the Death Veil where I woke up here without any powers, which didn't slowly start trickling back until six months"

"And by sent, did you mean walk through it willingly or someone sent you through it?"

"You know, that's something that I can't quite remember, but I think that between his power breaking and my power breaking, that world that I lived on doesn't exist," Harry said, there were a lot of parts of that world that he didn't remember other than vague generalizations and he wondered if it was because of some quirk of magic or if because he honestly didn't care enough to remember. He knew enough to know that was likely for the best. "Not that I'd ever go back."

"You put it all behind you," Helena said, understanding that.

"I couldn't see myself staying around those people much longer, they drove me nuts," Harry replied and that was the most sincere statement that he thought that he could give, given the circumstances.

Helena blinked and she nodded. "Fair enough."

"Can't say that I have any regrets that I ended up in the position that I was in," Harry told her.

"What kind of powers did you have?"

"Magic, and by magic, I mean an extremely weak form of magic, that you have to use a wand for but….by all indications, I might have evolved beyond that, if I had just stopped using it," Harry remarked. "I know I'm not one for details…"

"Well, to bring up the past will mean that we can't live in the present," Helena said. "My father told me that, which is funny given who he was. One would get the impression that he was living in the past."

Harry smiled, but said nothing.

"But enough talk, I didn't negotiate with Karen to get some time alone with you, just to sit around and talk," she said and she pulled herself up, her skirt riding up. Her stocking clad legs were exposed, and Harry smiled, placing his hands on her side of her legs, slowly easing her in close.

"Well, talking was the last thing that I was expecting….and since you can only remember bits and pieces from last night, I think that a do over is in order," Harry told her and Helena smiled, her lips finding Harry's with passionate fury.

His hands roamed her body, with things getting rather heated quickly.

**To Be Continued. **


	10. Catacylsm Part One

All three of them rested on the bed, completely satisfied with their actions but they might be inclined to go at it again, after they had some time to come down from their highs naturally.

Harry felt Karen drape herself over one side of him with a smile on her face and Helena join him on the other side. The dark haired female pretty much summed things up for all of them in the best way that she could.

"That was a lot more satisfying while sober," Helena said, snuggling herself into Harry's side, his arm wrapping around her waist. He wrapped his arm around her as well, pulling her tightly into his body and quite the body at that.

"You mean it wasn't satisfying before?" Karen asked and Helena raised her eyebrow. "No, because I think that it was pretty satisfying, very satisfying."

"No one is going to argue with you," Helena said, in amusement. She was pretty sure that her clothes were around her somewhere. Not that she needed them right now but the fact was that she wanted to know where they were at all times, because it would be a good thing to know, a very good thing.

Harry just smiled, allowing both of them to rest on him. He was about ready to suggest a shower with the pair of them, but to be honest; he didn't feel too inclined to break up that arrangement. That being said sandwiched between a dark haired female and a blonde female that was the life. It was an arrangement that he could get used to.

"So, as much as I'd like to be in bed all day….."

"Hey, if you want to be in bed all day, I'm not going to stop you," Karen replied with a smile towards Harry and once again Helena's eyes fixed on her, there was exasperation flowing through them.

"I could have sworn that you said that all of the after effects of the Red Kryptonite had been sweated from her."

"They were, but she's just naturally this horny," Harry said and in response, Karen grinded her ass against Harry's exposed crotch.

"Guilty as charged really, but I suppose we're going to have to get up eventually," Karen replied, she said this in the air of someone very grudgingly admitting something that she really didn't want to. That being said, the blonde's heart beat against her chest and she got to her feet.

A nice view of her ass followed but she walked over to the window. If there was someone there washing the windows, they would get quite the show.

"I do want to get back someday to see the fall out of what our little merger caused," Karen said with a smile.

"It was more of a business deal on my end," Helena said and she was looking for her panties. Then again, the more she remembered it; they were kind of soaked to the brim to be honest. "But I'm sure there were some people who hit the roof because of it."

Harry smiled, it seemed like everywhere he went, he caused a lot of people who took themselves way too seriously some major discomfort. To him, that was good, great even. Those were the types of people who deserved to be knocked down a peg or two or ten. That being said, Harry got to his feet as well.

"And you were the last one out of bed," Karen said but Harry reached forward and cupped her chin.

The two exchanged a kiss for a second. It was a bit too brief to Karen's liking.

"Just thinking…..you know ever since the press conference, we haven't taken a real look at what the press is saying," Harry said and Karen laughed.

"I'm sure that their speculating if that's the latest beginning of the end of Lex Luthor."

Helena shook her head and sighed. She wished but she knew better. "To be fair, they've been forecasting his end for years, but I'll give Luthor credit for one thing. He's a survivor."

"It'd be kind of stupid to count him out until he's been put in the cold hard ground," Harry said and once again, in the game of business chess, Harry had put Lex into check but it was not checkmate yet. He was backed into a corner though but the dog that was backed into the corner was more dangerous than the one that was allowed to roam free.

The businessman was if nothing else crafty, that was something that had been established time and time again. Harry paused at the bathroom, seeing that his two beautiful wives were following him on either end.

"You were thinking about it as much as we were," Karen said, deciding to cut in front of Harry and open the door.

"To be fair, we smell of sex and we could use a shower before we go out in public," Helena said and she turned towards Harry. "Unless there are spells to remove the sense….."

"Yes, purifying smells but they only maintain an illusion, which some witches and wizards haven't gotten, they're filthy as fuck, but since they had their air purifying charms, they think that they're clean," Harry said and both Karen and Helena pulled faces at the thought of that.

"So a significantly powerful witch or wizard would have been able to see through the illusion?"

"Pretty much they would be able to be see through it and most certainly fucking smell through it as well," Harry said with disgust in his mind and Karen shook her head.

"Smell through it, yeah I pity you…" Karen said and she paused something to consider. "Didn't you say that a lot of them were stuck in the dark ages?"

"Yes," Harry answered curtly and Helena and Karen exchanged a look of half amusement, and half disgust.

"Well that would explain their aversion to actual bathing," Helena told him and Harry smiled.

"That was among the many problems that they had but…at least I've found myself in a more civilized society," Harry replied and Karen smiled, placing her hands on Harry's shoulder and steering him towards the shower.

"I really have no idea how we got on this topic of conversation," Karen said with a confident tone of expression dancing through her eyes and Harry smiled.

"Weird post-sex talk?"

"That's about what I've figured," Helena said, reaching up to fiddle on the knobs of the shower, and causing the warm water to spurt out of the shower.

"Yes, less talking, more showering, the sooner that we get clean, the sooner we can get all sweaty again."

They neglected showering which meant they were missing out on some of the finer opportunities. To be fair, not all of them did, just the purest of the purebloods, who loathed to do anything that a Muggle did. To them it was magic, magic, magic, all of the way.

"That's an interesting way to look at things."

* * *

><p>Lex Luthor paced back and forth like a caged animal. The partnership between Wayne and SLO, it threw all kinds of well-placed plans off. His ten year plan that he crafted so carefully was off. When you factored in STARR into the situation, well there could be a powerhouse that could remove LuthorCorp's strangehold on the world.<p>

Lex wasn't going to get put into the gutter that easily. He had a meeting with Derek Powers today and no doubt the man was going to make an entire boat load of excuses for Lex to hear. About how things were out of his control, but if he would have had the Wayne heiress dealt with, like Luthor suggested to him, they wouldn't be in this mess.

But no, all that he would hear was a bunch of excuses.

'_That's all I ever hear come out of anyone's mouth.'_

Lex felt that any money he lost was because of the incompetence of others. For a while Powers had a strangehold of Wayne and Lex was on the road to unofficially owning the company. Now Harry Fucking Potter leap frogged over him and was well on his way of mastering the world in ways that Lex could only dream about.

He stormed down the stairs in a towering temper, not caring who he ran into and how he almost knocked one of his employees down the stairs in his fit. No Lex Luthor was pissed, he was beyond pissed, his temper was towering.

And now he didn't really care who he was going to take it out on, for his anger grew to a fever pitch, threatening to bubble over.

He was this close to strangling an employee over the simplest of things but he took a long and deep breath, wanting to save his angers for the one man who deserved it.

"It's beautiful isn't it?"

Powers stood there, brazen and bold, not like that he just bungled one of the greatest deals that either of them had ever put together. No, he had a shit eating grin on his face.

"The testing that you set up, was amazing."

"Yes, yes, of course, I wanted to personally oversee the final production of the gas," Lex replied, watching the chemicals get combined in the tanks. The expendable LuthorCorp workers hovered around like busy little bees. Many of them only spoke enough English to be useful. And those were the American prisoners, not the immigrant workers, Luthor minded himself.

If one of the tanks exploded, well nothing of value would be lost.

"I'm sure that mandates a position in this company."

Powers once again was fishing for a job and Lex had to admire the man's persistence but he was angered about him bungling.

"I thought you had an iron clad deal," Lex reminded Powers with a smile on his face. It was not a friendly smile either but one of those smiles that showed that he knew that Powers was spouting a whole lot of BS.

"Not so iron clad, when Potter will get control of it but we already had that conversation."

Lex's response was curt and cold. "I didn't notice, I couldn't find myself to remember half of what you said in the midst of all of the excuses you gave."

Powers smiled at him.

"I suppose you want to see the fruits of the one thing that you did right,' Lex replied and Powers raised his eyebrow towards him. "Follow me."

"Are you sure it's safe?" Powers asked him and Lex chuckled.

"If it wasn't safe, it wouldn't be in this building Powers, surely you could have figured that out by now?" Lex asked and Power's averted his eyes towards Luthor, before his head swiftly nodded. "Very well, now that I'll have no further inane questions, we can move on with the tour."

Lex pulled out the key card and swiped it, allowing them entrance.

"This is more refined then the prototype version of the gas you showed me," Lex said and the gas bubbled in the tank once again. Lex grabbed one of the migrant workers by the shoulder. "Careful."

The man nodded up and down, and Lex hoped that he had understood at least that one word. That being said, Powers and Luthor continued to take their tour around the facility.

"See the simulations, the death of a person will be slow and agonizing," Lex said and Powers could not help but say one thing.

"You would have liked to test it on Supergirl."

He would have but there was just one tiny problem.

"Given her alien biology, I doubt that this gas would even be potent enough to change the color of her hair," Lex replied swiftly, barely disguising the agitation in his voice, and he saw the gauge on the counter go up.

"What's happening….."

"Critical overload in progress, emergency lockdown protocols initiated."

Lex raised his eyebrow and Powers looked at him, nervously. The gauge on the gas chambers continued to escalate.

The businessman pulled out his key card and swiped it, but there was just one problem.

"Access denied."

"I'm Lex Luthor, emergency override sequence 805352," Lex said, and he waited for the machine to obey him.

"Access denied."

"Can't you control your own security?" Powers asked and the employees were looking towards Lex.

"What do we do, what do we do?"

The gauges on the tanks of gas reached critical and then they hit critical. A huge explosion resounded, and time seemed to slow down with the gas filling the room, where Powers, Luthor, and all of the workers were trapped.

Some of the workers were in the center of the explosion, they had no hope. The gas struck them down and sent them flying back. Their screams were quite blood curdling, not to mention painful when they all dropped down to the ground.

Then there was Powers, he was the one that was struck next with the gas. His eyes glowed in agony as he felt his entire life flashing before him.

Lex was closest to the door and thus furthest away from the explosion. He once again tried to force the door open with his credentials but access had been denied.

He built the security too well, the residue from the chemicals splashed against him, and he screamed in agony, with the top of his head burning.

There was a smoldering pile of green goo where Derek Powers once stood. There was a utility room that was beneath the lab that had also been sealed off.

Lex laid on the ground, in agony, the top of his scalp completely burned. His hair burned completely from the blast. The gas would dissipate once it had been worked out but would he be live along enough to feel it?

He was a survivor, he absolutely refused to go down. Not after all of this.

The air was a bit clearer but Lex could barely breathe, his lungs felt like they were on fire. After all of the vengeful employees that had took a stab at him, this was how he would go out.

He blacked out, his body going completely numb and wondering if he would die on the floor like this, pathetic and forgotten.

It was all Harry Potter's fault, he forced this, him and Supergirl as well.

* * *

><p>"So, after this, I've got to take the flight back to Gotham City to take care of a few things, but…"<p>

"I know, I know, and I understand," Harry said, patting his wife on the hand and Helena smiled. "Gotham City is your responsibility and…"

"We'll help out in any way we can, all you have to do is ask," Karen replied and Harry added in with a smile.

"We really will."

That being said, Helena smiled, taking a drink to really give herself something to do more than anything else. The dark haired female focused on both of them.

"Don't forget that you have a lot of responsibilities for Metropolis," Helena said and both of them opened their mouths to protest but Helena cut off their attempts to protest. "I know that Metropolis isn't anything like Gotham City but….."

"Say no more, we have some problems, but there are the same problems all around the world, and that's why the world needs heroes," Karen said. Surely she wanted a city that would not need a Supergirl but at the same time, she knew that might be a pipe dream. It was nothing like Gotham City.

The blonde fixated her gaze on the television screen that was in and she saw LuthorCorp on the screen. Normally the blonde would not pay much attention to that. After all, it was Lex Luthor, he found his way into the news an alarming amount of regularity. That was just really the bottom line.

That being said, Karen's mouth hung completely open and she listened in.

Harry wordlessly summoned the remote control and made sure to turn on the television so all three of them could hear it.

"LuthorCorp CEO Lex Luthor was rushed to Metropolis General after he suffered injuries in an explosion, where he has lapsed into a coma and is in critical condition," Cat Grant said in a hushed voice. "While the MCU are investigating the cause of the attack, foul play has not been ruled out. Several employees who were on this wing were discovered missing and might have perished in the explosion. One must wonder what LuthorCorp was working on."

Harry, Karen, and Helena all were thinking the same thing. Lex was working on something dangerous.

"Lex Luthor suffered severe third degree burns and his lungs were damaged," Cat continued to report. "The official word coming out is that before he lapsed into a coma, Lex refused to cooperate with giving any information to the medics who had hoisted him out of the damaged lab."

'_Typical,' _Harry thought, and it looked like he wouldn't have to deal with Lex. This might have killed him and Harry wasn't going to spend time shedding any tears.

Lex should have known better but the people who should have known better, almost didn't know a lot.

Meanwhile Helena was on the phone to Wayne Industries and she dialed it up. She waited to see the phone to ring.

"Has Powers left the premises any time during the last twenty four hours?" Helena asked and she waited on the other end of the phone. "I see….he chartered a flight to Metropolis…he might have been there….yes, I heard about the accident and Lex was…yes he's in pretty bad shape…..the news didn't say he was in that bad of shape. If Powers contacts you or anyone, let me know. I'll be on my way back in about eight hours, thanks, goodbye."

Helena shifted her eyes to both of her spouses.

"So…"

"Derek Powers was involved in this, wasn't he?" Harry asked and Helena nodded her head, cupping her hand underneath her chin with a sigh.

"Circumstantial evidence yes, but it's still there, and I've got to follow that line of investigation," Helena said, getting up to her feet. "He's been meeting with Luthor, and obviously their business deal gone south when I came back."

"So, you think that he tried to kill Luthor….."

"Not sure, but that's what I'll find out," Helena said and she looked towards Karen and Harry. "Do you think that the two of you could investigate the scene of the accident and see what's going on?"

"I'm sure it wouldn't hurt," Harry replied and Karen nodded in agreement, that was a good idea if she had to say so herself.

"So, the Honeymoon's over then?" Karen asked and Helena agreed with a smile.

"Yes, unfortunately, but it wasn't bound to last forever, I'm afraid," Helena said, getting up to her feet, and paying for their lunch.

They knew that Helena got here by Private jet when she was following the trail of the Royal Flush Gang. What happened there was spontaneous, but none of them were regretting a damn thing they did.

The chaotic stream of dominoes that had toppled thanks to the business deal, that would be something where the ramifications would be felt.

"The accident might have also had something to do with one of his latest plots to kill you," Helena added as an afterthought and Karen sighed, conceding that her sister wife had a point.

"Kind of goes without saying really, he's obsessed, isn't he?"

"It blew up in his face if that was the case," Harry answered, giving Helena a passionate kiss to tell her goodbye.

"Literally," Karen said and Harry looked at her with a groan. "I know, it's obvious, but I couldn't help myself."

As much as Harry enjoyed the banter, this accident raised a lot of questions and there were not enough answers to go with those questions for his liking.

"So, I'll get in touch if I find out something, and you'll do likewise if you find something."

"Yes, we will but….."

'_It might be more secure to talk like this,' _Harry said, which caused both of girls to jump up and glare at him, which caused Harry to laugh at their reaction.

'_You could have warned us that you could have done that,' _Helena said, giving him a glare of death but Harry did not back down, in fact he grinned.

'_Come one then, what would be the fun in that?' _

'_He does have you there,' _Karen conceded, despite the fact that she was just as startled by the fact that her husband could talk in her head.

'_Any other surprises that you might want to spring on us while I'm here,' _Helena thought and Harry responded oh so casually.

'_Other than the fact that I can spawn random orgasms through the bond link none that I can recall.'_

They had no idea whether Harry was being serious or not but there was no time for fun and games. Helena went her way, back to her jet and Harry and Karen made their way to Metropolis.

"ALFRED, get me all of the information that I've collected regarding Derek Powers and his rumored dealings with Lex Luthor."

"At once, Miss Wayne."

* * *

><p>If they didn't know that LuthorCorp was the site of an accident, Harry and Karen would have thought that it was business as usual. It certainly looked like business as usual well except for something else.<p>

'_Okay, the entire mental talk thing is really weird first of all, you do know that, don't you?' _Karen asked him and Harry smiled.

'_It might take some getting used to and not that many people could pull it off, because it requires an extraordinary amount of mental power and a keen ability to multi-task,' _Harry told her. _'Most people would go mad from it.'_

'_Well most people would go mad because of the simple fact that they have voices in their head.'_

Harry chuckled he wasn't not going to deny that obvious statement from his wife. That being said, the two made their way down to the ground, touching down outside of LuthorCorp.

'_Is it just me, or would you expect this place to be swarming with MCU….'_

'_Shields, because there was radioactive chemicals,' _Harry said, cutting off Karen's unasked question.

The blonde's lips curled into a knowing smile. The two of them ventured down the barren hallways, until they went to a complete stop outside of a double set of doors, leading to a lab. They were locked up tight.

'_It must have locked down after Luthor was hauled out,' _Karen thought. _'Someone like him, he would be able to afford the very best security on the planet.'_

That being said, Harry smiled.

'_I really enjoy a challenge you know,' _Harry said and he pressed his hands on the keypad there, and channeled a bit of energy from his suit through it.

There was a pause and Harry waited to see if his little trick worked.

"Welcome back, Mr. Luthor," the computer replied and Karen watched, mouth agap.

'_How….how….how….and I swear if you say magic…..'_

'_Well, that's the most sophisticated explanation,' _Harry said to her but he figured that a more detailed explanation was in order. _'But in reality, I took the latest imprint from Luthor's keycard and replicated it through a magical construct.'_

'_Oh, I get it, Luthor would have left some kind of trace from his key card so you brought back the impression with magic,' _Karen said with a smile.

'_It's really a low level magic trick really, not that I'm really capable of too much more and really the onboard systems on this suit are capable of just as much,' _Harry said and he stopped towards a large human shaped hole on the ground.

There were people here and their deaths were exactly quick and painful. He saw the tanks and did a scan of the residue.

Harry could not help but say this next statement out loud. "Whoever designed this gas wanted the person who was killed with it to suffer."

"Who would really be that nasty?" Karen asked and Harry turned towards her.

"But it's far more potent then I think that even Luthor said, once I take a look at his personal system, I should be able to divine what happened," Harry replied but he stopped at the human shape hole in the ground.

There was very subtle gas residue there, not nearly enough to be a hindrance, but enough to be picked up by the suit.

"That's curious."

Karen hated vague statements like that and she decided to get to the bottom of it. "What…"

"Well, the news reports said that Luthor was the only one carried out of here, didn't they?"

Karen racked her brain and nodded. "Yes, they're….he was the only one who survived. And no bodies were moved from the wreckage."

"Then tell me why is there a radioactive trail leading from this utility room into the sewers?"

Karen was at a loss for words and an even greater loss for any explanation.

"Luthor wasn't the only survivor, was he but…..I can't see anyone surviving that, especially judging by this hole, they were standing very close to the tank….."

"While Luthor was found pressed up against the wall," Harry replied to her and there were more questions and not enough answers.

That being said, it could be that someone was fortunate enough to stumble around a few yards before passing out and dying somewhere in the sewers, where his body melted. Which meant there was a pile of toxic sludge in the sewers that was lying in the sewers.

That wasn't actually a good thing come to think of it but the trail got really weird from there.

"We're going to have to go around and see if we can pick up the trail from another angle," Harry said and Karen smiled.

"Right, right, sure," Karen said with a smile. "Didn't you want to take a look at Luthor's computer systems?"

"One thing at a time, one thing at a time."

Karen would have to agree, the fact that there was someone who was infected by a cloud of toxic gas lurking around was a far more pressing problem.

That being said, the two of them zipped their way around and made their way to the entrance to the utility room.

"Is it just me, or did things get even hotter down here?"

"It's not just you," Karen said, she was pretty heat resistant but she was feeling the burn from this.

"There's a sewer exit in there," Harry said and Karen raised her eyebrow. "I made sure to get a good look at all of the entry and exit points in this facility when I paid my visit to Luthor a while back."

That made sense and the two of the made their way down.

"Isn't the sewers through this part of the town interconnected to a subway tunnel that leads to Gotham City?" Karen asked him and Harry was thrown completely off guard by this line of questioning. He nodded. "Just saying, Helena might be able to intercept whoever it is, if they got this far."

"Do you think that they got this far?"

"We should assume that they could," Karen offered and Harry opened his mouth. "And yes, I do know what they about assumptions."

Harry put his ear to the radio because any bout of sudden sickness based off of the straggler, they would have a path.

And Harry was working on a method to put the poor soul out of his misery. Because if he survived, he must have gained power, and that type of power would drive anyone insane.

* * *

><p>Helena smiled, she was glad that Harry transmitted the energy samples from the accident when he and Karen investigated them.<p>

Derek Powers didn't really show back up yet at Wayne Industries, and Helena wondered if he had been hoisted upon his own petard so to speak and had been suffered his own fatal injuries in the accident. She wouldn't be surprised if that was the fact even though she wasn't counting on that until there was a body found.

Of course, the chances of that might be astronomical.

That being said, the latest news was something that threw her off.

'_Something escaped…..Luthor was lucky to survive but from what you're telling me, someone that was right near the gas tanks survived,' _Helena thought, making sure that Harry had told her everything.

'_That something went into the sewers and the trail grows cold from there, no residue of what might be remains, nothing,' _Harry thought to her.

Helena pinched the bridge of her nose, making sure that her ear bud was adjusted in her ear. It was tuned to the frequency to the GCPD. Despite their corruption, they still would get calls from everything.

The official word was that Derek Powers took a leave of absence, with many speculating that he re-signed to avoid disgrace. Powers went from the golden boy of Gotham City to something else entirely in the span of an entire week.

'_It's always amazing how fickle the perception of people can get on a whim,' _Helena said.

'_Yup,' _Harry said darkly.

Helena listened once again and she made sure that her costume was on. The screams of terror were something that was second nature in Gotham City. Gunshots were about as common as birds.

Some families did call Gotham City home for generations but they weren't exactly considered the sanest of souls to be honest. That being said, Helena was moving forward and she could hear something coming in.

"The GothCorp plant has been attacked by a mysterious figure…..he is said to be glowing like a night light and with one shot, he vaporized the guards who tried to subdue him, he is considered extremely dangerous."

'_I'm guessing you found our guy,' _Karen thought and Helena furrowed her eyebrow and there was one word that came in response.

'_Maybe,' _she conceded after a moment, she wasn't sure but she was going to find out.

GothCorp was a company that was known for shady business dealings. If there was something dodgy going on in Gotham City in the business world, all you had to do was turn your attention to GothCorp and it was extremely likely the trail would go there.

It seemed to be a requirement to be a scumbag. Some of the owners were more upfront about their scummy business dealings. Other owners….well they were trying to maintain the mask of being respectable.

The front door, the titanium doors, were reduced to absolutely nothing. That was a foreboding experience if there ever was.

The counter on Helena's suit was going absolutely nuts and she wasn't sure if it was because of the straggler or if it was because of some unsightly project that GothCorp was working on.

It wouldn't be the first time that they had worked on some source of power that ended up poisoning Gotham City's water supply. There was a reason that a lot of people in the city bought imported water as opposed to drink from the tap. Especially with all of the times that various ghosts from Gotham's past like the Scarecrow or the Joker decided to poison the water supply.

"WHERE IS IT?"

Helena recognized the force, it was raspier than ever before, but she recognized it.

'_You're not going to believe this,' _Helena thought.

'_Believe me, there's very little that I wouldn't believe,' _Harry replied dryly.

'_I think it might be Derek Powers…..'_

There was a glowing green light from the room and a scientist backed against the wall, looking rather terrified by it.

"Listen…..I can get you help, real help…"

"There's no time, I like this, people fear me, as they should, they no longer treat me like their puppet, someone who got in where he was because of who his father was," Powers yelled, and he raised his hand.

His skin had been burned completely off.

'_He wasn't by any chance using meteor rocks to help create this gas, was he?' _Karen asked and this was more of a rhetorical question than anything else.

Batwoman made her way inside, and picked up an ice pellet from her belt. She wasn't sure if this was enough but she hand to try.

She flicked the ice pellet and it smashed against the back of her enemy. The sheet of ice formed around Powers and he was stopped in his tracks.

"Thank you, thank you thank you….."

"No time to thank me, just run, as far as you can," Batwoman said and Powers was glowing underneath the sheet of ice once again.

"You shouldn't have done that Batwoman!" Powers yelled and he tried to blast her, but she slid behind a lead lined table, overturning it and blocked the attack. "This wasn't about you; this was about getting revenge on Wayne and Luthor for doing this to me."

"You did this to yourself," Batwoman said firmly but the energy readings were making a nasty clicking sound on her suit which worried her to some degree. "Powers, you need to calm down, your powers…"

"You know, I prefer the name Blight," Powers said, his rotten teeth dripping with radioactivity.

'_Well he's given himself a codename, he's officially nuts,' _Karen thought grimly. _'Think you can hold him until we figure out a way to take him down.'_

"Shields are up to maximum security, Miss Wayne, but they will falter in forty five minutes," ALFRED reminded her.

"Joy," Helena said in a stoic expression, she was in for a fight.

**To Be Continued on August 22nd 2014. **


	11. Cataclysm Part Two

The investigation for Arcane and Supergirl continued in Metropolis, they were confident that their mystery man did not get too far. However, there was something else that directed their attention to the investigation.

The latest news report popped up and sure enough, Lex Luthor woke up and the businessman was ranting up a storm about how it was their fault that the accident happened. They weren't really going to touch that one but he had to be sedated and kept in a hospital room. The news report told them that he was current in a docile state, so they didn't really focus on that particular problem too much.

"Typical Luthor, not wanting to take personal responsibility," Karen said but she could see Harry's green eyes locked onto her bright blue eyes. The blonde's hips swayed and she took a deep breath. "But we got a bigger problem than that, don't we?"

"Pretty much," Harry agreed with her and he turned around, the area underneath LuthorCorp offered a clue. The problem was that they needed to put the pieces together and they would have what they wanted.

Easier said than done as much as Harry hated to admit that, his green eyes flashed in frustration when he tried to find that one missing piece to this puzzle. It was taunting him which did not put him in the best of spirits. Making sure to keep his temper in check, because he thought a lot better when his mind was clear, he tried to figure out what he needed to do and how.

'_Okay, there were other people other than Luthor down here,' _Harry thought, and he could see Karen look around once again.

She knew better than to touch anything but she didn't really need to touch anything to get what she wanted. The blonde stooped down and pointed out a burned out ID of some sort. Harry was glad that she pointed it out because it was almost missed upon the initial sweep of the crime scene.

"Do you think that you can restore the information on it?" Karen asked him and Harry looked over his shoulder towards her, his mouth open and he looked extremely thoughtful.

"Maybe, I'm surprised that it's intact the way it is," Harry said and sure enough the residue that was on it might point out a clue. There was some DNA still on it and Harry raised his hand.

Harry scanned the card, and sure enough it picked up DNA and it was a direct match to a party of interest.

"Identification, Derek Powers of Wayne Industries," the suit's onboard computer said and Karen whistled.

"Okay, we confirmed Powers was down here, but…..was he among the dead or was he…"

That was a good question and Harry got a sudden answer when he got a call from Gotham City. He could tell that Helena would never call them unless it was extremely urgent so he picked up the call. "What's the problem?"

Blunt, and to be fair, Helena was blunt as well. "Powers, he….benefited from the explosion."

There was the sound of battle and he could tell that Helena was trying to contain something or rather someone from going out into the city.

"So the gas gave him powers," Harry muttered, there were times where science could make even less sense than magic.

"Yes and no," Helena said but there was a lot of static in the line and it was hard to hear her. Even Harry's dedicated frequency could not get through.

"Okay, listen, if Powers is there, you make sure that you just say calm, and I'll be over there as soon as I can," Harry said and he paused, his response was garbled. The fact was that he didn't get any information, therefore he put the communicator away.

Harry's pained gaze sad it all, they had a big problem over in Gotham City, and a big problem over in Metropolis. The emerald eyed sorcerer had to make a tough decision as to what to go with from now and his wife's gaze was on him.

"We need to take care of Gotham City first, it's the greater problem, and…"

Karen didn't really need to hear any more than that, the blonde's lips curled into a smile and she said what he was thinking. "And it needs both of us, doesn't it?"

Harry nodded, he had some data here, data that he hopefully could compile to figure out a way to hold back Powers but right now, he couldn't worry about taking him down.

"So, what's the best and worst case scenario here?" Supergirl asked, turning to Arcane.

"Best case scenario is that his powers eventually turn him to dust when he burns out and we only have to isolate a small amount of radioactive waste," Arcane told her and the blonde nodded, before going to the question that she dreaded hearing the answer to, but never the less, felt like that it needed to be answered.

"Okay, so that's the best case scenario, so what's the worst case scenario?"

"Full nuclear fallout on the Eastern half of the United States."

There was no question about that, they had to get to Gotham City and quickly before time rna out, not only them, but for several innocent people.

* * *

><p>Turn a negative into a positive, master your surroundings. Take your opponent's strength and turn it into a weakness to punish him.<p>

Helena Wayne knew all of these things and she also knew that there were some things that were far easier to deal with in theory than they were in practice. The dark haired female felt her pulse quicken when she looked over her shoulder. Was time running out? She couldn't really say but there was one thing that was for certain.

It most certainly wasn't on her side. The woman lifted her hand into the air and she could hear Blight, she lured him into position.

"I don't even know why you try and stop me, this isn't about you, sure you might fancy yourself as a protector…"

"Then you should have figured out that this is all about me," Batwoman said and she sent a flash bang out.

Despite the fact that Powers had been turned into a glowing energy monster, there were still some human parts of him and his vision was necessary.

Batwoman checked the radiation shields on her suit.

'_Only ninety five percent, well that could be better,' _she thought but there was a lurching feeling in her stomach that she could not place.

If she allowed Blight to get outside the city, he could feast on more energy. The scans Harry sent her said one thing and that was that the radiation from the gas could not sustain him for long. The very thing that was essentially killing him also was keeping him alive so to say that this was quite the paradox would be putting things very bluntly.

"Come out, come out and play," he whispered in a gravely tone of voice, getting extremely excited at her.

Like a cork, a blonde blur flew in and nailed Blight with a full impact punch. The radiation shield from the Kryptonite was modified as such to protect her from most forms of radiation and it was enough to protect her from Blight.

"Okay, Powers, you're game is up now," Supergirl said and Arcane dropped down next to her.

"Ugh, terrible honey," Arcane said, shaking his head. Then to be fair, he had his share of terrible heroic dialogue dealing with the wacky wizard.

"Okay, fine it wasn't the best," Supergirl said with a shrug and she turned around, seeing Blight stand next to her. He looked like a completely gaudy night light but he was really dangerous. "You know, this isn't going to end well for you."

"Oh, I guarantee you that it will end perfect for me," Blight whispered, menacing dripping from his glowing green teeth. "You see, I will have my revenge on Luthor and Batwoman and….."

BAM!

Harry, not really in the mood to hear another villainous monologue, shot three glass pellets at the man in question. His eyes widened in surprise, the glow coming from them and he once again shook in surprise.

There was a moment where time ticked by and then another moment where it stood still. Those pellets were inclined to hold radiation but something happened, Blight broke free.

Harry made his move but the lights in the building completely blacked out. He wasn't sure if he connected, and until he had proof that he did for sure, he was going to assume that he really didn't.

The power in the building had been drained, even the backup power but Karen's eyes glowed like two little pinpricks in the dark with the only source of light coming from her heat vision. Which she would burn Blight with if she had half of the chance, providing of course it actually worked.

"I think that he got away," Helena said, and there was a frustrated sigh. She thought that Harry had him and she knew that Harry thought that he had him, so she really wasn't sure what to make of this.

"Maybe," Harry said, shaking his head. He wasn't about ready to give this one up as a lost cause, at least not yet.

The truth was that his suit managed to gain a pretty useful scan of the man in question, even if he got away.

"We better get back to the Lair….."

"The trip to my cave is shorter….well technically my father's cave," Batwoman whispered once again and that was a reminder that no matter what, she would always be considered to be second in line for her father.

"It would have all of the necessary equipment, wouldn't it?" Harry asked her and she nodded.

"I'm parked out back," Helena said but Harry put his hand on her shoulder and stopped her from going.

"Does it have remote control?" Harry asked her and Helena's mouth popped open and she nodded in confirmation. She could sense her husband smiling at her, but she could most certainly see the bright smile that her sister wife had across her face. "Why don't you reprogram the car and cause it to go back to the cave, and we'll take the shorter route?"

"What, flight?"

"Actually, I've got a better idea," Harry said and he placed his arm around Helena's waist and did the same thing with Karen.

The sounds of sirens announced the incoming arrival of the GCPD and it was mentally agreed by, with all parties that they couldn't really stick around here, because they would get tacked.

The three of them disappeared into a bright light, just as the GCPD arrived. They were a bit late to the party, but they would have gotten toasted by Blight to begin with and they didn't have the proper gear.

Corrupt assholes or not, none of them got anything worthy to be killed. Be sent to prison to be someone's shower buddy, maybe? But killed was another matter entirely, some of them just accepted bribes to look the other way because of drug trafficking. They drew the line at murder, they had that much going for them.

One could really appreciate the twisted code of ethics that the corrupt would have in their own special way.

* * *

><p>Harry Potter was impressed by the Cave but he doubted that there would not be a person alive that would not be impressed by where he was standing. The green eyed wizard looked around, letting out a soft whistle when he scanned the area around the cave. Karen and Helena were now out of costume and the hood on Harry's was down.<p>

"Well, isn't quite like your Lair, but I think that it works well enough in a pinch," Helena said with a smile on her face and Harry's eyes locked onto hers. Green eyes met blue eyes once again.

"I think that it's what you do with it is the main idea, someone could work out of an abandoned warehouse, but if they are doing the best with the tools that they have, it's half of the battle."

Helena would have to agree and she was pleased that Harry approved of the cave, extremely pleased at that.

Karen's gaze looked around the cave, taking in everything that was there and the blonde could not help but say one thing.

"Is that a giant penny?" Karen asked curiously and Helena's eyes turned around with her, before giving the absolute honest and blunt answer that such a question mandated.

"Why yes, yes, it is."

Karen figured about as much but she just had to make sure. The blonde reclined back on the chair, relaxing. She really wanted to have a good look around but the fact is that they didn't come here to go sight-seeing, no they came here for business.

"Okay, the data that you have, is useful, both of the explosion sight and of him, with any luck, we should be able to track him, and formulate a more lasting way of putting him down," Helena said and she punched the data into the computer, trying to formulate a plan.

Karen wondered about something and she felt that she had to verify this. "By putting him down, do you mean…."

Helena's eyes averted towards her and there was a rather chilling stare, one that her father perfected during his time. The blonde was caught off guard by this one and she nearly swallowed from this one.

"I mean what exactly you think that you mean, but it might be the best for him, if these readings are right," Helena said to them and her eyes locked onto both of her spouses. "You don't have a problem with this, do you?"

"No."

Helena could hear her father's voice in the back of her head, how despite his brooding demeanor, he always thought the best for his rogue's gallery, and tried to rehabilitate them. And for a couple of them, there were happy endings where they lived normal lives. And sadly for others, they continued to go through the rotating door that was Arkham Asylum, getting worse and worse every time that they got out.

To kill a criminal was not a decision she took lightly per say, and she was sure that there would be some people that would disagree with her, without even blinking, because some people had strong beliefs about this. And there would some people who would think that she should kill everyone, from litter bugs all the way up to serial killers.

And there were people that were in between.

"To kill someone like this, will make sure that he goes wherever he needs to go in the end," Harry said, frowning. It was only due to a matter of proximity and also luck that he was able to survive for as long as he did, Harry knew that and both of the girls knew that as well.

"It's a mercy killing, with those powers, he's like a mad dog, a danger to himself and others, and at the rate he's going….."

Helena showed the simulation of the mushroom cloud that was going up in the middle of Gotham City. Harry and Karen watched it, stoic, and understanding.

"So, so much for him burning out into a cloud of harmless ash," Karen whispered, looking at the simulation once again and to be honest, she feared that something like this would happen but never in her most horrific nightmares did she think that this would be the thing that she would potentially have to deal with.

After all Gotham City had been through over the years, this would be the straw that could break the camel's back.

"So much for that, yes," Harry replied, but thankfully he had a way to contain him, at least he hoped that it was a way to contain him. And if it would put him out, then so be it, because Harry thought that Powers was already dead the moment that he was exposed to the gas.

Really it was a ninety five percent chance, something that many people would consider to be favorable odds but Harry wasn't really sure to be honest. He kind of was banking on the way to find it.

He was jotting out a formula, with Karen's mind managing to process what he was doing quickly enough and Helena smart enough to keep up with it.

"The problem as I see it is….." Helena said and she tapped her finger on the third line. "The problem is this chemical compound right here."

"It's a rare one, extremely rare," Harry agreed with her, there was no disputing that. For all he knew, he would have to go halfway across the globe for that one.

Karen's eyes flashed open in triumph but she struggled not to do a dance in triumph to match. Slowly, Harry turned towards her, a barely disguised grin crossing his face.

"Let me guess, you know where we could find some," Harry said, he could see that Karen was trying rather hard to find out so.

"Yeah, yeah, I've got it, it's at STARR Labs," Karen said, she was rather pleased with herself. There was a lot of chaos going on in Metropolis, so she really hoped that her cell phone reception was not knocked off.

The blonde took out her cell phone, walking over so she could have some room to breath, and she dialed up Patricia's private number.

"Patricia?"

"Karen….what…?"

"I need the Compound Z95, you know the one that is locked up….well you know where," Karen whispered and Patricia blinked and Karen could tell that her mind was working with something. She leaned against the giant penny in the cave. "Patricia, are you there, can you hear me?"

"Yes, Karen, I'm here," Patricia said in a fairly nervous voice and she shook her head. "But you know what the Compound Z95 is?"

"Yes, I know what it is, but we need it…I'll explain when I get there, be ready for me to pick it up," Karen said and she didn't want to tell her this over the phone.

"Right," Patricia said, shaking her head, she hadn't really had a chance to talk to Karen since Vegas, therefore she had a lot of answers and really not that much time to give her them.

That was neither the time nor the place, there would hopefully be plenty of time to deal with that later.

"Harry and I will be there in a little bit, and…well there's another thing that I'll explain to you on the way," Karen said and Patricia seemed to bit overwhelmed. "Trust me when I say, I'll explain everything, and oh…go down to the place where it is and lock the door, don't allow anyone but me in."

Karen figured that Powers might be after the Compound Z95 as well, if he had any kind of sense. It could destroy his powers or it could increase them depending on how it was used. Karen shuddered, if his powers got increased any more, that might trigger the really big bang that would destroy them all.

* * *

><p>Patricia waited fairly nervously, wringing her wrists out as she leaned back, what Karen told her made her wonder what exactly was going on around here. She thought that she was going to find out soon, although she wondered if she was going to like it.<p>

That being said, after Karen up and went to Vegas, she had mostly been in the dark. There was a knock on the door that jolted her out o fher thoughts.

"Patricia it's me, open the door," Karen said and Patricia opened the door, and suddenly, she was caught off guard by Harry Potter walking in beside her.

Harry wasn't going to say that they could have teleported inside because that would have been fairly rude. And kind of defeated the purpose of having security that you could feel secure about.

"There are people getting sick around Metropolis," Patricia whispered and Karen looked grim.

"It's because of the gas Luthor created, and it's only going to get worse but we can worry about that later, do you have the Compound Z95?"

"Through here, as you well know," Patricia said, normally she would ask why Harry Potter was there with Karen but then suddenly it struck her. Maybe she was putting two and two together and getting five but she was pretty sure that she was close to figuring out what exactly Harry stood.

She should have known, given that she had a friend that had many of the same personality traits, but still.

"This is the very last sample on Earth…."

"I think that it should stop Derek Powers," Karen said and Patricia raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Using a substance that can burn through a nuclear reactor to stop someone like Derek Powers, that seems a bit extreme, don't you think?"

"It might be a bit extreme yes," Karen agreed, sighing long and deep. "But he's not the normal Derek Powers right now…..he was caught in the accident at LuthorCorp."

Patricia heard about the accident, Luthor was vowing revenge on Supergirl for what happened to him before he was put to sleep

"Luthor's in the hospital, hopefully he'll stay there for a while," Patricia said, half looking at what Harry was putting together with interest but she knew that it would be folly to disturb him while he was working on something like this.

Karen sighed, and shook her head. "Yes, because his brand of insanity is the last thing that we need right now."

"So, he knows?" Patricia whispered and Karen slowly nodded.

"Yes, he knows."

Patricia raised her eyebrow with a smile.

"We went to Vegas and got married."

That caused the redhead to nearly jump ten feet in the air in surprise but she somehow steadied herself and brought herself back down to Earth. She was trying to choke out a word, because quite frankly they failed her right now.

"How?"

Karen smiled. "That's a long story…"

"Which we really want to do justice," Harry replied, fashioning the weapon and he decided to utilize the nearly created bond link since their radio systems were down. While he didn't want to grow overtly dependent on it, it certainly worked out well in a pinch.

'_So, has he been sighted?' _Harry asked her through the bond link and Helena piped in.

'_Yes,' _Helena said, it was still kind of unsettling to hear someone's voice inside of her head, even though she was just prone to roll with the punches right now.

'_I'll be there in about two seconds.'_

It took one second for Harry to suit up, and one second for him to teleport him and Karen there, with Patricia watching them disappear, an awed expression etched on her face.

That being said, the fact that Blight made his way to Metropolis Universe was rather curious, until Harry remembered exactly why.

"Fusion reactor?" Karen asked and Harry nodded in response.

"Fusion reactor," Harry agreed and there was really no more that needed to be said other than that. Things were getting dangerous rather quickly.

The good news was that Blight didn't get there yet, the bad news is, they needed to still stop him from getting there before it was too late.

In a pair of flashes and loud pops, both Arcane and Supergirl landed in front of Blight and the green eyes of Arcane burned brightly.

"You're not going to stop me, once I have this, I'll have enough power to hold myself together," Blight whispered, and his voice sounded rather strained. It was almost like every single moment of his life was spent in racking pain.

"Just listen to yourself, you might think that you've got things together, but you're falling apart, but I really don't have time to have this argument."

Judging by the readings, Harry didn't really have enough time but never the less, his gun was drawn and pointed directly at Blight. The menacing glowing eyes were locked on him and he nearly laughed with the weapon pointed in his face.

"And what is this supposed to do?" Blight asked and Harry smiled, deciding that it would be better off to show, rather than tell in this situation.

BANG!

The metal bullet shot through the chest and Powers could feel a chill, and the glow faded from his body, before reverting back into his normal flesh and blood form.

Arcane checked him on his suit, the radioactivity was down, but his organs had been damaged from the explosion to the point where he passed immediately after he was cured from the disease and turned back to normal.

Derek Powers was on the ground and dead as dead could be. His body shivered once again and Batwoman walked towards Arcane.

"I'm not going to lie, that was tad bit anti-climatic," Karen said and Harry smiled.

"Well, I'm not fighting these villains for other people's entertainment," Harry told her and Karen shook her head.

"What a nasty way to go," she commented but Helena fixed her gaze on them.

"It had to be done," Batwoman said, looking down at him. If Powers hadn't been messing with things that he shouldn't have been, then he would have lived to breathe another day but he hadn't and therefore there he was gone and dead.

Harry looked down at him, this could have gone much worse, and things had gone pretty bad. "Yes…..but we have other problems to deal with."

"I know."

* * *

><p>Back at STARR, Patricia was taking the fact that Helena Wayne was the goddamn Batwoman rather well, because quite frankly it made all too much sense in her mind. It wasn't that difficult to put two and two together if one knew the woman's past.<p>

That being said, they had a bigger problem, she always knew Luthor was obsessive, but this lacked all common sense to be honest. This kind of gas would spread out and be a poison and if it was just this small amount in Metropolis, then it would have been pretty bad to be honest but it would have been more manageable.

"This, right here, look at this, I don't want to make matters worse but….."

Patricia sighed and she slapped the latest reports down on the desk, with Harry, Karen, and Helena at work.

"A gas tank exploded in a warehouse in China, and also one in Brazil…Powers and Luthor had different testing sites all over the world, including in places where Americans would be shot dead on sight…"

"How did he manage that?"

"Perhaps by promising them a taste at the weapon," Harry replied grimly. He wouldn't really put it past Luthor to be honest, the man was capable of some very depraved things, and he didn't even want to know where he would scrap on the barrel.

Harry liked a challenge but at the same time, he liked one that was within reason and the more locations the gas tanks exploded, the worse that things wold get. He was thinking about of a way to get rid of a gas.

"Can't you just magic up a portal, and send the gas elsewhere?" Karen asked and Harry looked at her.

"First of all, portals have to go to somewhere, and I don't nearly have the power to magic up one, as you so eloquently put it," Harry said and Karen remembered, his powers had faded since he passed the barrier to this world. She looked apologetic at that.

"Right, guess that's out…."

"And you never know what might come out of the portal," Harry reminded them both and Helena nodded in agreement when she was looking all over all of the notes.

Her intellect should not have failed her now but at this present time, it was failing her big time. She really wished that she had a better option than the one that she had now.

Again, the dark haired woman enjoyed a challenge, much like her husband did, but one that was within reason. She would have a better chance of cleaning up all corruption in Gotham City.

"Some of the best minds that we have, and we can't even figure out a solution that is plausible," Patricia bemoaned once again, and that wasn't really critical of them, because she counted herself into it.

"If the gas had been in one area…..this might work," Harry said, and he closed his eyes, running over all of the probable scenarios in his mind.

He had a sample of a gas, every gas had to have some kind of a counter agent. Granted this was a very exotic type of gas but still Harry refused to believe that this situation was hopeless, even though all evidence pointed in that direction.

"I think that it could work," Karen said, seeing the complex calculations that Harry was drawing around. "But that's rare…"

"My company's been mining it for a while, we've got the only samples that are on Earth," Harry told her.

"Well that's pretty convenient," Karen said shaking her head.

"It should work, providing nothing else goes wrong to expedite the process of the gas, and we're still going to have some causalities, that's unavoidable," Harry replied and he dialed up the phone. "Yeah, it's me….try and evacuate the city…..yeah I know the Mayor will bury his head in his ass and pretend that there's nothing wrong, but there are people dropping like flies and the longer that they are exposed, the worst that it will be."

The elderly and the sick were the first to go down from this plague of Luthor's creation, mostly those who were close to LuthorCorp. There was a stream where children played that Harry feared that the chemicals might have contaminated, along with God only knows what else was in that water. He put up some repelling spells, that was still something in his magical arsenal but there was no telling how much it contaminated the air.

While the toxicity levels were not lethal, they were not concerning.

"Maybe you should get out of town as well," Karen said and Patricia opened her mouth once again but the blonde shook her head.

"She's right, out of the four of us, you're the least equipped, I'll take you to a place outside the city, where we can stay in contact…"

"You know with all of the explosion sites, there's really no place in the world that can be safe," Patricia said and Harry looked at her, raised his eyebrow.

"This place technically is not of the world, well not of this world."

Patricia raised her eyebrow and they popped over. She could see that they were in the midst of Smallville and to a set of caves.

'_Well I guess that you can go home again,' _Patricia thought and Harry lead her on through to see where they were going.

Their destination was beyond words, as far as she was concerned.

* * *

><p>Lex Luthor was back in his lab after managing to subdue an orderly and put him in his place, without the other doctors being the wiser, now without any hair and he heard all of the reports that had been coming in, regarding the tanks that had been exploded and the evacuation of the city. He felt the top of his head and he could feel what was missing.<p>

"They did it, they destroyed the world that I built," Luthor whispered, working on the means to save it once again.

It was all lost, but not completely, not really, Lex refused to let this one go and now the man kept working on the mechanical suit that would give him the means and the mobility to keep moving forth.

"I will save the world, no matter what the cost, they're not going to do any more damage," Luthor whispered, looking mad beyond all reason and he was working on a plan to deal with the chemicals that had been left behind.

Then he would deal with the three who had poisoned the world in the first place, Supergirl, Batwoman, and this Shadow Vigilante.

Lex would be heralded a hero once he took down the people who had put the world in peril. They caused him to be desperate enough to seek a deal with someone like Derek Powers, and Lex could feel that he was slowly dying.

The doctors might have been incompetent but they knew enough to know enough and what they knew was the fact that there was cancer that was slowly eating through his body, and causing him to have only days before he perished.

That being said, he had the means to sustain him, and he had survived certain death before, numerous assassination attempts. He refused to make his final stand be on some hospital bed, only kept awake by the life support long enough to suck every single penny out of his state.

The probe would drill down into the Earth and would siphon the chemicals into the Earth's core, so deep that it would not be a problem during his lifetime.

It was perfect, Luthor had a feeling, and now there was something else that he was ready, it was intended to be a military battlesuit, but now he would be able to take down those who had destroyed his world. It was a purple and green monstrosity and towered over any enemy.

There was a knock on the door suddenly. Someone must have found out his duplicity regarding his status at the hospital.

"Luthor come out, we want you for questioning, you're responsible for the deaths of countless people."

"No, I'm not responsible, officer, they are," Lex whispered harshly and he activated the remote control and sure enough, the battle suit walked over to him. It opened up and Lex's weakening body slid into the suit.

"Open up the door, or we'll come in and get you, Luthor."

"Of course, and remember, this is what you wanted," Luthor said, harshness dripping from his tone when he blasted the door open, killing the police on the other side instantly.

Now it was time to save the world.

**To Be Continued on August 26****th**** 2014. **


	12. Cataclysm Part Three

There was an odd calm before the storm in Metropolis, well mostly because a lot of people had been evacuated from the city, so there weren't that many people to stir up a storm. Therefore there was no chance for too much trouble to be caused.

That being said, the one person that was left was among those who would cause the greatest ruckus out there. The man had blasted through his lab, taking out the police officers who had try to bring him down. They were only doing their jobs, he supposed, but it still served to anger him.

'_They overstepped their bounds, they forgot who build this city!'_

How dare they do something like that, after he had built Metropolis right on his back? The bald headed businessman turned, his mouth curled into a sinister frown right there and he was searching for them.

"They would destroy everything that I built, if I let them get away with it, but you know, I won't let them get away with that," Lex whispered, a harsh tone dripping through his voice once again. He tested one of the onboard weapon system in his suit to see if it was functional. There was nothing like a field test to get things rolling.

The large stone wall was destroyed, being burned through. A wicked grin spread over his face, which got even wider the moment that Lex surveyed all of the carnage before him, looking like a kid in a candy store.

"Perfect, perfect, perfect," Lex said, repeating things three times in succession almost like it was some kind of verbal tic and he could see the city that he built, and he knew that he needed to save it.

The toxicity levels of his suit were off of the charts and things were getting worse. He was the only one that could save Metropolis, just like he had built the city. It was almost in ruin, it would have been nothing but the world's largest slum if it wasn't for the Luthor name and fortune. He saw the city once again, and he could hear the sirens of the people being brought to the hospital. Once again, Luthor grimaced once again, he felt misery for all of those people.

But it was not his fault, no it was the fault of Supergirl, along with Arcane and Batwoman, the four of them could have worked together. They could have built a better world but they chose to go against him, they chose to go against the natural order of things.

"We could have done something together, we could have protected the world," Lex whispered, his teeth gritting when he leaned forward and brushed his hand against one of the towers. The gas was causing it to decay.

It was a great peace of architecture and now it was decaying before his very eyes thanks to the gas that Powers created.

"SUPERGIRL, COME OUT AND FACE ME, FOR COMMITTING YOUR CRIMES!" Lex yelled out loud once again, and there was the rumbling of a car driving off. All of them were fleeing the city like rats escaping a sinking ship.

Lex's eyes crossed and a sneer once again spread over his face. He caught sight of his bald head in the middle of the reflection of the cop car, once again lifting his hand and slammed it down onto the motor vehicle. He made a fist and did it again, causing the cop car to explode.

"Perfect."

There was not a person on Earth that could stop him and Lex stepped forward once again, taking the probe out of his battle suit.

"You will save the world," Lex whispered harshly underneath his breath and it was unsure whether he was talking to his own reflection or the probe that he was holding in his head. The probe that he was caressing like a son, and the smile crossed his face, which was almost more like a wicked leer than a genuine smile really.

The laser shot through the ground and began to burrow itself into the ground. Lex knew that once it was in place, there was no coming back.

The toxicity levels increased around him, but his suit protected him. He stepped forward once again and there was a click of a gun that was pointed at him.

"Don't you respect what I've done with this city?" Lex asked, calmly staring down the gun at the barrel once again. There was a sadistic glint in his eye when he kept it locked onto the gun. "Don't you understand what I've done?"

"Yeah, you've flapped your gums a lot, that's what you've done," Turpin said once again but he felt like that he was grossly underequipped going up against someone like Luthor. Despite the fact that he had this gun that wouldn't even put a dent in him, the man was too pigheaded to not try. "So, why don't you stand down and I won't have to bring you down?"

"You're making a big mistake…"

"Yeah, maybe, but I see you standing here running your mouth, and you haven't done a god damn thing," Turpin said when he stared down Luthor. He never liked the man and now that he had been exposed as the criminal that he was, someone had to bring him down hard.

"I'm a man of action, Turpin, perhaps you'd like to see what I'm capable of," Luthor said once again and he lifted the hand of his battle suit, sending a huge vibration that would have split the ears of anyone who was near it.

Lex laughed once again, he was beyond all sanity, he had hit complete and utter madness.

"We better get away, he's lost his mind," Maggie whispered but Lex heard that, the suit allowed him to have super senses.

"No, Inspector Sawyer, I haven't lost my mind, but I've gain clarity and through my near death experience, I've seen the world in an entirely different way, the way that it should have been seen from the beginning, " Lex said and he stepped forward to close the gap. Up close, Maggie saw how mad that he looked. "You see, I will be considered the savior of the world…..and there's nothing that your so called heroes can do about it."

Lex was rambling rather madly and he was slowly, but surely losing his mind. The man's mind was cracking, and his man was crossing once again.

"Where are they now, I'm the only one who is doing anything, the only one who is capable of doing anything?" Lex ranted once again, going back and forth, and once again his crazed manic intensity flashed through his eyes. "WHERE ARE THEY?"

That was a question that went completely and utterly unanswered, because Lex walked off, thundering forward, craziness flaring through his minds.

Maggie watched Luthor leave once again, and she could see Turpin scramble up to his feet.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm alright," Turpin said, shaking his head to clear the cobwebs, even though with a concussion there might need to be more than cobwebs that needed to be cleared. "We're going to need some heavy duty back up to deal with him."

Maggie could not dispute that and it was time to call in for some heavy duty backup. And it was obvious who this was a job for.

* * *

><p>Much to their disappointment, the rumors of Lex Luthor's demise had been greatly exaggerated and now they needed to move in to take him down like the mad dog that he was before he caused damage.<p>

"Lex Luthor has lost his mind if he thinks that he can save the world," Karen said in despair once again and she was sure that he moved across town to another, more secure, LuthorCorp facility. One that was equipped with defensive technology that was built for the military.

"He's long since lost his mind, but yeah you're right," Harry said and there was no hiding the grimness in his voice. His eyes once again went open and gone wider.

"We still have a chance to save this, to save the city, and the world," Helena said to Harry and Harry nodded.

"Yes, but we've got a bigger problem than that, because Luthor thinking that he's some kind of hero is going to destroy things quicker."

Karen had considered that fact and once again, the blonde brushed her hair back, showing her shining eyes forward. Her eyes narrowed in frustration; actually she had long since passed that level of frustration. She was completely and utterly out of her mind to be honest.

'_But then again, that's just what I need to learn to be like to match him, wits with him, all of the times I could have taken his head off, I should have taken his head off,' _Karen thought but Harry turned towards her.

'_Don't worry, I think that by all rights he should have been dead a long time ago,' _Harry thought to her.

He went there that night with every intention to killing him, or at least crippling him beyond all treatment. But Luthor had more lives than an entire army of cats. He was going to have to rip him apart personally piece by piece and make sure that he stayed ripped apart this time. The problem was that he had to find him first, and that was proving to be more difficult.

'_Well to be fair, a lot of people would agree with you, but he's been able to slip away,' _Helena thought. _'But this time his last life has ran out, if he's gone this mad.'_

That being said, first they had to find where he was holed up, then they had to break their way through where he was holed up, and then they had to take him down. Along with dealing whatever made scheme that he had to save the world.

Easier said than done to be honest and Helena was scanning the area to try and pinpoint a trail. She could see the attack drones that were hovering all around them.

"You do realize that the moment that these things get a scan on us, they're going to unleash that," Helena said, pointing to a load of rocket launchers that were lying dormant, at least for now.

"Yes, I realize that," Harry replied once again, but he was figuring out a way to deprogram them or at least burn them out.

He managed to hack into the twenty digit code in a blink of an eye. Harry learned how to adapt rather well, without the usage of magic, and he could hear a hissing around him.

"Please tell me that that is a good hissing, please tell me that's a good hissing," Karen said nervously once again and the balls were about ready to snap apart.

So far so good, the first levels were down and Harry needed to make sure that the rocket launchers were down. Otherwise that was going to put any people who had stuck around despite the order to evacuate in peril.

"The first layer of security is down," Helena confirmed and Harry turned towards her. Karen side stepped him, saying the question that was burning on the tip of his tongue for him.

"I know that I'm going to regret this but exactly how many layers of security are there?" Karen asked, knowing that she would regret asking this right now.

Helena gave her a smile, one that was extremely somber to say the least. She did a count to make sure before she confirmed. "There are at least nine of them."

Karen sighed and shook her head. There was something that all of them had to agree with one hundred percent of the way. That was Luthor and Luthor didn't really make things all that easy for them at all.

"We're going to have to find an alternate way in there," Harry told them both and Helena didn't really even blink or miss a beat.

"Well if you have a way inside, then by all means, I'm all ears."

There was something that was flashing on Harry's suit and that caused him to tense up. He was really confused by these readings.

"What the hell is Luthor doing?" Harry asked and he activated the holographic display once again, and he could see the image of something drilling into the Earth.

"Is he completely nuts?" Karen asked and there was no reason to answer that question because they knew it.

That was something that none of them were going to answer, because they all knew the answer to that question.

"So, worst case scenario, you want it," Harry said and both of his wives exchanged a tense look at each other and Helena responded with a poignant sigh.

"Yes, please," Helena said once again, her heart racing once again but Harry leaned towards her, placing his hand onto her arm.

"Worst case scenario is that he ends up blowing up the Earth, and we're pretty much fucked," Harry said and Karen hitched in a breath, she recalled what happened on Krypton. Meddling with the core of the planet could save it but Luthor was trying to bring chemicals down into the Earth's core. Chemicals that were already causing ecological changes in the air so it was hard telling what they would do to the center of the Earth, and needless to say the horror was obvious.

She saw Harry's diagrams and the chemical reaction was…well it would lead to something that would doom them all.

"Luthor is so obsessed with saving the world, that he doesn't think of the long term consequences," Harry said and he made a quick plan, hoping that it would work. "We need to get inside, shut down the drill, and shut him down for good."

It went without saying that Harry had a plan but having a plan and enacting a plan were two different things. That being said, he was more confident with his chances of success.

"Good plan, but will it work?"

"I hope it will."

* * *

><p>Batwoman made her way down to the tunnel, taking her way down through the sewers deep underneath the LuthorCorp facility. Her role was to turn off the power to the building and she made her way into through the least secure point of the building so she could accomplish that task.<p>

That being said despite it being the least secure, she barely avoided running into two security drones on her way down there. She pulled out a spray and caused the so called invisible security lines to appear. If she touched the laser grids, best case scenario she would set off an alarm, the worst case scenario would be she would be sliced to ribbons.

Determination flowed through her eyes and Helena bounced her way through the laser grid, careful not to touch any one of them. She landed on her feet and smiled.

She couldn't get too ahead of herself, there was still a little more security that she had to deal with. Walking forward, the dark haired female pulled back the panel once again and hooked her portable computer in.

'_The last security gate is down, that should allow you to get inside from the top floor,' _Helena thought to Karen. _'But just in case that you are…'_

'_I know, trust me, this isn't my first dance, nor it would be my last one,' _Karen replied and she was determined, knowing what she needed to do.

'_Just making sure that you know everything that you have to run into, there's no room for error, and I mean it, absolutely none,' _Helena thought and that just underscored how serious this entire situation was.

It was a three pronged attack that worked well in theory but many plans worked well in theory and less so in practice.

Helena would come in from the bottom, Karen would come in from the top, and as for Harry, well he would be knocking down the front door.

It was a three pronged attack where all of them would meet in the middle, and then it would be on and beyond to shut the drill down before it buried its way through the Earth's core, doing damage that could not be reversed.

Helena opened up the door to the stairway once again but the stairs had been destroyed. It was almost like Luthor had ensured that no one would be getting up the easy way. He likely was holed up in his lab which was smack in the middle of the LuthorCorp building.

'_So are we both inside and in position?' _Harry asked through the communication link.

'_Yes, I'm making my way up right now,' _Helena said, shooting her grapnel up and she climbed up a level, hanging onto the wall when she scaled it.

'_And I'm making my way down,' _Karen thought, and she used her heat vision to burn a hole through the glass. She slipped inside, her heart kicking up a couple of beats when she landed on her feet once again.

So far, so good, but that really didn't mean anything at all. They were less than halfway towards their destination.

'_And are you making your way in on your entry point?' _Helena asked Harry and Harry smiled in response.

'_Yes, I knocked down the front door and now I'm inside,' _Harry informed her once again and there was a rattling sound on the other end. Sure enough, Harry could hear something once again, but he managed to disable the sensory panels with a sticky fluid that shot out of his suit.

'_I don't want to ask you what that was,' _Karen thought, there was a rather perverted thought in her mind, regarding what the applications of that fluid could potentially be used for.

'_It's a chemical compound that disables most electronics, and it also can be converted into an explosive with a slight press of a button on my suit,' _Harry commented with a smile. After all not everything he learned in that world was not all useless.

'_You're going to have to tell me how to make some of that, it could be handy,' _Helena thought, recalling the many times that she could have made use of such a fluid.

"Intruder….."

Helena fired a throwing dagger at the robot that tried to attack her. The dagger bounced off of the robot when it struck it.

Karen made her way down from the top floor, and smashed the robot to bits.

"I was handling that," Helena told her and Karen smiled.

"I know, but I think that I handled that just a little bit quicker," Karen fired back with a smile on her face but she decided to inform her of a little problem. "Elevators are down…."

"And Luthor destroyed all of the stairs, I know…."

"Wouldn't make it easy, but then again, what's the fun in that?" Harry asked, popping up and nearly startling them when he turned up. "So, are you ready?"

Both of the girls nodded, and it was time to pay their resident mad scientist/businessman a visit and put a stop to this right now.

They had a lot to fight through, with the various pieces of technology that he scraped together. There were more than a few alien invasions over the years on this world and some aliens had a bad habit of leaving their toys around.

'_Never would have pegged Lex as the type to be a hoarder, but I guess that makes perfect sense,' _Harry thought and both of his wives would have to agree.

"How much you want to bet that where the security is the tightest, that's where Luthor is holed up?" Karen asked, seeing Harry disable one of the disc devices that were sent at her. It was very lazily and very casually about how he did so.

"Well, that goes without saying," Harry told her with a smile crossing his face and he thought that he could hear Luthor on a rant of some sort.

He was assuming that the man would lash out at them, like a deranged pitbull and try and take them out. And when he did that, they would be ready to go, for better or for worse.

"Come in, I've been expecting you, you've been put on trial for your crimes against the entire world!"

"And he's been taking his crazy pills today, wonderful," Karen said with a lengthy sigh.

* * *

><p>Foreboding statement was in fact foreboding, but Supergirl, Batwoman, and Arcane knew what they were going to have to do next. Time was not only on their side, but time is running out.<p>

"Luthor has another nasty surprise for us, he just wouldn't let us come to him," Arcane muttered, and he got a couple of looks about being obvious.

Never the less, a hovering platform showed up once again and shot several silver rings at them. They dodged it, with Supergirl, knocking it against the wall, and then Harry further putting the platform out of its misery with a huge blast, which reduced it into pieces.

Now that was done, Harry decided to knock down the lab doors and he came face to face with Lex Luthor, who was in a large honking battle suit, monitoring the progress of his probe.

"I'm sorry Luthor, but that suit….it looks like something out of a Saturday morning cartoon," Supergirl said and the fact that she was making fun of his highly practical battle suit, well it caused Luthor to see red and his rage continued to bubble over.

"You know, among your many flaws, rudeness appears to be one of them," Lex whispered, his voice dripping with an absolutely intense amount of harshness and Harry smiled once again. Supergirl and Batwoman turned up. "The world's heroes…you see, I've done what you say that you've done, I'm going to save the world."

"You are going to destroy it Luthor, that drill, it's going to damage the Earth's core and kill the entire planet…."

"According to my simulations, that won't be for a few hundred years, which I will be long dead, and so will you," Luthor said and he was about ready to continued his villainous monologue but Arcane knocked him backwards into the wall with the best force he could manage before he could really hit his stride.

Luthor flew ass over tea kettle, landing onto the ground, his suit protected him but there was also one problem, his suit was damaged.

"No, that's impossible," Lex said, but he still had a few trips, naturally the sonic grenades that were a part of his suit should be a useful tool to take down his enemies.

Said grenades shot out at a rapid fire fury and the heroes dodged these attacks once again. Harry was scanning his suit, pinpointing a weakness in it.

'_So do I have my power levels increased where I can safely do this, without blowing everyone up, or do I have to do this the old fashioned way?' _Harry thought and the data pretty much told him the story. He now knew what he needed to do. _'The fun way it is…..wonderful…but I guess that's just to be expected, and that's just life.'_

Supergirl rammed her fist into Luthor's face, forcing him to skid back and cracking the suit once again.

"You don't get it, you don't get it, I'm saving the world," Lex managed ranting in a delirious manner and the suit was sparking as she pried it open, like a can of tuna.

"It's time to put you down like the mad dog you are," Supergirl said and she saw Batwoman out of the corner of her eye.

There was only one mission in her mind and that was to stop the drill before it reached the point of no return.

More of Luthors drones show up but Arcane put up a field that repelled them. It took every fiber of his being to do so but he did so and the drones were repelled.

"Impressive, I almost think that you're…..ARGH!" Lex groaned once again and he felt his suit being dismantled. He had already knocked Supergirl off of him at the heat of the moment.

"Made a mistake, a mistake that anyone could make, but a mistake, now I'm not going to let up until I hold your still beating heart in my hand," Harry whispered with a smile on his face and through his arrogance, Luthor felt a surprising burst of fear.

"You can't do this, you're one of the good guys…."

"You seem to think that you are as well, and you seem to have no problem with killing a lot of people," Harry said in a dry and stoic voice, slowly ripping Lex apart piece by piece but Lex had one last act of defiance.

Namely, the drill which he suddenly and angrily blew up the manual controls, causing the drill to be unable to be stopped unless they went down and stopped it themselves.

"Now, now, you have to stop the drill with your hands, if you wish to stop it but why would you stop it, the world would be a better place?" Lex asked suddenly but his suit was ripped open like a tin can and the creamy and quite weakened by the cancer Luthor filling was yanked out.

The force broke every single bone in his body and punctured many of his vital organs.

"I will survive, don't worry, I will survive, and we should do this again some when I'm out of jail," Luthor said, the rib puncturing the heart and he struggled to pump blood. His eyes grew blood shot and he practically foamed at the mouth. "The world, it's all beautiful."

Lex's meltdown was a horrific sight to see when he slowly faded into nothingness, blood pouring down from his mouth, his limbs twitching in every single direction. He was sent to the wall, and his head exploded into a gooey mess when he connected at full force.

There was no time to clean Luthor's brain matter off of the wall, because they had a far bigger problem at hand.

"We've got to stop the drill," Batwoman told them and Arcane turned around, nodding in agreement, the drill was the most imperative thing to stop but were they too late? They would find out shortly.

Karen hoped that she could repair the controls and stop it on this end but unfortunately that was not to be.

"He damaged the controls, we might not have a way to track it now," Karen said, biting down on her lip furiously but Harry sighed, putting his hand on his wife's shoulders and trying to return her back to reality.

Where there's a will, there's a way, that was what he always said, and suddenly, Arcane tried to track it.

"Metropolis Square, that's where it was launched into the center of the Earth," Harry said suddenly, and they flew forward.

But they were too late, much too late, the drill completed its journey and the probe was beginning to draw the gas right into the center of the Earth.

The air was breathable but breathable air was not worth the consequences that Lex Luthor, even after his death, had imposed on this world.

* * *

><p>It was one of those good news, bad news, and worse news situations, and Harry was trying to piece together which level of news that he found more alarming with each piece that he received. Slowly he broke down where everything stood in his mind.<p>

The good news, what he guessed was the good news that was, was that the air in the city was back to normal. In a slight twisted way, Luthor's hair brain scheme worked, in the sense that it caused the toxicity levels in the Earth to build up.

"The problem is, Lex erased a dark cloud but created a tornado," Harry told both of his wives as they sat around him, looking extremely somber and this was the darkest hour that any o fthem had to ever face. Which was saying something with them. "The gas is creating a chemical reaction in the Earth, and it is much sooner than the few hundred years that Luthor theorized."

"How soon?" Karen asked with a sigh but suddenly she looked up in the sky and blanched.

There was a red sun that was beating over them and the blonde opened her mouth up once again.

"So you noticed the new sun, and this entire red sky and pink clouds, it doesn't look very healthy out there, doesn't it?" Harry asked and Karen blinked, before shaking her head, the blonde not enjoying what she saw and things were bound to get worse by the moment. Her heart beat just that much quicker when she looked up in the sky and saw the doom that was flashing over her head.

"He managed….how…..this is bad," Karen whispered suddenly.

"The bad news is that if Luthor hadn't intervened, we wouldn't have this problem," Harry said and there was a sense that he was blaming himself a little bit but he didn't come out and say it. There was just something based in his body language that he was blaming himself for what happened.

"Luthor was a sick man and he got even sicker," Helena said, going over the readings and yes, there was a lot of doom and gloom there, as much as she hated to admit it.

"Earth will blow up, won't it?"

"Well, the best thing we can do is ease the pressure in the Earth's core, and buy us, maybe a couple more months," Harry said and Karen looked at them, biting down firmly on her lip, which she had an unfortunate habit to do when she was worried about something.

"A couple more months, that's it?"

"And it would take a timed effort to get something down there, the gas is heating up the Earth, do you see the temperature on the wall?" Harry asked her and Karen's eyes averted to the temperature and nearly blinked.

It was over a hundred degrees in December in Metropolis and it was steadily rising and it would only get worse from here.

"So, Earth blows up or is cooked like an egg, that's wonderful," Karen said, an acidic tone to her voice when she crossed her arms and she shook her head when Harry's eyes fell on hers. "I know, I know, I shouldn't sound so bitter, but…..there has to be something that we can do, some way that we can help?"

"If there is, we would, but there isn't, as you know," Harry replied but he was hit with a sudden burst of inspiration. "But when there's time, I'm not going to start trying."

"And what if we run out of time?"

Helena gave this statement once again, but the truth was that she would keep fighting until her final breath.

'_We could have saved it, if Lex hadn't stuck his nose in where it didn't belong,' _Harry thought and once again frustration burned through him.

Of course, it wouldn't need saving in the first place, without Lex and Powers doing what they did.

"There's no need to worry about what could have been, rather we could have worry about what we can do now, and before it's too late," Karen said and she was ignoring that nagging voice that was in the back of her head that told her it was already too late. "I guess the best way to do so is to try and buy us time and….."

Karen wiped the sweat from her brow once again and she could see the temperature slowly creep up. Her powers were fading rather fast because of the lack of yellow sun that she received.

She could see Harry bent over something in deep concentration. To bring the gas out of the Earth's core would cause a chain reaction that would make everything go completely boom. That being said, there had to be another way, to ease the burden that the world was suffering, but the problem was time.

Damned if they do, damned if they don't really. Which made the entire finding a solution thing to be kind of agonizing to say the very least.

Time was the one thing that was not on their side.

"Let's take the work that we used to deal with the gas as a groundwork, and work from there," Helena suggested and Harry smiled at that fact.

"The best plan that we have, I suppose, and the research is mostly there," Harry said and Karen moved over to turn on the air conditioning, she never thought that she would have to use it in December.

Hell she never thought that she would have to need it period. Times changed however.

* * *

><p>It was nearly past Midnight, and they had been working fairly late into the evening as well. Harry once again shifted himself from where he sat and he gave a lengthy sigh when he looked everything over rather carefully.<p>

"I suppose that…..well I suppose that things could be a little bit better," Harry concluded with obvious frustration. Every scenario had struck a dead end.

"That probe will melt before it gets to the center of the Earth, it's too hot, and…it's boiling out there, draught conditions and….no chance of rain," Helena said, keeping her eye to the weather report. "Scientists are baffled by the cause of this…."

"Yes, I know, they're baffled, but I'm baffled, and I can't figure out how to reverse the crisis."

Karen got up to her feet, pacing around, now that she knew how her mother felt, when the inevitable explosion of Krypton occurred. It seemed like an entire lifetime back but the fact was that she was experiencing a sudden case of Deja-Vu, with all of the despair that came along with that end. The blonde's long sigh got even more prominent, her frustration got even more evident, and it looked like she had her back against the wall.

"Go take a break if you need one," Harry said to her gently.

"No, I'm fine," Karen said, and she sat down, with Harry giving her a critical eye. "Okay, I'm not find but….you know, we don't have much time to take a break. And besides, you look like you're about ready to hurl that half finished probe across the room."

Harry looked at her, with a real guilty as charged type expression etched on his face, but it was what it was to be honest. He wanted to throw something and he would have strangled Luthor for this, if he wasn't already dead.

"We have access to some of the greatest and most efficient science in the world but we can't seem to come up with a working solution," Harry said and there was no question about it, his frustration was at its peak once again. He didn't even bother to bring up magic, because throwing in the ultimate combustible element on top of everything else was just inviting trouble.

"Where there's a will…."

"There's a way, I know," Harry said and he wasn't going to entertain the notion of magic, because of how unstable the Earth was, it was like pouring gasoline on a roaring fire.

The elevator dinged and Patricia showed back up to join them.

"I thought that I put you in a safe place," Harry said and she smiled in response.

"While there was no place safer than where you put me, I don't think that any of us are going to be safe right now, the amount of forest fires have increased," Patricia told them and there was a grim notion with all of them. "You don't suppose…"

"I do suppose, and I really wish that there was another way, something, anything to stop this," Harry responded to her and there was a grim tone to his voice. Patricia walked over towards the group and joined them.

"I might have a couple of ideas that might slow it down," Patricia said once again and the three overworked heroes looked at her. She gave them a smile. "It's obvious that you need all of the help that you can get."

Karen smiled, even though it was kind of faint and really strained. "Obviously, we do, what do you have?"

Anything that they could do, even a longshot was far better than the shot that they had. The world's lifespan might be measured in days, if that. For all they knew ,things could go from bad to worse in a couple of hours.

That was a charming thought to deal with on this morning.

**To Be Continued on August 29****th**** 2014. **


	13. Down the Rabbit Hole

**Chapter Thirteen: Down the Rabbit Hole.**

* * *

><p>"So have you ever been in a hopeless situation like this?" Karen asked Harry and she figured that he might have been, he did seem like the type but he wasn't going to let it bother him. But on some degree it did bother him.<p>

If Karen was honest with herself, it bothered her as well. Especially when it gave her all kinds of Krypton flashbacks, with the world being at an end and people either not being able to do anything about it or worse people denying that it even happened like that.

Harry thought back to the good old days, but the problem is, when someone used the term the good old days, it wasn't so good. Of course, he realized that the good old days wouldn't be so good back even back in the good old days, but that was just him. At least what he thought.

"As hopeless as this, I don't think so," Harry said and Karen nodded in response once again. "But there have been times where things seemed hopeless, but as long as there is life, there is time."

"Even though we're running out of time," Patricia said once again, she hated to be a bit of a downer, and a little bit of optimism would allow them get through this situation.

"At this rate, I would agree," Helena said her, business like and determined. Given who her father was, she would take the pragmatic approach, even if she could not match her father. "But we do have a few options, but can we complete the probe on time?"

The ball was thrown back into Harry's court and the green eyed wizard looked at her. His mouth was open and there was one word that came out of his mouth based on this.

"Maybe," Harry told them, and both of them blinked, seeing Harry put it together. He hoped that this worked because there was no time for any redos. "Hand me that part, and then we'll test it through the simulator, we might have to modify it a bit to match the new conditions to the Earth."

"It's too bad it isn't ready," Patricia said and their attention was locked onto her. She shook her head and stammered a little bit. "Just….just thinking out loud, you know."

"Well if it's anything that can help us….."

"I'm not sure how much it can help us," Patricia said, handing Harry a tool to put the probe back together. She thought about it, it was an outside gambit anyway even if it was ready. "You remember STARR's new moon base that we were putting together by next year….."

"Yes, it was supposed to allow us to take the studies of the mysteries of the universe to an entirely new level," Karen answered, but sadly she felt even more despondent when she realized that plan would be snuffed even at the best of times. "But you know that wasn't supposed to be done within the next six months."

"Yes, I know," Patricia sighed. She watched Harry walk the probe across the room and crossed her fingers, hoped against all hope that this would work.

'_Well her goes nothing,' _she thought and once again a sigh escaped her lips.

"….Make sure to crank up the temperature…"

"But I'm just thinking out loud of what would happen, hell I don't think that it would be feasible to move everyone in the world onto the moon," Patricia said, checking the data and the latest news reports came in. Each gave them more dreadful information than the last. "Especially with a lot of government officials are trying to claim that nothing is matter."

"I think that weather hot enough to melt your skin qualifies as something being the matter," Karen said crossly, she really felt the need to head desk and badly, really badly to be honest. She nearly was about ready to lose her mind.

"Well that's politicians for you," Patricia said and Karen gave a heaving sigh.

"Krypton had no room to talk, given how much they stuck their heads into the fucking sand, although they didn't stick them far enough, because otherwise they would have seen the core build up about to happen," Karen said, brushing the strand of blonde hair from her eye and she shifted herself to a more comfortable position.

'_About ready to lose my fucking mind over this,' _she thought.

'_Welcome to the club' _Helena thought, Harry silent due to the fact that he had work to do.

The only saving grace was that if Harry figured the probe out, he might be able to undo what had been done before it was too late. All they could do was hope for the best.

The simulation was coming up and Karen crossed her arms, biting on her lip hard. Only time would tell what would happen next.

'_Come on, come on,' _she thought urgently and this could go really right or entirely wrong.

She wasn't the only one that was crossing her fingers, Harry was staring intently at the box and there was a glowing that filled the room. He waited, and watched, and waited some more to see what would happen when the probe would go through the simulation.

Suddenly, the chamber inside was starting to melt once again and that caused the group to jump back. Harry turned around to Patricia, about to tell her to shut it down but she was already there, thinking quickly.

Harry grumbled and looked at the damaged chamber. He thought that it would work.

"So, that didn't work as well," Patricia said, the heat had overloaded the chamber and caused a malfunction. Thankfully the automatic cooling system had managed to lock onto place before a fire had started in the rest of the building.

"Yeah, that's going to really put it mildly, I mean, really," Karen said and once again, she wanted to slam her head onto the desk. Helena gave her a warning glare to keep it together so she did.

Harry stepped forward, his hands working on her shoulders once again, and the blonde closed her eyes, hitching in a deep breath. Despite everything that she had been through, there was no denying the fact that Harry not only had some magical hands, but he knew out to use it and the blonde was rather accepting of these actions, relaxing underneath his amazing grip.

He stopped and leaned forward, whispering into her ear. "So, are you feeling better?"

"Yes, I'm feeling better, much better, thanks a lot, and I mean that," Karen said, leaning back, feeling the tight shirt pull against her breasts once again, but she adjusted it. She seethed on the inside, but was enough at ease to keep her emotions in check. "I'd feel a lot better if I got to kill Luthor."

"Luthor is already dead, remember that."

Karen turned to her husband and gave him a lengthy and pressing sigh once again. His hand brushed her hair away from her eyes.

"Yeah, I know that, and good, I'm glad, wish I would have popped his head off sooner, it would have saved me a lot of grief," Karen said, but there was no use in crying over spilled milk right now. That being said, the blonde could not help shaking off the feeling that it might have been a bit too little, way too late.

"You are on a long list of people who wished they would have offed Luthor years ago but what's done is done," Helena said and she looked at the latest news reports. Her eyes narrowed in fury, on one hand she could not believe that people were this dense. On the other hand, she really believed they could. "I don't believe it…..a lot of people are trying to say that nothing is wrong."

"And a lot more are trying to pin the blame on global warming," Patricia added, and Karen and Helena looked at each other and then both sighed.

"Well, this is far more complicated of an issue than that, even though it's right to an extent," Harry told her, and he pulled himself together before it was back to the drawing board. "There are other circumstances…..circumstances that are far more complicated….."

Harry's momentum was lost and he returned deep in thought, trying to figure out a way to shield the probe.

"Yeah, complicated, what in life isn't complicated?" Karen asked and they ran out of time and had even less options. "So, the moon base is out."

"Even if it is completed, there is no idea what changes are going to happen with the gravitational pull of the planet," Harry told her and Karen let out a lengthy sigh, scowling at what he reminded her of.

"Must you make a lot of sense," Karen said through gritted teeth.

"It's true, if the planet doesn't blow up, it is just going to burn out," Patricia said, pulling up the latest numbers and this caused the redhead to frown.

"And….." Helena said, but words failed her when she spotted the numbers.

"Wonderful, that's just wonderful," Harry muttered, he rapidly tried to figure out if there was any way to cool the Earth's core.

Cooling potions were difficult to brew and they still needed to get it down there. The same thing for any kind of coolant to be honest, it would just burn through like a super nova. Both options were completely off the table.

Speaking of super nova, there was a blipping warning on the computer that gave them even more good news.

"The sun's about ready to turn super nova," Helena whispered, eyes fixed on the blinking device.

"Oh that's great, more good news," Harry said, and he threw his hands up and stormed from the room, that was the one piece of bad news too many.

"He didn't just throw his hands up into the air and give up?" Patricia asked but Karen shook her head.

"I think that he's going for a walk, you know, to clear his head and think rationally, at least that's what I think that he's doing," Karen said, she wasn't really completely sure to be honest what was happening. All that she knew was that Harry was getting close to losing his mind.

He was in good company, but Harry returned and the windows rattled briefly. Then they settled down.

"For the record I'm fine, let's look at the sample of the gas once again," Harry said, trying to keep some optimism in his voice.

"Don't shoulder the burden, please," Helena said, she could tell that he was taking this as an insult that he could not figure out how to solve this problem, honestly speaking, she was kind of taking this as an insult, an equal insult as well.

There had to be a way, there always was a way but the problem as she saw it was to figure out how to do it. And she could see how much time that they had, it was none, and she knew it, Harry knew it, Karen knew it, Patricia knew it, and eventually, likely by morning, the entire world would know it.

* * *

><p>"Maybe, just maybe, they'll admit that something is wrong when the world blows up in a fiery ball of death," Harry said as he pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned back with a prominent sigh.<p>

There were papers scattered as far as the eyes could see. They had tried to send another test probe down to the Earth's core, but it wouldn't break the crust. It even melted before it reached that point. So it was back to drawing board for what seemed like the tenth time today.

Karen slammed her fist down on the table, causing it to collapse and Patricia to slide back on the chair with a start.

"I feel your pain, but you shouldn't take your frustrations out on the table, it didn't really do anything."

Karen would have normally smiled at something like this but to be honest, she was distressed beyond belief.

She saw the sun and it was glowing brighter and redder. The temperatures didn't crawl up that much more, but they showed no sign of drawing.

If the temperatures dropped, she would have really felt a bit more ease at this, but the fact that they were staying steady, she was remaining cautiously optimistic.

"Power is down across the world because of sunspots, the only reason why we still have power is because STARR has a more sophisticated power grid and thank you for that by the way," Patricia said and Karen placed her hands on the top of her head.

Harry was bent over a diagram, making all kinds of different measures but there was a beeping sound that startled them all.

"Please tell me that's some good news," Karen said and Helena walked over, ripping off the piece of the paper.

"Well, do you want the latest weather report?" Helena asked and Karen turned towards her.

"Don't sugar coat it, are we going to have fire rain from the sky, acid maybe, snake venom?" Karen asked, trying not to sound too caustic, but looked as if she wanted to punch something.

Harry gripped her hand with one hand and continued to work on his diagraming with his other hand.

That actually kept Karen rather calm but never the less, she looked towards Helena with imploring blue eyes. These were the types of blue eyes that showed a lot in them, and showed her abject frustration.

"So what do we have to deal with?" Karen asked, her voice oddly calm and even, or at least more so than it would have been normally. She couldn't afford to really freak out now, because that would lead to problems later.

"Well, there's a meteor shower coming down, it appears that Luthor's little manipulations with the Earth's core has put us in the path for something really dangerous," Helena confirmed, saying what they all dreaded.

Hopeless was not in Harry Potter's vocabulary but at the same time, he was considering doing a revision. That being said, he wasn't completely and utterly cooked yet. Not if there was breath in his body.

"How long?" Harry asked calmly, not taking his eyes off of the paper that he made a few more crisp and delicate sketches on.

'_So close,' _Harry thought, but he missed something he had a feeling.

Helena swallowed the lump in her throat, Harry and Karen were taken aback by how uncharacteristically nervous she seemed.

"Eight hours," Helena said, checking and double checking things, but she confirmed things with a nod. "Eight hours, maybe less."

"Wonderful," Harry said, completely dead pan.

"We survived the meteor showers in Smallville, and half of the planet might as well have come down on that one town with the amount of Kryptonite that rained from the sky," Patricia said but Helena calmly pushed the data from the STARR observatory underneath her face. She whistled in response when she looked at it. "So…..that's a no go."

"Either the meteors utterly crush us, or the Earth burns into a ball of death," Helena said and she offered this voice in a real matter of fact sort of way.

"Or both at the same time, I'm sure that they're not picky," Harry said and he sighed, causing the pencil in his hand to reduce to dust when he snapped it.

"So, that's a no go, isn't it?" Karen asked, now being the one to sooth Harry, returning the favor from earlier.

"That….is a no go," Harry agreed with her, he was trying to keep on the bright side of life but from where he stood, things were beyond doomsday.

"Even if we did create something to ease the Earth's core, we're not stopping this meteor shower," Helena said and Karen sighed.

"Tell me something that I don't already know," Karen answered and she leaned her head down onto Harry's shoulder, resting it upon it.

"We might not be able to save the world, but we can save ourselves," Patricia said once again, voicing an alternative and she got three sets of eyes on her.

"We…are you saying that we should abandon this world to its fate?" Karen asked. She wasn't complaining, but it made her second guess what she was able to do.

Or rather what she was unable to do.

"Eight hours Kara, eight hours, do you think that some magical solution is going to fall from the sky in eight hours?" Patricia asked and it might have seemed mean, but it was the truth.

"Seems unlikely," Helena muttered, insulted that she could not figure out a plan. She almost could see her father rolling over in his grave out of the corner of her eye.

"I….."

Karen flashed back to Krypton, the eight hours before the planet was destroyed. She was on a ship on her way to Earth by the time that the planet exploded.

"Eight hours, we still have eight hours."

"Maybe less," Helena reminded, she was thinking of what Patricia said. The inevitable was true, they needed to hold on for what was important. "We need to move quickly, get all of the assets together that we can."

All three of them had some liquid assets on hand that weren't in a bank, it was a sufficient amount, and there was equipment that they could use.

"We could hide in the cave, it's outside of the pull of the universe, this universe," Harry said but Patricia turned to him, frowning.

"Yes, that might work, I agree," Patricia said but she decided to offer him an alternative. "There's another thing that we could do."

The redhead already was on her way towards a vault. She made rather quick and careful strides towards there and Karen looked towards her, one eyebrow raised. The blonde had a savvy idea what she was after.

"Is that….."

"Yes, yes, it is," Patricia answered with a smile on her face, and she removed the glowing blue crystal from the vault, careful not to touch it directly with her hands and even more careful not to drop it.

If she dropped it, well they wouldn't have to worry about a meteor shower or the Earth's core exploding or the sun going super nova.

"This was what they were after, you know those meteor mutants a few months ago?" Patricia told Harry and he nodded, he did recall.

He took care of them, and made sure that they could never hurt anyone again.

"So, how's the crystal going to help us?" Karen asked, but slowly it dawned….surely not.

"STARR Lab's interdimensional portal device," Patricia said once again and Karen looked at her, surprised, her mouth hanging open in shock.

"Wait….you got it done, you got it working?" Karen asked, she figured that might be the case, but she wasn't sure.

"What, do you think I've been sitting up in my office all day, playing mine sweeper?" Patricia asked her and Karen looked kind of sheepish. The redhead continued to hit her stride moving forward. "But yes, I've got it working, at least that I think that I do."

"Oh, you think that you've got it working?" Harry asked. Perhaps it was just from experience but this was foreboding.

"Well, it's not like it's something that we can test, as the only source of power on Earth…well I'm holding the only source on power on Earth that could power a portal like that," Patricia said, cradling the crystal like a treasure. "Just think about it, we can get out of here…I know that you want to save them all, all of them."

"Yes, we do, but…." Karen said but she trailed off. Talk about being in your hopeless situation. "Not plausible, I know."

The world might be beyond saving, hell the power grid in this building might fail because of the increasing sun spots. And what would happen first?

The world burns up or the meteors cause the Earth to be reduced into ash as it impacts it. Either way, they were kind of fucked.

"But, a portal like that….."

"It was based off of some Kryptonian technology that they left lying around, and…..my father helped modify it and worked on it up until his death, and I finished it afterwards, I thought that it might be a good monument for his legacy," Patricia said in an excited voice, never taking a breath.

"You're certain that it functions right," Harry said and Patricia nodded. "That's good enough for me."

"Yeah good enough for me," Karen said, not liking that she had to just duck and run, but she had said goodbye to one world already, so she would have to say goodbye to another world right here and now.

"Yeah, that's good enough for me as well," Helena said firmly.

"So, if you have any liquid assets on hand or anything that you need, tell me right away, and I'll get them for you," Harry said once again and Helena, Karen, and Patricia looked at each other. "Do any of you want to start again from square one?"

"No, I can see your point," Helena said, knowing that Harry spoke from experience.

They prepared to give Harry an inventory, a list of everything that they needed to get for their trip. It had to be done quickly.

Karen, Patricia, and Helena prepared to head up to the lab to fire up the portal and Harry looked at all three of them.

"I'll be back in two hours," Harry said, seeing the meteors on the satellite cameras on approach to the Earth and really hoping that they didn't cause any trouble with any kind of inter-dimensional travel.

He really hoped not, but you never knew in circumstances like this. No time to wait, Harry moved at the speed of light to collect everything that they needed for their trip.

* * *

><p>"So this is it, this is now or never," Harry told them once again and Patricia, Karen, and Helena all had fixed looks of determination on their faces. "Are we all in, or are we not?"<p>

"Yeah, we're in, for what it's worth," Karen said but she decided that there were sometimes where things were out of her control and this was one of those times.

"We've got everything that we need to start setting on a new world, although a lot of our groundwork has been lost, but that's unavoidable," Helena said and Harry nodded.

All of the computer systems in the world were baked, so any money that went into bank accounts was lost forever. It was the liquid assets that were on hand that they had, and Harry knew better to shove his money in a bank completely one hundred percent.

Let's just say that he had some bad experiences and leave it at that.

"There are a multitude of Earth's throughout the entire universe, but we have to wait to find one where the interdimensional matrix lines on," Karen said once again and she typed in some coordinates. "Or in laymen's terms, we have to find an Earth that we can safely portal to, without causing the dimensional barriers to collapse and a cataclysmic event to occur on multiple worlds."

"That sounds reasonable," Harry said, after his previous encounters with inter-dimensional travel, he was not really looking forward to it. It was not a preferred method to travel, with any of the overtly stupid magical inventions such as Portkey or the Floo being beneath his mental list.

"So, what should we expect when we go through the portal?" Helena asked Harry, and he nodded, that might be a reasonable question.

"Well with any luck, we should come out on the other end of the portal once again, and be on the new Earth, safe and sound and in one piece," Harry said without missing a beat and without catching his breath.

"That is the most ideal situation, yes," Karen agreed once again, but somehow she decided that might not go as planned. "But….if something goes wrong….."

"Yes, I hate to think about that, but she does have a point," Harry said, addressing Helena and Patricia in particular. "If we don't time this completely right…..we could get sucked into dimensional oblivion when we pass through the gateway."

"Well don't sugarcoat it Harry," Karen said and Patricia was walking up against the gateway, putting the crystal in to help fire up the gateway.

"Don't worry, I'm sure that it will be fine," Patricia told them all and Harry smiled.

"Not worrying, just speaking from experience that's what could happen," Harry told her..

"You have some really worrying experiences some time," Karen once again said, brushing the hair out of her eyes, but she watched the portal fire up, ready to go.

"Will take five minutes to fire up, so I guess that it's good bye to the world," Patricia said but she had one final bombshell to drop on them. "Someone is going to have to navigate the portal to make sure we get through to the coordinates safely."

"I'll do it," Harry said without missing a beat and Karen and Helena looked at each other apprehensively; they had some severe misgivings about this, and also the fact that something could be off about this portal.

"Harry, while I appreciate the concern, I think that I can handle this portal, my father gave me directions on how to best use it….." Patricia said and Harry turned towards her, giving her a nervous glare.

"You mean that I wouldn't know how to use it," Harry said to her and Patricia looked at him, arms folded with a strong resolve on her face.

"Well it isn't like you wouldn't how to use it, it's just that…..I would know how to use it better and to control what happens when I put you through," Patricia said, not wanting to sound critical of Harry.

"There's something that you're not telling us, aren't you?" Karen asked once again and Patricia's eyes didn't meet her's right away.

Harry didn't miss this at all. "Well….."

"The crystal might only be able to power the portal for twenty minutes, and that's just enough time for three of us to get through, based on the time-space matrix, so you better go," Patricia said with a smile, evading the question once again.

"So what…three…."

"You know, you just better go, I'm pretty sure that I can get through, but the three of you, you're better equipped to defend yourself if something goes wrong," Patricia said, and she looked like she wasn't going to budge and they had no time to argue. "I'll be right behind you."

'_I guess that we're in for it….' _Harry thought and his wives both nodded in agreement.

"So, let's go," Helena said and she was the first one to pass through the portal and did so safely.

Karen reluctantly followed behind her next at Harry's urging. This left Harry and Patricia alone in the room.

"Through it, I'm right behind you," she told him.

"Are you sure that you want to do this?" Harry asked her and Patricia clenched her fist together once again and she got up on her tip toes so she could look him straight to the eyes.

"Trust me when I say, it will work out for the best, trust me, okay, do you trust me?" Patricia asked her once again, and Harry smiled at her once again, when she preceded to nudge him, to encourage him to go through the portal.

"I trust you absolutely, and…..you're going to come in right behind me, right?" Harry asked and she nodded. She frantically pointed towards the portal, nervously eying the crystal.

Harry had no choice, but to leave now. He slipped through the portal and followed the same path that Karen and Helena did.

Patricia slipped through the portal next, with the lights in the building flashing. The back up power slowly kicked up and she threw herself head on.

Just seconds after she passed through the portal, the power in the building went completely dead, and Metropolis was on fire. Large meteors impacted into the city, increasing the heat of the planet to boiling temperatures.

On the other side, Harry dropped down to the ground, it seemed like his luck with transport had held on true once again. He nearly fell over onto his face, but he managed to keep himself steady.

Karen and Helena were on the ground right there, looking a little worse for wear but both of them were in one piece.

"So, we have all of our limbs intact? Harry asked and both of them nodded once again, their arms folded over.

The portal remained open for a little bit above their heads.

"Did Patricia come right behind you?" Karen asked him and Harry nodded.

She should be going through right now, and Karen made a step forward to check but Harry grabbed her by the arm, holding her back as he shook his head.

"No, trust me, you don't want to get trapped in inter-dimensional limbo," Harry told her firmly and she nodded in response.

Still time, he waited for the other party to make her way through the portal, passing on through but he paused and he waited once again.

There was nothing that came out of the portal right there once again.

"Patricia," Karen called but there was no answer. She called her once again. "PATRICIA!"

Much to her horror, the portal closed, and there was no Patricia behind them.

"I told her to go first," Harry said to them and once again he clutched his fists together.

"There's still hope, she might have not gotten here, but she might have ended up elsewhere," Helena said to them.

"We better go, see if she popped up somewhere else in the city," Harry said, and they most certainly could not stick around here, because it would lead to some questions.

Hopefully she was sent elsewhere in the world that was the best case scenario. Or she arrived her a little bit before them despite leaving after. Or that she got transported further on in time.

Harry didn't want to think of any of the worst case scenarios and they were numerous to be honest.

**To Be Continued on September 2nd 2014. **

* * *

><p><strong>So return of Director's Notes, kind of, although they're tacked on at the end of the chapter now, and only there if I need to say something. And if I don't need to say something, well I won't, now will I?<strong>

**Failure is inevitable. **

**That's really what I was thinking when writing this chapter. You know that no matter what, Peter Parker isn't going to stop the burglar and Uncle Ben is going to get killed. You know that Bruce Wayne's parents are going to get shot. You know that no one is going to listen to Jor-El and Krypton is going to go boom. **

**Earth-Two, Karen/Helena Earth, had to be destroyed, to get everyone onto one Earth, that being Earth-One. **

**Here's something entirely funny, the last thirteen chapters you read, they weren't supposed to happen. We were going to start "bam, Vegas marriage", and things progressed from there. And it wasn't going to be with these two, Helena and Karen were already going to be already married to Harry, and we begin there. **

**But, I decided not to go there, instead I went here. **

**That being said, I think this might actually have been worse in a way, from the standpoint that I build up this world, only to nuke it. I mean, the Harry Potter world in this universe…we've only been given vague generalizations, and that's about all that you're going to get. In the end, it doesn't matter. **

**In reality, this has the feel of a Season finale, and it kind of is. Granted, there will be times where we're going to take short little breaks after what I feel are key storylines, but the first thirty five chapters is going to be pretty much straight through.**

**Then we break in mid-November and return in January. Just thought I'd give you a head's up there.**

**Another thing that I batted back and forth in my head was removing Harry's powers completely, as opposed to partially. Granted, he was going to get them back due to something that happens down the road, but it would be a journey. **

**And I did a similar journey in the original trilogy, where his powers slowly built up, and everyone jumped down my throat (well not everyone, a handful of people), and said that he was too weak. Despite the fact that he technically was more powerful than canon, but yeah…..we're not going to go into the entire power argument again. Because it makes me want to bash my head into a keyboard. **

**I've rambled too far enough, we're continuing on forward starting next Tuesday with another set of chapters, which I suppose the second part could span from 14-27, or roughly there about.**


	14. In Another World

It was difficult to leave behind pretty much everything that you knew, especially when you knew that there was going to be no turning back no. You pretty much had to start from scratch, from the ground up, and that took a special kind of person.

Harry Potter did it once, and he did it again, and to be honest, the first world that he left behind, he did so with pretty much no regrets. It astounded him how a lot of the people from the hidden community that he lived to manage to remember how to breathe without constant instruction.

The problem was that Harry had a lot of holes in his memory regarding that world, but he thought that it was for the best.

He was rather fuzzy on a lot of the details, but he managed to take down the person that killed his parents and then it was off, when they decided to make him the scapegoat for the fact that a bunch of so called respectable purebloods dropped dead, mostly because they were hardwired into his enemy's nervous system.

The chain reaction would have killed more and Harry knew that there was only one way to reverse the curse and that was to send him to another place, breaking the one final last link that madman had to that realm.

But that was then, and this was now, leaving the world that he left this time was much harder because he had a lot of people there that he liked, but naturally two of the people who he was closest enough would make things bearable.

"So, we're here," Karen said, much like Harry, she had been through this game once before. They made their way to a modest looking apartment in Metropolis.

"We need to find a place to set up until we can move forward," Helena said, she had not lost everything like these two had. She was not used to that, but she adapted to things rather easily.

"We need to find Patricia, she could have gone somewhere, anywhere," Karen said once again and Harry held her hand, understanding her pain.

"There's no sign of her…"

"Yes, that's the problem, isn't it, and hopefully she just arrived a bit before us, and she might be waiting for us, or maybe a bit after us and we'll find her," Harry said once again and Helena lifted up one of the tracking devices to continue the search the old fashioned way.

"There's no sign that she got through, but there's no sign that she didn't get through either," Helena said and once again Karen had to lift her hand and ram it into her face over and over again.

"Wonderful, paradox, just wonderful," Karen said. She hated these time travel paradoxes because they only proved to give her a headache.

That being said, as they found out the hard way, they couldn't stay here. It was a wonder that they had managed to drop down without causing too much of a ruckus.

Harry remembered when he went from Point A to Point B, as it all came back to him that he ended up in an abandoned office building, because that hidden community didn't exist. Therefore a mundane, normal office building existed in its place.

"We need a place to stay, we need money….. we have enough of that to get by for a few months, but we need more," Helena said and Harry nodded.

"Right, we need identification….. that shouldn't be too much of a problem, with a little slight of hand, and knowing the right people who won't ask too many questions," Harry told them.

"But your education, it's just gone… could you get that back, or are you pushing that too much?" Karen asked him once again and Harry pressed his hand underneath his jaw once again and closed his eyes.

He took a couple of minutes to mull it over in his mind.

"That will be painful, all of the work I had to do to do my doctorate….. but that's pushing past the limits what my limited amount of magic can do," Harry said to them and Helena offered a surprisingly optimistic statement.

"If you can do it before, you can do it again, and this time you can do it better," Helena told both of them and Karen and Harry nodded in agreement.

"And if I know Harry, he's going to do it better, no question about it," Karen said and Harry smiled once again, but he really wished that they did not have to make such an abrupt escape.

On the bright side, Harry had a lot more than he did after the last time he was here, which was the reason why he didn't trust banks at all. There were just too many problems with them, but that being said, he looked at the apartment sitting there.

'_I really hate to take such a magical person approach about personal boundaries, but no one is living there, so it won't do any harm if we stay here for a couple of days,' _Harry thought, flipping over various responses and ideas in his mind.

'_I'm guessing that's our place, the one that we're going to stay,' _Karen thought once again.

'_Yes, if you want it to be,' _Harry told her and she smiled, looking it over.

'_Not bad, reminds me kind of my old apartment,' _Karen said and Helena nudged her with a smile.

'_That's because it is your old apartment, well not technically your old apartment, but….. it's in the same place if you really look at things,' _Helena thought.

'_This universe might just be a near carbon copy of the last one… except for STARR, that isn't there,' _Karen thought, and she was certain that there were other differences.

'_But a big old abandoned building that we can rebuild it is,' _Harry thought, he considered a few things for the future. The possibilities were endless and he prepared for them.

'_All we need to take….. well, some things never change,' _Karen said, her eyes averting to the LuthorCorp building that was in the middle of Metropolis….. but she paused.

'_It hasn't been moved to another area, has it?' _Harry asked once again and Karen shook her head.

'_Then it's the old LuthorCorp, where he moved into the bigger one…. right after he took over from his father,' _Karen thought, and it did give them a general timetable of where they stood.

'_So, is this some kind of alternate universe where Lionel Luthor never died in an accident?' _Helena slowly suggested.

'_Maybe he discovered birth control before Lex was born,' _Karen thought and both of her spouses gave her a rather curious look. _'What? I'm just saying!'_

'_I know, I know,' _Harry said, patting her on her shoulder once again and Karen let her breath out in a long sigh.

The door was locked, but Helena already had a method to open the door.

X-X-X

"Well, it will do for now," Karen said with a smile. Then again, as Helena said, this was just like her old apartment, which was her home away from home from the Swann estate, which she would miss.

She got all of the data on the various Kryptonian artifacts, the one that they couldn't liberate, with any luck; they might be able to find them again. Providing if they existed that was.

"It will have to do until we find a way to reestablish ourselves in this world," Harry said and he waited. "Helena was going to snoop around, see if she could find a newspaper, because that's the best way to find out what's been going on here."

"There is also the Internet," Karen said in a half teasing manner to her husband and Harry slowly turned towards her.

"There is the Internet, providing we'd have a connection to it," Harry told her and Karen crossed her arms over her chest, looking a bit huffy but nevertheless, pressed on despite the problems.

"So, I've got to ask the obvious question…"

"Are there other versions of us in this world?" Harry asked her and Karen opened her mouth. She pouted when Harry stole the question out of her mouth.

"Well, yeah but…"

"I don't know, this world seems similar enough to the world that we left on the surface, but at the same time, it might be very different, the universe could have the same coat of paint, but the mechanics that are going on the inside, they'd be slightly different," Harry said and once again Karen smiled at him.

"Makes…. sense," Karen said, not sure what she was going to say, but she was kind of caught off guard.

Helena returned once again, carrying a newspaper clipping in her hand.

"Couldn't find a newspaper, but I found this clipping left out in the hallway…. it's about my father, and it was from the last week, he's still alive in this universe," Helena said. She parked herself down next to Harry.

"So, that could potentially answer the question of whether or not that there's a younger version of…."

"My father didn't settle down until he was well into his thirties with my mother," Helena told them and Harry nodded. "And by settling down….. he only went out for half of the night to patrol as opposed to the full night, at least half of the time."

"And the other half of the time?" Karen asked and Helena smirked.

"Business as usual," Helena told her and Karen whistled rather calmly and shifted her arms underneath her breasts. "The fact is….. he's around my age at this point, so he's just returning from his tour around the world."

"That doesn't mean anything though," Harry said and Karen smiled.

"No, it doesn't," Helena agreed, wondering what Karen was smiling about. "But if we hear rumors that there is a mysterious vigilante patrolling around Gotham City, then we'll know."

"Well, that would pretty much confirm things, won't you….. I could still be in the Dam right now, maybe we should go check?" Karen asked and Harry also leaned in to hear her response. "I didn't come to Earth until almost three years ago from my perspective so…."

"Yes, we'll check, but we'll do so in the morning," Harry offered swiftly; he had a few things that he had to take care of and naturally he needed to get them identification and get them enrolled, so they could begin to set their business back up from the ground up.

And there was also the Luthor thing, Harry wasn't going to let them go unwatched, but it appeared that Luthor Senior was still in charge. Whether or not that was much better, that much would be up for debate.

"So, I might have a younger self here somewhere, Helena likely doesn't….. what about you?" Karen asked her.

Harry shrugged, he didn't really want to deal with a younger version of himself, or, more likely, he didn't want to deal with all of the baggage that came along with dealing with a younger version of himself.

That being said, he would feel a lot better about this when he figured out where everything lied.

"He crossed dimensional barriers, to a world where he didn't exist, didn't he?" Helena asked, pushing the ball back into Harry's hands.

"So many variables that I'm not going to even piece together, we'll worry about the one person who could potentially exist here, and then we could worry about the fact that a counterpart may or may not exist here," Harry said, he did not necessarily put it off. "But as for your father, well his nocturnal activities might be the same, or he might have decided to be a Chimney Sweep."

Karen could not help but spit out the drink that she was drinking at the table. "A Chimney Sweep, excuse me?"

"Well, you never know," Helena added, but she somehow doubted it. Unless her father was lucky not to have his parents shot before his very eyes at the age of eight, which it was looking depressingly like it was the case. It wouldn't be Bruce Wayne if he didn't have any life that was colored with tragedy after all.

"We're going to get enrolled and ready to go, find a more permanent base, and find a way to get some money flowing in," Harry said with a smile.

There was a list of treasures that he might be able to look up for some added money, if they were in the same place they were. But this new world could have new treasures, he'd worry about that when he worried about that.

X-X-X

"Okay, I'm going to have to give this costume up as a lost cause," Karen said, looking at her Supergirl costume and sighing. She felt extremely nostalgic. "Granted, it's a name and a costume that I outgrew about a year ago, but still, I guess I was holding onto it, because I was being sentimental."

"Brand new world, you can start anew," Harry said, his key still worked and they were moving things into the Lair, which transcended dimensions. He tested going in first to make sure he wasn't going to go out in the old universe, because going back to what the Earth was before, that would be kind of bad.

"I know, you've got the identification papers, right?" Karen asked him and Harry smiled and slapped them into the palm of her hand so she could see them.

She looked them over, Harry looked over her, as she looked over his work, but the blonde did not seem to be complaining too much when she did this.

"Nice, very, nice," she said with a smile and Helena joined them seconds later.

"Registered us to school, same classes….. well for Karen, Harry and I are going to have to start college all over again," Helena informed them. She didn't really seem too bothered with it, because like Harry, she saw it as a challenge to start all over again. "It's going to be weird not being responsible for a major company…"

"Well, you're not responsible for a major company yet, but when we gain our footing here, we should be set up, in the meantime…. we've got a modest little apartment in Metropolis, we've got the Lair here, pretty soon we'll be able to buy where the STARR labs were supposed to be in this world, although, we're going to have to act quickly," Harry said and Karen raised her eyebrow.

"This is new news to me, what's happening?" Karen asked him and Harry was only too happy to enlighten her on the latest news.

"Luthor Senior is looking to build a new LuthorCorp facility there…"

"LuthorCorp can't go where STARR Labs should be, that's…. that's just…. that just shouldn't happen."

Karen crossed her arms together and she gave a prominent scowl in response, much to the amusement of Harry and Helena.

"Calm down, you know that I'm not going to let anyone with the name Luthor get his mitts on anything that is rightfully ours….."

"What about SLO?" Helena asked and Harry smiled. "Did you check to…"

"Yes, I did, and I also have that on my list of things to buy up, I did like my old office, on the corner, it overlooked the rest of the city you see," Harry said and both of them smiled once again. "So classes start tomorrow, and we'll be back to….. well, we'll have plenty to do to keep our minds off of the fact that we're in a brand new world."

"We rebuild, once again."

Karen hated to have to do this, and they had been here for a few days, but there was no sign of the fourth member of their party. She started to get extremely agitated by her inability to locate Patricia.

"So, I looked around the area of the dam," Helena said and Karen looked at her.

"You did…. what did you find…"

"Nothing of any value, not even any meteor rocks, which makes me think that if there is another you here, they got here in a different way," Helena said and she shook her head. "I did find some information about something interesting when I went into Smallville though."

Karen was despondent about this news, but what her sister wife said snapped her back into reality. "So, is this the best type of interesting that makes you want to cheer, or the bad type of interesting that makes you want to….."

"Well, you be the judge," Helena said, handing Karen all of the press cuttings.

The news article of "Blur saves dozens from collapsing bridge." stuck out right in front of her. Then other news articles were that Blur saves people from a burning building, and Blur saves journalist from terrorists was also printed once again.

"The most reliable eyewitness accounts state that the Blur is a female between the ages of nineteen and twenty two," Karen read looking over one of the articles and she blinked. This caught her completely off guard. "Huh."

"Do you think that it might be you?" Harry asked her.

"Maybe," Karen said. She thought that she would go for something a little bit more public and dramatic but then again, that was just her to be honest. "I'm sure that if we're around Metropolis, we might run into this Blur sometime."

"She does seem to be keeping one step ahead, whoever she is," Helena said once again and Harry smiled, looking at the screen.

"Well, that's useful information, but not nearly as useful as what I just found out about LuthorCorp, seems to be me like there's more than a few changes," Harry said, bringing up the information on the information on the screen.

Karen stepped forward and looked at the information on the screen, letting out an impressive whistle when she saw what was in front of her.

"So, I see," she whispered intensely focusing her gaze on the screen sharply and Harry smiled, but he didn't really completely turn back towards her.

"Yes, you do see," Harry agreed with her, brushing his dark hair out of his eyes. That could change the dynamic of everything.

"But it doesn't matter, we have a big day tomorrow, and the sooner we can get our degrees back the better."

"I almost got my first one," Karen said in despair and Harry got up, leaning forward, and stroked his wife on the cheek.

"I know, I know," Harry said to her, he couldn't avoid making the trip to Great Britain for too much longer, to check up to see if he existed in some form or another. But first, some research.

He programmed the computer to do the necessary research, which he would check back on after his classes tomorrow.

"That kind of takes all the fun out of it, don't you think?" Helena asked him.

"I don't rely on it for everything, but when time is of the essence, we have to cut corners," Harry said and there was also their mystery Blur, but one thing at a time.

X-X-X

"So I've finally got some good news for a change," Harry told both of his wives the next day after the tests had come back.

"Really, it's about time," Karen said, she hated having been pushed in such a depressed state, because she had always looked on the brighter side of light.

"Last time I crossed dimensions….. well, let's just say that my abilities were limited to the point where I couldn't use any of my powers for about six months or so," Harry said and both of them nodded, they recalled him explaining this to them. "And they've been slowly building up to the point where it was at with my first maturity…"

Harry made sure that they were following it and both of them nodded. He was glad that they were on the path to understanding where he was coming from.

"It wasn't the universal jump that did it last time, it was the means of how I got over there," Harry said and Helena hung on every word that he said. "Which makes a lot of sense considering how I got here….. it killed pretty much every single person that passed through it."

"And why did you think that was a good idea?" Karen asked and Harry shrugged, looking very nonchalant.

"Desperate times call for desperate actions," Harry told her once again and the blond eyed him anxiously.

Helena kept her eyes on Harry's and gave him a slight shake of her head. "Exactly how desperate were you?"

"Very," Harry said in complete dead pan before he completely moved forward on the subject. "That being said, my powers were exactly what they were when I measured them a week before I left. So they didn't bounce back down."

"But they didn't go up either?" Karen asked.

"I'm waiting to see what happens on my twenty first birthday, because there's a third maturity that's there, after fourteen and seventeen being the first two," Harry said with a smile. "Some get an initial maturity at the age of eleven, so they have four….."

"Were you one of the fortunate ones?" Helena asked and Harry smiled.

"You know, given the circumstances of my childhood, I never really figured out how that worked."

His magic was half used to protect relatives who wouldn't spit on him if he was on fire. And the problem was that it wasn't quite done with malicious actions, but rather, it was done because the person who did it was senile.

Given that he ended up getting killed by a polyjuiced double of an old friend that he couldn't figure out was a fake, Harry didn't really bother thinking about him. All of the questions that left unanswered even to the grave, along with no answers.

"Not to abort this trip down memory lane, but you were doing something else aren't you?" Karen reminded him.

Harry did remember once again and he was searching all over the globe for any teleportation tracks. The ones that would have been done from a machine and inter-dimensional type as well.

"Patricia hasn't shown up yet," Harry said and Karen looked at him, with him, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into an embrace.

"Start with the bad news…"

"But that doesn't mean that she can't arrive here just yet," Harry chimed in, cutting off Karen's protests with a finger on her lips and the blonde blinked. "I was looking at how we entered this dimension and it was very strange."

"It says here that we hit a temporal flux when we tried to go through….. thus we arrived on an alternate Earth and in the past as well," Helena said and Harry smiled in response.

"Exactly," Harry said, the plot thickened and it should prove to be interesting to see what other surprises they found when time went on.

"So, if we got bounced off everywhere, then….. well that doesn't really make any sense, does it?" Karen asked and Harry turned towards her, asking her why that didn't make any sense. "I mean, Patricia, she was right behind us…"

"I might have the answer to that as well," Harry told them. "The meteors were due to hit around the time we left, so they might have started to rain down after they got through the portal."

"So, they started to rain down and they knocked the portal off balance, that's just great," Karen said with a long sigh and a scowl to match. She really wished that she could find where she was, and she was taking it as an insult.

"As you know, time-space travel is kind of tricky."

Harry once again did not need tell her, but he really wanted to drive home the point. He did also remember how Patricia said that there was a chance that only three people could be safely sent through once again.

"Yes, we've figured that out right away," Helena said.

Harry didn't want to deal with all of the worst case scenarios. She might still be traveling through the inter-dimensional field and would end up here in a few months, he hoped so.

Hope was something that he held, but it was more likely that she had ended up on the other side on another universe. He really hoped that wasn't the case, but it was very likely.

Or she transported a thousand years into the past or a thousand years into the future.

"So did you find the other you?" Karen asked once again. "If the other you exists…"

Harry wondered when that was coming up and he held the data once again before him. This proved to be an interesting opportunity.

"Yes, but….. well things could get interesting," Harry told her and Karen corked her eyebrow at him once again.

"How interesting?" Karen asked him and Harry placed the document right out underneath her nose.

Both read it and both had to agree that things would get interesting really soon.

X-X-X

Harry really hoped to never be in this awful, wretched place again, and it still gave him the creeps. He arrived at Number Four Privet Drive and took a step up the drive. It unsettled him greatly the closer he approached.

The perfectly mowed lawn gave him a sense of the creeps, there wasn't a weed in sight, the house looked clean and even. Every house looked at the same, every yard looked the same, and pretty much everything looked the same.

It was early in the evening and Harry thought about wearing the most outlandish clothes possible, but he decided that he wouldn't meet the scene.

The monitoring spells that was on the barrier of the neighborhood were obvious, but they had a flaw. They only set the alarm off when someone magically popped in and tried to harm the people who were in the house.

Harry gave a lengthy sigh once again and he reached forward, knocking at the door once again. He knew that this had the potential to get extremely ugly when he opened that door.

Ideally, he would have liked to get out of this without bloodshed, because he detested cleaning up. That was really dependent on how lippy the Dursleys got and how much they cooperated with them.

Harry wanted to deal with them the least amount possible.

There was the sound of footsteps and the door opened up. He came face to face with Petunia Dursley, who staggered back.

She saw a carbon copy of James Potter, with Lily's eyes, and that was terrifying. She opened her mouth to scream.

Harry placed his hand over her mouth.

"Don't be a drama queen," Harry whispered her and he removed his hand from her mouth slowly when it was obvious that she wouldn't scream. "You are the legal guardian of Alexandra Lily Potter, are you not?"

Petunia looked at him with thinly veiled contempt flashing through her eyes. That being said, she gave him a rough nod in response.

"It wasn't by choice, I can tell you that much," Petunia said, or rather she practically spat once again at him. "He seems to think that he can just… you do realize that…. just who are you anyway?"

Petunia looked extremely flustered once again.

"Someone that may make your life just a little bit easier, if you allow me to," Harry replied to her and Petunia looked back up at him, very intrigued with what he was saying. "All you have to do is sign this, and you don't have to worry about them again…"

"You do realize that he'll have his ways of finding out, because…" Petunia said once again.

"Is your husband home?" Harry asked and she shook her head.

"No…. he's not…. he's off on business, he won't be back until the end of the week," Petunia stammered when she looked around all paranoid. "You know, we didn't have any choice in the matter."

"Yes, I realize that, but you should have treated her better," Harry said and she cringed.

"I look back at her, and you know what I see?" Petunia hissed at him, but she relaxed her attitude when she saw this young man's glare back at her.

If looks could kill, she'd be deader than dead.

"You see your sister and the fact that you could never measure up to her, it's time to let go of your teenage jealous and grow a spine, Petunia," Harry told her and the woman blinked at him once again. "Trust me, I can make this easier for you or I can make this harder for you, the choice is yours. The real question is what do you want to do?"

"Give me the paper, and I'll sign it," Petunia replied in response. "I'll sign everything….. her powers….. I've never seen anything like it… it's just not natural."

"There are a lot of things out that there aren't natural but they are, and locking your own niece in a cupboard underneath the stairs is one of them," Harry said and Petunia blanched.

"Cupboard…..we didn't…..we just keep her in her room….it's small but it's not a bloody cupboard," Petunia said rather heated tone. "Where did you….."

"Sign this, and your troubles will be done, and you'll be done with that world?" Harry asked.

Petunia wondered where he was getting his information.

"What world?" Petunia asked once again.

"Your sister Lily, she was a witch, wasn't she?" Harry asked her.

"You know, I might not have gotten along with my sister, but I'm going to have to insist that you don't call her names," Petunia said in a fairly heated voice.

"Things are a bit different then I thought then," Harry said, but he had a sense that Petunia lied about some things. He couldn't be bothered by that, rather he had a couple of surprises that he should lie for anyone who came calling.

"My sister, she was adopted by my parents, she met some government agent named Potter… they worked in some British intelligence, top secret, so obviously I didn't know, their boss was some guy named Dumbledore," Petunia said to him and she cringed. "He could have been one of those…. people you referred to for all I know….."

"I see," Harry answered once again, things were different.

"Some of them had extraordinary powers….. Lily was infected by the meteors that rained down when ten years old, her immune system was all out of whack," Petunia said, wondering why she was volunteering all of this information. "And….."

"Just tell me where your niece is….."

"She has the same powers that Lily does, she can move things with her mind, I can't deal with it, Dumbledore put her here….. I think he might have died, he was pretty old, older than dirt," Petunia said and when she realized her babbling got ignored she pressed on. "I'm sure that you can handle it um, whoever you are."

"My name is Harry Potter."

"Potter, just like the one that Lily married, but you have her eyes," Petunia said, she wondered what was going on, but at the same time, she didn't want to know.

"Sign here, and I'll deal with the rest, trust me…"

"She's upstairs," Petunia said, wondering if he had thought the worst of what happened.

It was a good thing that Vernon wasn't here, because it might have ended badly for him.

"Alexandra, you have a visitor," Petunia said, and she knocked on the door, where it opened on its own accord.

There was a seven year old girl in the middle of the room and she looked up at him.

"This is Harry, he'll take you away to let you understand what's happening to you."

"It's because I'm a freak, isn't it?" she asked.

"No, not at all, I'll explain," Harry said once again, and he held the package out to Petunia. She took it with a question in her eyes. "If Dumbledore ever calls upon, give him this, and I'll need your signature here to make this binding."

Harry tucked the young girl underneath his arm, she was wide eyed and wanting anything to get out of here, knowing that any place had to be better.

"Where are we going?" she asked him.

Harry smiled at his younger, but female counterpart who looked hopeful despite of the indifference she lived with. "Home."

Petunia didn't want to tell Harry that Vernon didn't go away on business; he died because he tried to kill Alexandra because of her freakish abilities. The nerve endings in Petunia's right hand wouldn't work properly anymore after she got caught in the crossfire.

But something told her that he might have guessed.

**To Be Continued on September 5th, 2014. **

**This chapter is what we like to call a necessary transitional chapter. Might not be the most exciting chapter. **

**So we have Harry and a younger female version of himself as opposed to the female being older. Her arrival will hopefully make sense later. Or at least it will when I figure out where certain plans align. **

**The Harry Potter World doesn't exist, despite a version of Harry Potter existing. Thank God for that. You don't know how much headaches that baggage gave me in the first series. **

**So, people may be guessing that I'm inferring something regarding something, even though I've pretty much made no secret about this happening for some time. Yes, I know, I'm vague, but I kind of don't want to spoil it out hand for the people who haven't picked up by Anvil Sized hints. **

**Next chapter there's a time skip, this just transitions into that. Until then.**


	15. Going Public

**Chapter Fifteen: Going Public.**

* * *

><p>Three years passed since they had jumped to the universe, a few things changed, many things had stayed the same, but there was one thing that could be for sure. Something they all celebrated without a shadow of a doubt.<p>

"We finally caught up to where we were in the original world," Helena said to Harry who nodded in agreement. That was a lot of hard work, even more than he could remember. Granted, the fact that he already did it before, one would think that it would be less tedious. However, because he did it before, he was rather bored by it and it was thus more tedious.

"And I'm….well I've gotten far further then I need to, but still not quite caught up to where I was on Krypton," Karen said once again and Harry wrapped his arm around her, when the young busty blonde, she cut her hair a bit shorter since her time on Earth, wiggled about him. "But I guess a lot of those disciplines are far beyond anything that can be taught here on Earth."

"Well, it's to the point where you should be able to teach them," Harry confirmed with a newspaper in his hand and he flipped through the latest news in Metropolis to see what they were talking about. "And our company, business has been booming as well."

Helena and Karen smiled at each other, granted it was different building a company from the ground up then it was taking some established companies and running with them after all of this time but they thought that they did well.

So much had changed since they arrived here, so much had changed. Karen in particular retired the Supergirl name and costume, mostly because it was something that she had outgrown. She supposed it was long overdue, but she didn't deny that she would miss it.

"Business has been booming, and also Power Girl and Huntress are getting established here," Karen said with a smile. "Are you sure that you don't want to run the operation over in Gotham City?"

Helena responded in a stoic expression and there was a look in her bright blue eyes that told Karen to drop the subject once and for all. "I'm doing fine."

"Are you sure?" Karen asked and Harry cleared his throat and nudged her roughly.

'_It's obvious that she doesn't really want anything to do with Gotham City right now, but can you really blame her?' _Harry asked and Karen sighed once again, allowing her chest to raise and fall once again but she blinked once again.

'_No, I really can't blame her at all,' _Karen said once again, shifting against the edge of the seat where she sat. _'Would be the height of awkward?'_

Helena knew that they were having a mental conference without her. The truth was that there were a lot of new heroes that were picking up their base of operations in the world and there were whispers of a certain Urban legend that popped up in Gotham City. It followed the matter they expected.

'_So much for him being a Chimney Sweep,' _Helena, not that she wasn't amused. That being said, she tried to keep her tone back and her amusement to a limited amount.

'_He is in the urban legend, that they don't want to acknowledge exists, but at the same time are hunting because he's a vigilante, isn't he?' _Harry asked and Helena sighed long and hard.

'_Pretty much yes,' _Helena remarked as she shifted her legs. The more things changed, the more they stayed the same. She was dressed in standard female business attire, the modest skirt covering her stocking clad legs when she continued to move around.

"But we've got some big projects out, the little Urban renewal project is the top of that list," Karen said in agreement. "Crime isn't that bad in the city, but we can make them think twice."

"Is it nice to have a Mayor that isn't going to hunt you down and brand you as a vigilante?" Harry asked and Karen gave him a sweeping grin, licking her tongue over her lips and she answered honestly.

"Pretty much, yes," Karen said, she enjoyed that very much to be sure, and it was good to be a heroine that was beloved by all. "You haven't really done that much out there though, have you?"

"I told you the reason why," Harry said to her once again, his 21st birthday was in a few months and he wanted to see if his powers came back in a burst or if the trickle effect continued.

They had been coming back slowly at a trickle but really not to the point where he was comfortable with how they were coming. But he honestly enjoyed the challenge of trying to find a way of living his everyday life without using his powers.

Some people really wouldn't get that, but they were the type of people who really didn't get how overly dangerous relying on someone's powers were.

That being said, Harry been down that road far too often, then he was annoying himself beating that into the bed.

"Your new costume is working for you, isn't it?" Harry asked Karen and Karen cupped her hand underneath her chin, nodding eagerly.

"Oh yes, even though….well it works handily as a distraction because most of the criminals I run into happen to be among the male variety," Karen said and Helena turned towards her with a barely suppressed smile.

"You and I both know just as well that costume will be able to distract females as well as males," Helena said with a smile.

"Why, are you speaking from experience?" Karen asked fired back in response.

"Caught me off guard, won't ever happen again," Helena said before she swung the subject back around into another matter, especially after Harry cleared his throat. "But, you're having the big press conference in a week…"

"First of two," Harry confirmed.

"Thought it was three," Karen said and Harry smiled, pulling his wife closer to him. But then she realized. "Oh that's right, the third one….it's only going to be brought out if…..well if you're able to…"

"And you know that I'm able to," Harry said, cutting off Karen's words with a well placed finger to her lip and Helena leaned in, placing her head on Harry's opposite shoulder.

"And you've made more than enough business deals that will open doors."

Harry knew that was true, but he had a meeting right before the press conference.

"We'll head our way over there in a little bit, and you can meet us," Karen suggested and Harry smiled.

"That's fair enough," Harry told her and the blonde gave him a bright grin, leaning into him and meeting his lips with a passionate kiss.

It looked like that there was a lot more to that kiss to come but, Karen knew that she would have to wait for later right now.

That being said the kiss latest long enough for her to be satisfied and that's what matter to her in the end.

Helena waited her turn patiently and needless to say it was more than worth the wait. Harry, seeing how she was worked up, reached forward and wrapped her arms around the young brunette. With one more fluid motion, he yanked her into a searing kiss.

Helena's eyes popped open, with Harry's tongue digging deep into her mouth when he continued to deepen the kiss for her. The dark haired woman could feel the burst of pleasure going through her body and it broke all too soon.

Helena was taken by the hand by Karen, making their way to the elevator, but not before stopping to see someone on her way there. She turned towards the woman who waited with a smile on her face.

"Oh, he'll be out there shortly."

* * *

><p>This was the big launch day and they had to be ready, in fact they had to be more than ready. They had to be prepared for anything. If this launch succeeded, it would launch their company to new heights and beyond. If the launch failed, well there were worst setbacks to be had. They could recover but with all of the hard work down the drain, they didn't want to chance it.<p>

Besides they didn't make decisions that were intended to fail.

An attractive redhead woman made her way up from the elevator, having a pen behind her right ear and carrying a clipboard. She wore her hair tied back in a ponytail and a pair of glasses. A buttoned red blouse covered her generous chest and she wore a tight black blazer top once again and a flowing skirt that covered the area down to just a little bit past her knees. It was modest but at the same time it showed a fair bit of her legs, which were covered with stockings in the most alluring manner.

She adjusted her skirt and made her way into the upstairs area. Lana Lang was there and she was dressed to kill to put things bluntly.

The skirt stayed firmly in place after her adjustment and she was hoping that today's press conference went well. She knew that Harry, Karen, and Helena had been building up for this for years. She met the three of them, she was around studying business administration at Met-U, and she needed a bit of help for some of her other classes.

Enter Harry, who did a wonderful job in putting things in perspective. He was smart and the fact that he wasn't entirely bad on the eyes was an excellent bonus. Lana licked her lips at the thought of him.

Okay she might have a bit of a crush on him but who could really blame her.

She had been working on this, she was just underneath Karen, Helena, and Harry on the RAO Corporation food chain, and she thought that being underneath those three, it wasn't a bad enough place to be.

The redhead's cheeks turned around as red as her hair at the unintentional innuendo of that last statement.

Lana thought about opening her own fashion line but this was her calling as well. Of course, she did help the three of them when they came to her with an interesting proposal, and Lana was willing to help them design something that would help them.

The redhead was let out on a lot of secrets, being Harry's personal assistant, at least officially on the books. That being said, her responsibilities were a lot more, to the fact that Harry joked that his personal assistant needed her own personal assistant.

'_He does have a point sometimes,' _Lana thought, her lips curling into a warm smile.

That being said, she wanted to ensure that she did not interrupt them, because this wouldn't be the first time that she nearly walked into an awkward situation and the redhead blushed a little bit at the thought of it.

She saw Helena and Karen make their way out of the meeting room. For once in their life, their clothes didn't look in all sorts of disarray.

Karen stopped short and spotted Lana. There was a smile on her face.

"Are you here to see Harry?" Karen asked her and Lana nodded in response. The blonde gave her an inviting smile. "Good because he's here to see you right now."

Lana entered the meeting room with Harry once again and one could say that she worshipped him. But she just had a healthy respect for the fact that he was willing to better the lives of people and build things from the ground up, especially after all he lost.

Okay, maybe she had a tiny little crush on him.

"Lana, how are you doing?" Harry asked her and Lana said.

"Good, sir….er I mean Harry," Lana said once again, Harry had gotten on her about calling him sir, because that made him feel so good. And he was her age, so there was no reason to make him feel that old.

"Why don't you sit down, and we can go over things before the press conference one more time?" Harry asked Lana and Lana smiled and did just that, taking the seat next to him on the couch.

"The Red Sun projections are such that they are going to be the highest selling item on opening day in Metropolis, and they might be able to get the profits that we need to make the purchase that we discussed the other day," Lana said, remaining business like and Harry reached over, inadvertently brushing against her thigh, to pick up the paper.

"Wow, that's what they're projecting?" Harry asked. He was impressed by this, all of this, especially the work that Lana did.

"That's the latest reports, yes, Harry," Lana said with a smile.

"We're going to beat their expectations," Harry said and Lana grinned at him.

"You never do anything halfway, do you, Harry?" Lana asked him and Harry smiled at her.

"No….I don't," Harry said, his smile widened. "So, are you handling all of the work that I've heaped on you?"

"I'm doing fine Harry, thanks for asking," Lana said, crossing her legs when she met his green eyes and her cheeks flushed a little bit more. "I know that you talked about getting me my own personal assistant…"

"Well given that you're going to be moving up to the role of COO, you might need one anyway," Harry said and Lana was glad that she wasn't drinking coffee because otherwise she would have sacrificed an entire mouthful to the gods.

"Wait, seriously?" Lana asked and Harry smiled at the wide eyed look dancing in her bright eyes.

"Seriously," Harry told her and he barely could hold back the amusement he had. "But only if you want it, but I figured that since you do pretty much all of the work anyway, I'd give you the job, along with a substantial increase in pay."

Harry placed his hand on her shoulder and Lana shifted, butterflies in her stomach.

"You helped us a lot in that first few months, and beyond that, and well hard work should be rewarded," Harry said to her. "And you made sure to help me with Alex as well, but….."

"Family is family," Lana said with a brief smile on her face. Even if they were like fifth cousins, once removed, and she and Harry were fifth cousins once removed by an entire dimension, family was family. "So, are you ready?"

"Everything's in order ,let's do this," Harry told her and Lana's face barely contained the bright smile she placed on it.

"Yes, let's do it," Lana agreed, she was ready for this. The redhead got up and allowed Harry to lead her out of the door.

* * *

><p>Needless to say the Press Conference for the Red Sun was pure madness, just like Harry suspected that it would be. He about figured as much and it would go on for a long time. It nearly went on well passed an hour.<p>

The RAO Corporation was moving forward with its big time product launch and he was confident that it would do well.

'_So, I think that the press conference went really well,' _Karen thought with a smile once again. _'Miss Lang did well in making sure everything went smoothly without a hitch, didn't she?'_

'_I would have to agree,' _Helena told both of them and Harry smiled once again.

'_I would have to agree as well,' _Harry said and he could see people, members of the press still stirring around once again.

'_We might have to reward her for her hard work,' _Karen said with a smile. She thought about a few ways that she could do that but then again, building up the anticipation worked just as nicely for her.

'_You're plotting aren't you?' _Harry asked her and Karen adopted an expression of innocence, even though it didn't fool anyone for a second.

'_Plotting, I'm not plotting, why would you think that I'm plotting?' _Karen asked in a defensive voice and Harry smiled.

'_I think that you're plotting because you are plotting,' _Harry said, his eyes containing a fairly teasing glint and the blonde in question crossed her arms together, offering a very slight pat once again.

That being said, Harry made his way down the steps.

"I swear…..always runs off when I'm supposed to do a story…..but that's fine…I'll do it….because that's the way that I always do it…ooof."

Harry ran headlong into a woman who was at the foot of the stairs. She looked to be in her early twenties, with dark hair, and violet eyes. She dressed a red jacket, a purple blouse, and a flowing red skirt that stretched down to her knees.

"Sorry, I didn't see you…..oh I almost ran over Harry Fucking Potter," the woman said with a grimace. She forgot her manners ,along with her professionalism when she looked up at this larger than life figure.

"That's okay, you didn't really see where you were going, it happens," Harry told her and she frowned.

"Doesn't change the fact that I feel like I'm two inches tall," she muttered underneath her breath and Harry smiled once again at her. "Lois Lane…"

"You're with the Daily Planet, aren't you?" Harry asked her and Lois nodded intently.

"Yes, I'm with the Daily Planet, how did you ever guess?" Lois asked him and Harry smiled at her once again.

"The press pass kind of clued me in," Harry said and Lois blinked.

"Yeah, that is a dead give away," she admitted, nearly amused and trying very hard not to gaze into his burning green eyes, which were fairly distracting she would have to admit. The dark haired reporter felt her pulse quicken a tiny bit when she stared into those eyes. "So, today was a big launch day, wasn't it?"

"The biggest," Harry said to her with a smile. "I'll be heading out to Vegas tomorrow to do more press work…"

"Big nation wide thing, not in Metropolis, but you know, you're a very hard man to get ahold of Harry….Doctor Potter," Lois said with a smile on her face and Harry grinned at her.

"No need to be formal Miss Lane, Harry will be fine," Harry said, making sure that Lois was back on her feet.

"Right, and it's Lois," she told him, shaking her head once again and she sighed. "So anyway, you're a very hard man to get ahold of and pin down….you know for an interview."

"Oh, I know exactly what you mean, but I only give interviews to the very best, Lois," Harry told her and he smiled at her.

"Oh yeah, right, I can see, there's only so much time in the day," she agreed, and some of the people that she had to interview, she might as well have talked to a wall with paint drying on them. Given that they were so dull and lifeless. If she ever needed a cure from insomnia, she just needed to look back on them.

"I'm guessing that you want an interview, don't you?" Harry asked her and Lois once again blinked and nodded.

"An interview, that'd be nice if I could get one," she told him, but she did not hold out much hope that she could get one.

"Well as I told you, I'm heading off to Vegas for a trip," Harry told her and Lois whistled once again. "But…when I get back, there's an opening in my schedule, where we could work something out."

"Oh….that's great," Lois said but then she stopped short and an ugly scowl rolled over her face once again. "Sorry, it's just that there's been a draught of good stories, I swear, all of these pet shows and ribbon cuttings, they honestly get old after a while."

Harry smiled and patted her on a shoulder in a consoling manner, and Lana arrived at his shoulder, and stop.

"Lois Lane, you haven't been harassing Harry, have you?"

Lois turned around and spotted a very familiar redhead waving her over.

"Lana, it's been a long time, hasn't it?" Lois asked, and she greeted the redhead with a smile. "Harry's been the one keeping you out of trouble now, hasn't he?"

"Well more than the other way around I think, but I've been staying out of trouble," Lana said with a smile. "But that's more than I can say for you, given the up close and personal encounters that you've had with the Blur."

Lois looked flushed once again, she was interested in finding out exactly who this Blur was. The only thing that was obvious that the Blur was a she, but she went too fast to get anything more than that.

"I'll catch a ride back," Lana told Harry with a smile.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked and Lana smiled.

"Positive," Lana agreed and she leaned forward, giving Harry a very brief but welcomed kiss on the cheek, before she backed off, surprised at her own daring.

Lois raised her eyebrow and Lana smiled, before ushering her off, to get caught up on old times, about their mutual friends from Smallville.

The limo was waiting for Harry around the side once again, and he entered the limo, to see Alexandra Potter sitting in the back of the seat.

"So, did your lessons go well?" Harry asked the dark haired younger female version of himself.

"They've done well…although I still don't know why Zee learned it that way, all backwards and I mean…..doesn't that get confusing?" Alex asked with a confused frown on her face.

"There are any different forms of magic out there, some of them are more conventional than others," Harry told her once again, making his way to the back of the limo sitting next to her. "So, Zee tried to get you to do backwards spell casting?"

"Yes," Alex said shaking her head.

"Just to learn many different forms of magic, at least until you can do the incantations without saying the spell," Harry told her. "You're just learning the basics, you know."

"Yeah, I know, but I want to get to the cool stuff," Alexandra said replied and Harry smiled.

He wondered if he was like that when he first learned magic, actually he was exactly like that.

"Patience, Alex, we need to learn how to crawl before we can walk and run," Harry told her once again. He actually thought that she had better chances to learn than he did when he went to that school because they overcomplicated things with theory. "So, I'm sure that you've done well on your lessons….."

"Yeah, but like you said, it's just the basics," Alex said and Harry looked at her. She quivered underneath her "cousin's" stern look. "But they're important."

"Yes, they're important," Harry swiftly told her in agreement and he tusseled her hair a little bit, messing it up.

"Har-ry," she whined once again, but Harry smiled at her.

"We should both get something to eat," Harry said and the driver as if on cue made sure to get them to a place where they could get something decent to eat.

* * *

><p>"Strange might not even begin to cover it, I think," Karen said, looking at the latest readings. After three years, she had not given up the search. Yet, she got more frustrated.<p>

Right now the blonde was sitting there, wearing a long flowing lab coat that wrapped around her body, a pair of glasses, and a bit of a scowl about her face once again. Harry walked up towards her once again. He had to get out to Vegas, but not until the morning.

"What do we have now?" Harry asked her and Karen was only too happy to let him in on the oddity that she found.

"There is this weird bit of Cosmic radiation…..it's only been barely caught by the satellite, and as far as I know, no one else has caught onto it," Karen said, feeling Harry's strong hands resting on her shoulder. She leaned back a little bit, relaxing herself when he ran his hands over across her shoulders.

Closing her eyes, Karen relaxed for a second before she spoke once again. "Weird might not even cover it come to think of it…..I've never seen anything like it before, not on Earth, not on Krypton, not on…..well not on anywhere."

Harry whistled, his eyes locked with his wife and he smiled at her.

"What do you think it is?"

"It could be just some space storm that hit the radar long enough and passed," Karen said, folding her legs together once again. "Or it could be a harbinger to something?"

"Or it could be a sign that Patricia could be arriving on Earth," Harry said and Karen turned around in the chair, facing her husband with a smile.

"You can't blame me for holding out hope that it's something like this, can you?" Karen asked him and Harry shook his head, looking into her eyes.

"No, I can't really blame you," Harry agreed, but he did wonder if they were chasing ghosts right now. "It's been three long years…"

"And you know that I hoped that something would break through by now, but it might be three more years, or it might even be more," Karen said as she let her breath out in a sigh and looked forward at the screen. "So, the Press Conference went well, didn't it?"

"Yes, it went rather well in fact," Harry told her and he placed his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close into him. "The press was satisfied and more importantly, the consumers are going to be satisfied when we put the Red Sun out on the market."

"That is the best thing for business," Karen told him, shifting her arms underneath her chest and leaning back with a smile on her face.

"I also got an interview with the Daily Planet….for when I get back from Vegas."

"It must be a big one, because you're rather picky about who you give out interviews to," Karen said, and she dropped the folder with the data down. So far it was nothing.

"Lois Lane, she was the one who did the first major Blur story…..and she's been hunting down who the Blur is for…..well even longer than we have," Harry said with a smile.

"Although we have a pretty good idea who she might be," Karen agreed and he smiled.

"Maybe, but the Blur, whoever they are, will come public…..although hopefully with a name that's nothing like that," Harry said in response. "Sometimes the press comes up with some good names and sometimes the names that they come up with is kind of blah."

"I know you'd agree with that, wouldn't you, Shadow Vigilante?" Karen asked with a knowing smirk towards Harry and he nodded in agreement, throwing his hands back, doing a real "guilty as charged" type pose when he looked at her.

"I guess so but…are you ready to go to Vegas?" Harry asked her.

"Given the last time we went there….well it was memorable," Karen said and Harry tightened his arm around her even more. The blonde rested her head lazily against his shoulder.

"Hey, Vegas have some big business out there," Harry reminded her once again. He was going to make a few deals out there, and the distribution deal for the phone was going to set many records and hopefully, just maybe shatter more than a few of them.

"Big business?" Karen asked him, grinning.

"Bigger, the big," Harry confirmed once again and he could see the lab coat that she was wearing, shifted.

"It's been a long day, hasn't it?" Karen asked him, peering over the top of her glasses with a smoldering look and she bent towards her. "Helena said that she would be back in a few hours, so it's just the two of us right now."

Karen gave him a smoldering smile when she looked at him and her eyes traced hungrily over his body. Yes she needed some tensions to work out and now. She straddled him slightly once again, teasing him a little bit.

"So, I'm pretty sure that you've figured out a few things that we can do, to kill a little bit of time," Harry told her and the grin Karen gave him got wider when she knew what was coming.

"Well, I'm nothing if not resourceful, you know," Karen said, with a wide grin on her face, that got even wider when she looked at him, her arms crossed over her chest when she stared down Harry. "And I'm sure that you can guess what's underneath my coat right now."

If Harry didn't guess, he was about ready to find out. The blonde slowly slipped the coat off of her shoulders, allowing it to drop to the ground, revealing her nude body underneath it, other than her glasses naturally.

Harry thought that she looked dead sexy with this look. He was torn between jumping her and letting her jump him. Building up anticipation was key for a meeting like this.

"So, are you ready?' Karen asked him and Harry smiled at her.

"I think that much is obvious," Harry told her once again, placing his hand on the small of her back and bringing her in close to him, their lips smashing together with another powerful kiss.

Karen's hands slowly roamed all their way over Harry's body once again, and she slowly began to undo his pants.

The real fun was just about to begin, she was that confident in it.

* * *

><p>Once again, Karen found herself resting on Harry's chest after a rather intense round of love making. The blonde grinned, biting down on her lip as she pushed herself up.<p>

"So, don't tell me that you're going to give up already?" Karen asked to him and Harry shook his head.

"I don't think that I'm going to give up in the slightest," Harry told her as he cupped her ass and Karen pushed herself up, staring into his eyes, lust burning from them when she looked at him.

"Good, I'm glad, because I know that I'm not," Karen said, flickering her tongue over her lips, tracing it once again and she kissed Harry again.

Then their games continued from there.

* * *

><p>"We have a nice private plane on our way to Vegas, plenty of room," Karen said, talking to her two spouses and Helena looked over her shoulder towards Harry once again and then back to Harry, giving her a piercing look that told her a lot of things. "What?"<p>

"You do realize that we have a lot of business to do, before we even think about pleasure, don't you?" Helena asked and Karen dropped her arms to her side, grinning once again.

"Yes, I know that, but it's not like we can't think about a little bit of pleasure while we're there, after our business concludes," Karen said with an amused expression dancing in her eyes. "Although it would take a lot to top what happened last time, and you both know what I'm talking about."

"Know it, lived it, you know it," Harry told her and Karen nodded once again, her eyes focused on his back. "But what are the chances of something happening….."

Helena looked at her husband, and shook her head.

"Right, ominous words that could bite me in the ass later on," Harry concluded and they were in the back of the plane, it would be a nice brisk flight to Vegas.

"Good, I'm glad you've figured that out," Karen replied in amusement, placing her hands on the back of Harry's head and he looked at both of them. "Oh, just lighten up and relax, I'm sure that we'll be able to handle anything that comes our way."

"For the record, I don't doubt that."

Harry was optimistic despite that fact, lightning couldn't really strike twice now, could it?

For some reason after that thought, a full body shudder coursed through Harry's body and he shook his head.

'_Being kind of paranoid,' _he thought to himself and he was sandwiched between both of his wives.

"So, Lana is going to meet us out there, isn't she?" Harry asked.

"That's what she said, I wonder why she didn't go on the private jet, there's more than enough room here," Karen told Harry and there was some suggestion that danced through her eyes.

"I don't know, you're going to have to ask her," Harry said and he could see the looks of burning desire in the eyes of both of his wives, but Helena was a bit more subtle about it than Karen.

If the flight to Vegas would be the most eventful thing, then all three of them would agree that they would be in some pretty good shape.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on September 9<strong>**th**** 2014. **

**Just a couple of quick notes here, Lana would have been the first girl that would have not been not a version of Kara to be added in Book Four if there was a Book Four. Either her or Donna, after the albatross had been removed from her. **

**We're off to Vegas, where we're getting to the point where I thought about starting this story rather early in the development. But obviously, that didn't happen. **

**Zatanna reference, although it will be a while before we see her in the flesh. **


	16. Three For One

**Chapter Sixteen: Three For One.**

* * *

><p>The Vegas Business Expo might not have been the most cutting edge name in the world. That being said it consisted three days and three nights of some of the biggest business breakthrough in all of Metropolis. One could easily get into the Expo, no problem, providing one was willing to part with an arm and a leg to get inside.<p>

The RAO Corporation and its new Red Sun phone was the top attraction this year. There were others. They didn't achieve main billing like the Red Sun did though.

"You know…you'd be really surprised with some of the useless things a lot of people would buy," Karen said, looking to one of the models.

It looked to be the previous year's model from this company, with a few extra whistles, maybe a fresh coat of paint.

"Never underestimate what people would buy," Helena said shaking her head.

Underestimating the buying power of the general public would be utter and complete foolishness. There were a lot of people who would buy something because of the marketing alone. That's why they planned to kick up the marketing for the Red Sun and really make it like something that people could not live without.

Mostly because it was something that people could not live without.

Harry kept his eyes on the new fighter aircraft that Ferris Air will be putting out next year, although it had more military applications than anything. He really couldn't see it for anything else. Some rich guy wouldn't take it out for a joyride after all.

It wasn't open to the general public and most certainly it wasn't really open to the press. That being said Harry, being Harry, could push his way inside if necessary. Connections he could exploit offered him a privilege to get inside.

"So, are you going to reconnect with some of your contacts later?" Karen asked him, grinning.

Harry looked over his shoulder back at her. He returned the grin in question.

"Maybe," he replied with a smile.

He craned his neck and looked for the woman in question. He could not see her. Then again, she was almost as busy as he was, so it should be obvious as to why he couldn't see her.

Helena tried to keep her mind calm but she could see so many people around her that she remembered growing up around her.

"So, do you think that Wayne Enterprises has a booth somewhere?" Harry asked Helena, nudging her briefly and Helena turned over her shoulder.

"It's over there," she said in a calm tone, not really breaking her stride. Her laser sharp focus aimed towards the booth.

Much to her somewhat relief, her father was not there. Then again, her father rarely did the public thing and she didn't see him going to Vegas. She saw Lucius Fox present. As usual, the dependable man held down the fort when the king to the throne was away.

'_Well not technically my father, rather an alternate version of him,' _Helena thought, reminding herself of one simple fact. Alternate universe travel can be a headache.

She kept an eye out for any hint of her mother but so far, nothing. Then again, Batman did inspire Catwoman in her own way. It was a twisted inspiration.

Inspiration can be found anywhere, even if said inspiration is twisted. Meanwhile she could see something. The brunette knew that Karen and Harry saw it as well. She was relieved by that because it caused her to focus less on the potential bat shaped elephant in the room.

"Is that…"

"Someone from LuthorCorp, you can tell," Harry whispered to both of them, careful to not let the suit know that they were onto him.

The fact of the matter was that Harry was suspecting something like this to happen. The LuthorCorp people were the ones that were most endangered by a bit of competition. They were also the ones who most likely got their panties into an uproar when their territory got entered on.

Harry hated to think why they feared a little bit of competition. He supposed that was some kind of mania within their minds.

Thankfully, Lionel was a bit more subdued than his son was in the original world. That being said, Lex had to get his multitude of issues from somewhere. His father might be the most obvious source for those issues.

"They just can't leave well enough alone, you know," Karen whispered.

She inclined her head down towards the ground once again to see if there was anyone around once again.

They noticed a younger Vicki Vale than the one that they met make her way around the ground, to talk to Gotham City News. Obviously considering that this Expo would be big news because of some of the movers and shakers there, someone would be there to cover it.

"Excuse me…." someone said, bumping into them, and Helena opened her mouth to say something. Then she realized who was talking to her and this completely caught her off guard. "I would love to talk, but I'm in a rush."

Harry and Karen only got a brief glimpse of her, with the dark hair, the green eyes, and the body to die for but the look on Helena's face said the entire story.

"Is that?" Karen asked and Helena nodded without any words coming out of her mouth. "I thought so."

Harry thought about bringing her over to do some business. He knew that Selina Kyle did some charity work, even when she was doing her night job. That being said, she would be an interesting person to do business with.

Unfortunately. she was in a rush and Harry unfortunately had other people to talk about yet again. He turned to Helena, mouth opening wide and closing once again. Needless to say, this was an experience that she was not expecting to deal with today.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked her, squeezing her hand.

Helena paused for a second, considering something, and she nodded at him.

"Just caught off guard," Helena said briskly.

She returned to her rather stoic demeanor, the same one she learned from her father. Nothing broke her.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked her.

Helene didn't waste any time answering. Her determination returned after that moment of uncertainty she gave him.

"Yeah, I'm sure…..don't we have a presentation to give in about ten minutes?" Helena asked.

Karen and Harry exchanged one of those looks. All things considered, she deflected things nicely from a close encounter of a person that was dead in her word. That kind of perseverance should be rewarded. Respectfully, they allowed the matter to drop.

"Yes, we do," Karen agreed and there were a lot of ears listening.

Most of them potential investors or business partners for other projects that could get off of the ground. A lot of eyeballs would be on them regardless when they moved their business forward. It was part of an extremely long term plan.

The entire world waited to see what direction this launch would go through. It could put RAO even further on the map, not that it wasn't on the map to begin with. In fact, they got an extremely nice head start.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for coming out here," Karen started and the entire crowd turned their attention to her. Karen prepared to have them eat out of the palm of her hand. "Communication is the cornerstone of a growing world and here at the RAO Corporation, we are looking to bring communication to an entirely new level. No longer will you have to worried about dropped calls or your cell phone bugging out at the worst possible instance, no rather…."

Karen, Helena, and Harry shifted the weight amongst each other. They took turns back and forth with giving the speech. They had to say that all three of them accomplished what they needed to go out and say admirably.

* * *

><p>Lana waited for them at the edge of the convention, she only managed to hear a lot of the presentation, and it was a shame that something else came up that prevented her from missing most of it.<p>

Luthor was sniffing around with some properties in Smallville. In response she valiantly tried to keep it out of his hands, before it turned into another LuthorCorp outpost. She was losing that battle suddenly.

The problem was that Luthor was getting in rather cozy with the Mayor and that could make things very difficult for Lana and her aunt, who still lived in Smallville. Lana refused to give up. Even if she felt like she fought an extremely intense and losing battle.

'_Business, it can get so personal sometimes if you piss off the wrong people, I swear,' _Lana said in exasperation.

She heard footsteps and turned. A smile crossed her face when he got closer. Then she straightened up and became serious when she saw Harry approach her.

"Hey, Lana, good to see that you can make it out here," Harry said with a smile.

"I caught the late night flight out from Smallville," Lana informed him and he smiled.

"How's Nell doing?"

"She's holding up pretty well….the economy in Smallville, well it's not the best after Luthor moved half of his business to Metropolis," Lana said evasively.

She didn't really want to let on that she was worried about the potential that Luthor could force a lot of people out of Smallville. All being done in the name of good business naturally; the twisted man could find any kind of justification.

Lana could feel a shiver course down her spine, it was always Harry's green eyes, and he gave her a sense that he was X-Raying her. Maybe he was for all she knew; she wasn't privy to all of his secrets. That being said, his gaze penetrating at her made her feel a little bit guilty.

"Why didn't you go out with us on the jet, there was plenty of room," Harry said to her.

Lana looked him straight in the eye. If she didn't know any better, she might have thought that it was a mistake.

"Personal business…..but it wasn't as pressing as I thought," Lana said once again. Or rather because Luthor didn't fight the right loop hole to throw his legal weight around and force her aunt out of business.

"Hmmm, well Lana, you know if there's a problem, you can tell me, right?" Harry asked her and Lana nodded.

"Yeah, I know that but….this is complicated," Lana said once again.

"If it's a matter of money…."

"It's not that, it just feels like I'm fighting the battle for Smallville's soul against Lionel Luthor's empire and he pulled out in the first place, wrecking the town," Lana said nervously but the dam in her mind burst and she jumped in. "I mean a lot of good people tried to keep it together, but you know, they couldn't really match up."

"And now, he's returning to town as their savior, and he's picking up some of the properties for dirt cheap and converting them into more outposts for LuthorCorp," Harry said Lana and Lana sighed.

"The problem is…..a couple of those places, if they got torn down, it would be a crime, they are staples of the town, they've been there since the time that the town was settled, over a hundred and fifty years ago," Lana said tensely.

She pressed her hands to the side of cheek. She really didn't know what to do, especially given that the Luthor name held way too much weight.

"If there is anything that I can do to help…" Harry said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

There was a second where Lana remained thoughtful. That being said, there might be something that Harry could do.

"If there is anything that you can do to help…..there just might be, but I know that you've got a lot on your plate," Lana said as she nervously looked at him. Her brown eyes locked onto his green eyes.

"Well, if this is important to you, consider it part of your payback for all of the help you've given me…..and with all of this in your mind, your fortitude with helping get the Red Sun off of the ground, that's even more amazing," Harry said gently.

Lana could not help and smile at the compliment.

"You know, if you keep this up, my head might not even fit through the front door," Lana said, relaxing against Harry's grip.

"Just telling the truth, like I always tell the truth," Harry said, slowly dropping her arm.

Lana caught her breath for a moment. Being up close and personal to the Harry Potter experience did take a girl's breath away. She switched tactics to another subject that had been on her mind as of late.

"So…..Lois managed to pin you down for an interview…well I can't believe that, but…..she is very persistent and I'm sure if you said no, she would have kept pressing for one," Lana said.

Harry edged closer to her after backing away. She wasn't sure what game he played now. It was very enticing that much was for sure.

"So you went to school with her?" Harry asked her.

Once again, he backed off, to give Lana a false sense of security nothing was happening. He could have sworn that he heard a wistful sigh escape from the young woman's lips when he backed off.

"Yeah," Lana said, kind of disappointed that he didn't draw closer. Instead he seemed further away, almost like he was out of reach. "Only less than a year through but someone like Lois, she's going to leave her impression on you, even if she only sticks around for not that long."

"Yeah, she does seem like that type of person," Harry agreed.

Lana felt him perilously close to her. Temptation visited the young woman. She longed to meet her lips towards his and kiss him. They managed to move into a tent off to the side and there was no one there. It was a fact that needed to be emphasized. **There was no one there. **

No witnesses to anything that she might do or that he might do to her and the very thought left her hot and bothered very much so.

"So, I'm not going to force you to accept my help, but I am offering it to you, if you want it," Harry whispered to her and Lana nodded, she could feel a tingle appear between her legs. "Just ask, and I'll give it to you."

Lana wondered if he was, perhaps subtly offering his help in other ways. Before she could move or he could move in for the kill, he was stopped.

Karen zoomed in, urgency in her eyes and her voice as well.

"There's a situation outside," Karen quickly stated.

She tugged on Harry's sleeve and sure enough, the urgency was verified by a huge explosion outside. A second one drove home the urgency if the first one wasn't more than enough.

Lana gritted her teeth in frustration; she was so close but yet so far from coming into contact with him.

"Right, I'll talk to you later, duty calls," Harry said to her.

He slipped outside, leaving Lana hanging, which was unfortunate but she understood. She understood that her needs might have come secondary.

"Right, right, I understand," Lana said to him.

"Do you need anything, Lana?" Karen asked.

Before Lana could answer that question another bang outside jerked her straight back into reality.

Her body screamed yes, but her common sense said no. Even though she was distracted by the plunging neckline on Karen's blouse. A couple of buttons seemed to be loosened because of the immense Vegas heat.

"I'll be fine, you better help Harry and Helena…..and it looks like I better get to safety," Lana said, hearing the screams from outside.

* * *

><p>Arcane arrived at the scene of the crime and there were loud footsteps with the approaching army arriving. That never was good, but exactly what degree of not good this was remained to be seen.<p>

"So, what do we have to deal with exactly?" Arcane asked, dropping down next to Power Girl.

Power Girl stood there, arms folded, her short blonde hair whipping in the breeze. She wore an extremely tight one piece suit that stretched around her nice body. Her breasts strained within the suit and her long legs showed in the outfit. A pair of blue gloves, blue boots, and a flowing red cape topped off the outfit.

"Something like that, if I'm not mistaken," she answered, a darker tone to her voice when she pointed at something.

They spotted the army approaching. Their enemies were an army of gigantic toy soldiers that marched forward in a set pattern. The troops were marching in and Karen watched them, her eyes widening a little bit when she followed their progress.

"You're kidding me…..you're not kidding me," Harry whispered, with sigh.

They were not kidding him. The troops marched on in towards them and they seemed to have a specific target in mind. They looked extremely dangerous.

Huntress was dressed, ready for action. She wore a black mask with her dark hair flowing once again, a tight black top, and a pair of black and purple pants, along with black boots. She held out the retractable staff. Said staff emitted a tiny bit of electricity to add a punch to her attacks.

"We need to take them down…and find out what they're after," Huntress said and Power Girl turned to her.

"Not necessarily in that order, right?" Power Girl asked, ready for action.

She flew herself at the toy soldiers and tried to smash the enemies with a furious force.

One of the emitted a red glowing force field around it, which caused her to put the brakes on and prevent herself from smashing head long into it. Thankfully, because otherwise that would sting a little bit.

"Okay, that's not going to work as well as I thought it might," Karen muttered, pulling herself back.

"Yeah, they're really not going to work well," Harry agreed.

He strained and heard something. Pinpointing it straight away, he could find what he was looking for. There was a signal and it was growing stronger the closer that these toy soldiers approached them. He had to lock onto the signal and track it to the source.

"Get them from above, I'll get them from behind, and….."

"From the front, I know," Huntress said.

She threw several gas pellets in the air and wondered what they were waiting for. It didn't really matter what they were waiting for. The last thing she wanted to do was have them implement their plans. The Huntress swooped in and smashed her large metal staff into the chest of the toy solider. The circuits fried thanks to this one attack.

Karen bounced against them like a ping pong ball. She sliced three of them in one go with their heat vision. A smug look of satisfaction crossed her face when she watched their ashen remains drop to the ground.

"This is not what I wanted at all," an angered voice said.

Harry knew one thing, whoever controlled these soldiers had a temper. Something he exploited to his advantage. Managing to lure the toy soldiers over towards him, he created an electric magnet pulse with his suit. It was geared to frying only the electronics that were of a certain energy pattern. And that certain energy pattern was the toy soldiers.

'_Oh, someone isn't happy,' _Karen thought pleased.

Toy soldiers smashed into the ground, bits flying. Some of them did an about face and ran in the other direction.

'_Some are retreating,' _Helena thought. She didn't let up her attacks despite that fact.

One flew through the wall where a bunch of shell shocked civilians waited.

Karen's eyes widened, she wondered why people weren't smart enough to get themselves out of harm's way but there was really no worrying about that right now. The blonde zipped over to the wall. She clutched the wall and held it up. The heroine's efforts prevented the wall from dropping down and crushing the civilians underneath it.

Somehow, she held it back, it was through great strength and determination but she was able to hold it back and Harry shot one of the sticky glue pellets out of his suit.

Arcane flashed in front of the group of people and stared at them, through narrowed eyes. "You people should run."

Needless to say, they didn't need any other invitation to run. They scrambled as fast as their feet could go and carried them out.

"Well that was eventful," Power Girl said answered and Huntress smiled in triumph. There could only be one reason for that. "I'm guessing that you got a signal."

"I've got a signal," Huntress confirmed and she began to trace it. "And hopefully I'll be able to follow that signal back to the source."

"So, who do you think did this?" Arcane asked them.

To be honest that was an extremely good question, even if it currently lacked a really good answer.

"I don't know, it could be anyone who has a bone to pick with any of the business people at the convention," Karen replied, thoughtfully mulling it over in her mind. "I know, it doesn't really narrow things down."

"The two of you better stick around, and investigate to see if he shows up again, I'll head off and see what I can find on my end," Huntress said with a smile.

She bid her two spouses goodbye and slipped into the night. That left Karen and Harry alone.

"Well at least she's getting a lot better at the entire spontaneous disappearance thing, isn't she right….Arcane?" Power Girl asked and she spun around to see that her husband was now there "Arcane?"

He reappeared behind her seconds later.

"Right here, just wanted to check something," Arcane said.

Her piercing glare met his eyes and she folded her arms underneath her breasts. "You know, that wasn't funny."

"I wasn't trying to be funny you know," Arcane said in a serious voice. "I don't think that we were the only heroes here today."

"Are you thinking…"

"I don't know, but we're going to have to find out, won't we?" Arcane asked once again and he could hear the police arriving. They were a little bit late to the party. Better late than never he supposed The green eyed hero sighed and he turned to his wife, who looked anxiously into his eyes. "So are you…."

"We'll have a look around, I doubt that he's this close by," Power Girl said and she raised an eyebrow. "LuthorCorp was the one that was attacked, that's extremely curious."

"Did you even see a Luthor in Vegas today?" Arcane asked.

Power Girl tried to rack her brain, she thought that they would stick out like a sore thumb if they did.

"No, I didn't see them, I think they're too big time or too busy for something like this, or they had business elsewhere," Power Girl said and she looked thoughtful. "Or, Luthor is behind this, would you really put it past him?"

Harry had to say that he wouldn't. It would really be something if he was. Then again, it was vintage Luthor.

He looked forward, seeing a red-haired woman who was walking amongst the LuthorCorp people. She had her hair tied back and wore glasses, and a long coat despite it being in the hot Nevada summer. That being said, Harry recognized her.

"Hmm," Harry muttered and he straightened up. "Not sure what game they're playing right now."

That being said, he found a footprint with words in it. Activating a function on his suit, he blew the words up so they could read it.

"Helena, Winslow Schott Inventions," Arcane told Huntress over the communication line. "That might be the guy who we're looking for, or the guy who build the weapons for the guy that we're looking for."

"What kind of idiot stamps his name on the bottom of a death machine?" Power Girl asked, deeply frowning.

It was Helena who answered this question.

"The type of idiot who wants to be found and the type of idiot who is playing a game, but I'll check it out," Huntress said.

Arcane sighed, he didn't much care for playing games, but this was going to be a headache. They had to investigate here at the Expo to see if there were more clues. That had to wait for right now. They also had duties as Harry Potter and Karen Starr to attend to.

The dual life of being a super hero, always with conflicts, but that was just a huge part of life.

* * *

><p>A man with dark hair sat at a console, sneering once again at the sights in Vegas. Thankfully he wasn't that foolish and knew that someone might follow the tracker in the suit. He controlled a computer remotely from this base that was halfway across the desert. He sent out a signal to cause everything incriminating to self-destruct.<p>

"They think that they're so clever, heroes do, they ruin my plans," he whispered once again, peering over the console.

He was dressed in an extremely ugly green suit, with a purple tie. The creepy man peered over the screen with a pair of thick glasses. His eyes narrowed in fury and frustration.

"Heroes, they put the entire world in danger by what they do, what they do to me. Well they're not going to…..I refuse to let them. They won't stop me. I rule this game, they're not going to interfere in my plans."

He slammed his fist on the console and there was a blueprint of a tower that appeared on the screen before him. It was blinking intensely when he looked at it. The main LuthorCorp tower in Metropolis was right in front of him and his scowl grew uglier.

"The place where dreams go to die," the man said when he looked over. "They fired me because my designs were too unsafe…well they ruined my dream, now I'm going to ruin their life, the entire Luthor legacy."

Lionel Luthor was a rotten bastard and anything that he spawned would be just as bad. The man's name was Winslow Schott, his father was a toymaker for years but he made other things on the side if the price was right. Many times throughout his life, the price had been more than right for him.

Schott's father died in a lab accident and Schott brought his designs to LuthorCorp, hoping to make money, but that was the biggest mistake in his life. He was kicked out the door when he signed over the designs of some of his father's inventions to Luthor. Luthor had what he wanted so he threw out Schott's father like a piece of garbage.

The biggest mistake in Luthor's life would be letting him go. The younger Schott would make certain of that.

"You think that the Toyman would have been out on the street, scrounging for scraps, but you would be wrong," Toyman whispered harshly"You see, I am more than that, I am much more than that."

The Toyman's scowl got even uglier when he looked things over and tapped his finger on the side of the console.

"Much more than that," Toyman whispered.

He hunted for the blood of Lionel Luthor and he would have his prey, no doubt about it. His toy soldiers were equipped with the latest accessories but those three do-gooders decided to play the hero. As a result, his plans were set back.

Set back but not stopped, and the Toyman still wasn't ready to pack up and put away.

"They might have been able to defeat the prototypes, but now I'm ready to have some fun," Toyman said and he studied the security footage intently. He formulated a new battle strategy. "They had help, they don't know how to play by the rules. Well it's time to teach them an abject lesson that I rule this game."

Toyman twisted a knob and he looked forward, with deadly intentions dancing through his eyes.

"It's Playtime!" Toyman called with malice in his voice and he looked at his next group of party favors. Soon the games would be other when LuthorCorp was ruined. It would be a matter of revenge and it would be served on the sweetest dish of all.

"Self-destruction sequence set and armed."

"Excellent," Toyman said, the plot coming together quite nicely.

It would be foolish to launch them at night, when there was no one around. The LuthorCorp people were stubborn to a fault but if they ran, they couldn't hide. These little nasty creations would target anyone that got in their way and after a set amount of time, they would explode.

Toyman programmed the security around his base. The cannons mounted on the top of the building were not for ages twelve and over that was for sure.

"You thought that you were smart enough, well I'll show you who is the master, my toys are bigger than your ego, Luthor," Toyman said, his face splitting into a creepy grin.

* * *

><p>Harry Potter found himself waking up in the midst of a Vegas hotel room. He was a bit foggy as to how he got there, and he experienced the weirdest case of Deja-Vu imaginable.<p>

That being said, he knew that after the investigation turned up absolutely nothing, he and Karen went to the casino. Helena investigated things on her end with this entire Schott situation. He managed to find out that the Expo was going to continue regardless, which Harry found a little bit fascinating to be honest, but he wasn't sure if it was the best idea.

That being said, he was waking up in the hotel room in bed. Much to the surprise of absolutely no one, Harry included, he was not alone.

He could see a rather attractive redhead pressed up against him for starters, and at first he thought it was Lana. Upon closer inspection, he saw it wasn't her. The redhead looked to be in a state of deep sleep, and she was fairly tall, with a nice set of breasts, a toned stomach, and long legs, along with a fit ass. She looked like she worked out rather nicely. Harry took several moments to appreciate that fact when he studied her body.

Harry could see two more parties at the edge of the bed and managed to shift without rousing the redhead, before he got a closer look.

One of them looked to be a young woman, perhaps close to twenty, at least that's how she looked by the looks of things. Her silky black hair covered her face and her eyes were shut when she rested, but her arms folded down next to her side. He noticed she had an extremely fit body, with a nice rounded set of breasts that were covered by a sticky fluid. The sleeping goddess had her hand covering her center that had a small strip of black hair going down it. There was a rope that was half tied around her wrists as well.

The third party looked like a miniature version of Karen, maybe about five or six years younger. A bit younger than Karen was when Harry met her all of those years back on the original Earth. That being said, her golden blonde hair shined in the sunlight, her eyes were shut, but there was a satisfied smile on her face. Her head rested on Harry's thigh, using it for a pillow, and she was stretched out. Her chest rose and fell when she slept, looking quite peaceful and content.

All good things must come to an end, and it was time for Harry to raise them out of sleep.

"Oh, you're awake," the blonde said at the edge of the bed with a smile and she turned around, crawling up his body, so she could straddle his hips playfully. A bright and sunny grin appeared on her face when she looked down at him. "I'm sure that you want some more….because after last night, you couldn't get enough, you wore poor Barbara and Donna out."

The blonde nudged the redhead once again and she mumbled something in her sleep. The blonde grinned before she pursed her lips. With mischievous intentions blew a cold burst of air at the redhead's privates which jolted her out of bed.

"THAT WASN'T FUNNY KARA!" Barbara yelled in a panicked voice.

The redhead nearly fell out of bed and that roused the other party, the dark haired girl who was resting at the edge of the bed.

"Could you try and keep it down, its way too early in the morning," she whispered, shifting with a slight painful wince.

There was a large wet spot from where she rested. Her finger brushed against her, she was still a bit tender down there but rather satisfied.

The blonde, Kara, looked at the clock. "It's almost two in the afternoon, guess that we missed breakfast and lunch…..but then I think we did this all night and well into the early morning."

"Two in the afternoon, I have to be the Expo in about forty minutes," Harry said, but he could barely move. The blonde managed to shift away from him.

"Yeah, I know, you did have a few drinks last night, I think we all did, but some of us can hold our alcohol better than others," Kara said with a smile. "But….how much of last night do you remember?"

"Bits and pieces…"

"Hopefully we can refresh your memory later," Kara said, with a sultry grin. "Anyway, I'll speak for both of them, considering they're not in a fit state to."

"I'm fine, I just need a cold shower," Donna muttered trying to get off the bed.

Her movement was limited and she shook her head.

"Anyway, I'm Kara Kent, this is Donna Troy," Kara said and she watched the third party and added, almost as if an afterthought. "And this is Barbara Gordon."

"Where the hell are my panties?" the redhead, Barbara, grumbled.

"You threw them out of the window," Kara replied nonchalantly and Barbara just groaned in agitation.

"That's not what I want to hear," Barbara told her.

Kara shrugged and flashed her friend an apologetic little smile, even though she wasn't completely sorry.

"Anyway, this is Barbara Gordon, and last night the three of us got married….not to each other but to you…..well technically we got married to each other, I guess," Kara said and Barbara shook her head.

"I can't believe I let you two talk me into this," Barbara said, even if her protests sounded faint and half-hearted.

"You weren't complaining last night," Kara fired back with a grin. "So anyway, we got married….."

Harry laughed, which Kara misinterpreted. She folded her arms and glared at him.

"I'm being serious…..you had the rings…..I don't know how you had such nice rings on short notice…."

"No, it's not that, this isn't the first time that happened, I'll explain later, but I need to call someone, why don't the three of you get dressed?" Harry suggested, his words and thoughts racing a million miles a minute.

"Would if I could find my clothes," Barbara said with a sigh.

She knew that drinking with two super powered heroines was a mistake, but the drinking part was what she regretted. The sex, not so much, but she supposed that she would have to deal with it. That being said, Harry handed her something.

She regarded it a bit tentatively. "What's that?"

"It will help you think straight," Harry told her and Barbara looked at it, before she drank it.

Sure enough she was feeling much better.

"So, I guess some explaining is in order," Kara said.

Harry nodded and waited for Karen to pick up the phone. She must have been too busy or incapacitated. He didn't sense anything off in the bond link, that caused him any kind of concern.

Or too mad that she didn't get any, unless she did. And she left before then to take care of business for RAO.

"Yes."

"We better start at the beginning," Barbara said tensely.

Donna rummaged through a bag and managed in some kind of great miracle, to find an extra pair of clothes.

"That would be ideal with most stories," Harry said.

He wondered how he got here, and what they were doing.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on September 12<strong>**th****, 2014. **

**So the end scene of this chapter and the entire next chapter was the initial first chapter, many months back(like November/December of 2013). It worked out for the better I think. **

**A couple of subplots kind of got set up here, that will be paid off in the coming chapters. **

**See you on Friday. **


	17. Super Best Friends Forever Do Las Vegas

**Chapter Seventeen: Super Best Friends Forever Do Las Vegas.**

Much like all great stories, the best place to start them was at the beginning.

* * *

><p>"I don't know if it's such a good idea," Barbara commented, crossing her arms together. Her looked at Donna and Kara brimmed with apprehension and worry.<p>

There was really nothing else to do. Despite the fact the collective trio racked their brains to try and find a way to alleviate their boredom. Something told her this might not be the best way to cure this particular condition. That being said, the looks of joy in their eyes made Barbara very worried.

She felt worry for good reason.

"Oh come on, it will be fun," Kara said with a wicked smile on her face.

"Yeah, it would be an experience, even if we might get in trouble for it," Donna said, bouncing up and down on the soles of her feet.

Donna and Kara stared at Barbara with pleading looks dancing in their eyes.

Barbara wondered how she let these two talk her into anything. Perhaps it could have been the fact that she was just as bad as them. She did have a knack of getting herself into her trouble. It all started when she was eight years old. Maybe younger, maybe older, it was hard to remember. The girl hacked into her first computer system at that age and it was all downhill from there.

"It's not like something that we can pick up and go…..it's quite the flight out there, and while you two can fly, I obviously can't," Barbara said and Kara opened her mouth to chime in with the really obvious solution. She knew what Kara was about to say. After knowing her for this long, she just knew it. Barbara waved her hands. "And no, absolutely not, I'm not doing what you're going to suggest, not after last time."

"But….."

"Absolutely not, Kara," Barbara said, her jaw set firmly, staring back at Kara.

After that little event and Kara's energetic methods last time, Barbara felt reluctant to do anything along those lines. She was okay physically and she was sure that Kara was going to bring up that point but that wasn't really the point. The redhead's glare remained firm and unwelding.

"But….."

"No Kara, and yes I know I came out fine, but that isn't the point and you know it," Barbara told her.

The blonde continued to protest without saying anything. Donna gazed at both of her best friends in amusement. It was like a tennis match where she watched back and forth. From one side to the other, it was one of the most entertaining things she experienced.

"But…"

"You know, you can keep saying but all you want you, but there's no way I'm getting carried and being flown halfway across the country with you," Barbara said and Kara folded her arms, and bit down on her lip. Kara delved into a full blown pout. Barbara sighed, at another time she might have been swayed by that. "And as adorable as that might be, that's not going to work this time, and you know it."

"Okay, fine it won't work," Kara sighed. She tried for a different tactic "But you can't deny that the allure of the bright lights and the big city of Vegas entices you. Even a little bit?"

Barbara wasn't about ready to deny that. Only a liar would say such a thing. She didn't lie. Bend the truth maybe, but the girl never lied. That being said, she did her best impression of a mime. To encourage these two was a disaster waiting to happen.

"I got an idea," Donna said.

Barbara shuddered. Mortal dread filled her body but curiosity overrode any sense of dread she could have.

"What is it, what's your idea?" Barbara asked her.

She just knew that this could suck a little bit. Her eyes peered at Donna and knew that if she didn't allow the Amazon Princess to say her piece, she would never hear the end of it.

"Oh, nothing much, I think that we should borrow Diana's invisible jet, that would get us down to Vegas, you know," Donna said, bouncing up and down.

Kara looked thoughtful for a second.

"You know, that wouldn't be the worst idea in the world, all things considered," Kara answered, and Donna beamed.

Barbara had serious misgivings about this.

"You know is it…"

"Babs, it's safe, trust me," Donna said, patting her friend on the shoulder.

Somehow, perhaps it was just her, but Barbara Gordon didn't seem too reassured. She felt more panicked than ever before.

Kara had a question of her own that she needed to get out there.

"Your sister, can fly, can't she?" Kara asked and Donna nodded in response. "Why does she have an Invisible Jet?"

"You know, I'm pretty sure that she has one, just so she can come across as a big shot, because that's what Diana does," Donna replied but she folded her hands together. "So how about it, are the two of you in?"

Kara bounced up and down in excitement. This action made Barbara sorely question her friend's sanity or lack thereof.

"Oh you know I'm in," Kara grinned and she turned to Barbara. "How about you Barbara?"

"You know, I guess that I'm coming with you," Barbara said bending down.

The squeeing sound of two girls mercifully did not reach Barbara's ears from this vantage point. She lifted her bag up into her hands and sighed.

The double super powered hug of death was not something that she could avoid that much. Barbara sighed. A flush of warmth spread over her body.

'_Worst way to go, death by hugs…..well maybe not the worst way to go,' _Barbara thought, sighing deeply.

"You know, I do have a more sensitive frame than you two do, so could you please dial things back just a tiny bit?' Barbara asked, their grips squeezing her tightly.

Both girls sheepishly pulled away from her.

"Sorry," Kara answered, hanging her head a little bit and she looked honestly sorry.

"So, we need to get the Invisible Jet, but first I need to find it," Donna said, biting down on her lip.

To be honest, she really didn't plan this out as well as she could have thought.

"Well, where did you last see it?" Barbara asked but she paused.

She realized what she said and the look of amusement on Kara's face was almost unbearable.

"Well you see, there was no place where she saw it last, because you see, the jet is invisible," Kara replied and Barbara sighed and grumbled, with the blonde slipping an arm around her friend's shoulders. "So Diana is okay with us taking this, right?"

Barbara didn't even think of that and she actually felt that this was a step in the right direction for Kara to ask this question.

Donna looked at both of her friends and shook her head.

"Donna!"

Donna ignored Barbara's exclamation of protest and shook her head.

"Well, I'm sure that we could get it back before it's missed," Donna said and she closed the gap between both of her friends. "Come on, what's life without breaking a few rules?"

"A lot more peaceful?" Barbara asked and both of them glared at her.

Barbara knew she would lose this one if both of them started to double team her.

"So what about your cousin?" Barbara asked her and Kara smiled.

"The Blur is off world right now for something," Kara commented with a grin and she dropped the subject right now. "So, how about that Invisible Jet?"

* * *

><p>"The one weekend out of the year we would have to go to Vegas, it would have to be an absolute madhouse. You know with all of these businesses in town."<p>

Barbara walked in in style, wearing a pair of sunglasses, with her hair pulled back in a ponytail. A black tank top covered her ample breasts, and a pair of jean shorts added to her outfit, showing her alluring legs.

Kara smirked, she was dressed in a white tank top, along with a tight pair of jean shorts, and her arms crossed together. "More of a chance to blend in you know, because less of a chance to be found if someone finds us…..even if your father sends his coffee buddy after us."

Barbara blinked suddenly and sighed. "Coffee buddy….."

She was trying to picture her father sitting down and having coffee with him in that get up. The thought nearly caused her brain failure and then laughter in response. She nearly bent over and broke down into laughter and that was followed by her almost breaking into tears.

"Oh, the mental image of it all," Barbara muttered under her breath.

Kara smiled, glad to see that she could help.

Donna waited for the banter to dial down. She was dressed in a purple tank top, with her hair pulled back. Her bracelets hung rather nicely from her wrists, glinting in the Vegas sunlight. She stood out a little bit, but not as much as she would have outside of Vegas.

"Just hope we can remember where we park the Invisible Jet," Donna warned them.

"We got here just fine, and…"

"Was that before or after we nearly hit that military aircraft on our way here?" Barbara asked.

Kara looked about ready to protest but Barbara placed her finger into the blonde's lips in response. She didn't want to hear it. At all.

"Hey, we lost them," Donna protested, shrugging her shoulders.

Barbara sighed. The desire to ram her head into something hard rose high.

"Not the point….." Barbara said and she paused when they walked further down towards the Expo.

The group stopped and they saw something interesting. Cops swarmed the place. Kara frowned at the sight and wondered what the hell happened.

Donna had a suspicious thought on her mind and slowly turned to Barbara to confirm it.

"Your father didn't send the entire GCPD all the way to Vegas to intercept you, did he?" Donna asked gently.

Barbara shook her head. Before she could delve into this investigation, something else caught her attention.

"Giant toy soldiers, you don't suppose….." Barbara said, nudging Kara.

Kara's eyes flashed towards the toy soldiers. Barbara's idea might not be far off.

"Yes, Barbara, I do suppose," Kara said, balling up her fists.

She didn't want it to be that. All indications pointed to the fact that one of her cousin's enemies showed up in Vegas to ruin their little side trip. The flash of bright lights and the arming of weapons forced Kara to concede to this fact. Not to mention the screams of people, that was important to determining what sucked.

"I was afraid of that then," Donna said, following the progress of the toy soldiers with her eyes "Do you think that we should get involved?"

Kara answered the question the only way she could. She shot to the nearest soldier in a blur. One swift force knocked it down and caused it to clatter to the ground. She blurred back to them before she was even missed that much.

The seventeen year old girl dropped to the ground, with a smug look on her face. Donna and Barbara sighed with each other. Barbara seemed beyond all words after seeing that little display from Kara.

Donna decided to say what Barbara was thinking. "You're a little show off sometimes."

Kara didn't really say anything on the account something caught her off guard. The blonde stared straight forward. Perhaps she was losing her mind. Another blur flashed off into the distance at the speed of light and knocked into one of the creatures.

"Look, the toy soldiers are retreating," Barbara said, pointing the blatantly obvious out.

Kara could see and Kara was glad that they were. Another problem presented itself that caused her attention to be diverted from the enemies. Donna and Barbara didn't really notice it right away, but Kara did.

It was almost like there was another Kryptonian there, other than the two that were here in this world. The blonde wondered…well she was going to do a little poking around because otherwise that just wouldn't be fun.

"I can see that they're retreating," Kara chimed in and frowned. Was this as cut and dry as she thought it was?

Barbara frowned, wondering if they went back to some kind of base to get orders or not.

'_Are they getting marching orders,' _she thought.

As quickly as things started, they calmed down. That left them all in a lurch and confusion resounded with what happened.

Donna cleared her throat and both of her friends turned to face her.

"So, do you think that we can try and enjoy Vegas?" Donna muttered to both of her friends.

Kara turned and was glad that she was reminded about the fact that she was here in the first place. It was in fact to have fun.

"Yes, I think that we can try and enjoy Vegas," Kara said and now that things cooled down they could.

This was a place to let their hair down and not worry about the great power that came with great responsibility. Vegas was where it was at and the three super best friends decided to enjoy it as they could.

* * *

><p>"Oh come on, that guy looks far younger than the three of us do, and you let him in," Kara said, folding her arms and gritting her teeth.<p>

The girl felt she had the blonde moment to end all blonde moments. She knew that she forgot something that would have made this entire Vegas trip a bust. Identification that was extremely important and she bungled it.

The bouncer didn't look sympathetic to their plight. "He might look far younger than any of you do, but he has something that you don't, and that's a valid ID, so unless you want to cough up some identification, I suggest you all hit the road and find yourself another place, because this is for real men and women, sweetheart."

Anger filled Kara. She couldn't fucking believe this.

Barbara jumped in to try and temper the situation. Even if her temper was at a boiling point, she had to try.

"You know that's…"

"Them are the rules, Red," the bouncer said, he had a job to do. He might not like it but he followed the rules. "So, you've got two choices, either come up with the ID or hit the bricks, because this place is not for you."

Kara eyed Donna nervously over her shoulder, she was about to hit something, it wasn't the bricks however.

"Is there a problem?"

Kara turned around and her mouth opened wide open. The young man who stood before her blew her completely away. She was spell bound by his presence, with the brightest green eyes she ran into in her life.

'_Whoa,' _Kara thought, shaking her head.

The girl nearly fell over in shock with what she saw. His presence completely caused her to go into complete mental shutdown.

A brief check of the state of both Donna and Barbara showed the same thing and they both were sizing him up and looking him over.

"Nah, Doctor Potter, the three of them, it's just a bunch of teeny boppers trying to get in…..you go ahead and enjoy the accommodations, I mean, you're just keeping this place in business," the bouncer said and Harry frowned, and waved his hand.

"You said that they didn't have the proper ID, didn't you?" Harry asked him and the bouncer's eyes grew rather vapid and unclear..

This was not an abnormal state for someone like him. The backlash of the little effect caused Barbara, Kara, and Donna to grow transfixed as well.

"Magic," Donna whispered, her eyes not even leaving the situation for a second.

"No duh," Kara said, and she grew more excited with what else he could do.

Magic did have some potential possibilities. And not all of them were perverted. That did help though.

"I think that you better check," Harry said, gesturing towards the girls.

The three girls were as shocked as anyone to find that the proper identification flashed into their hands. It most certainly had not been there ten seconds ago.

"Huh, I guess they were there, well ladies, get there, and have a pleasant night," the bouncer said, sounding rather dopey like he was in a daze.

Kara was glad that she didn't kick him now. Also, she was really glad that Donna held herself back from being way too impulsive.

"How did you do that?" Donna asked. She realized she asked a stupid question and amended herself hastily. "Actually I know how you did that…"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Harry commented evasively to them.

Karen had to fly back to Metropolis really quick but she would be back before morning. She said that Harry had free reign, as long as he didn't do anything that would get himself arrested. This Harry had no intention of doing. He had the ability to get himself into trouble but more importantly he had the ability to get himself out of it.

"Well, I think that we know how you did it, but exactly why did you do it?" Barbara pressed on once again and she looked at the ID.

Sure the birthdays were a little bit fudged for obvious reasons. All the other facts were in place. It started to creep her out with how perfect these things. Magic seemed to be the obvious explanation but there had to be a deeper more sinister explanation for this.

Harry was there with the obvious explanation. "I figured that the three of you came all of this way, it would be a bad idea to have you shut out to a place that you really needed to come to."

"Makes perfect sense to me…..um, I'm Kara Kent," the blonde told him and Harry smiled.

'_So younger version of you, honey…..hey, I found her,' _Harry thought to Karen through the bond link.

'_You know, I was hoping for something a bit more climatic,' _Karen answered him but she was pleased that her younger counterpart was found.

They would have to get out of her how she came to be on Earth. It seemed to be inconceivable that they missed her if she came the same way Karen did.

"Donna Troy," the dark haired girl said and she gave Harry a firm handshake.

Diana bitched her out about not crushing someone's hand with a handshake. Donna couldn't help it sometimes; she didn't know her own strength. She dialed it back a little back when that was mentioned. Amazon strength and habits died hard.

"And Barbara Gordon," the redhead said with a smile.

"I'm Harry Potter…."

"Oh, as in the Harry Potter?" Barbara asked in excitement and Kara and Donna looked at her in amusement. Barbara's piercing glare caused them to retract their looks instantly "I mean, you're Harry Potter, the real deal, and it's just that….well I've followed your work."

Barbara wondered if she stuck her foot in her mouth. There was a fine line between admiring someone's work and being a fangirl. Barbara tried hard not to cross it to the best of her abilities.

"Relax, I'm here on Vegas…..well business mostly, but I've had my fair bit of Vacation while I'm here," Harry said as he lightly touched her hand.

Barbara grew red but she managed to hold herself together and nodded eagerly.

"The Red Sun sounds awesome, I can't wait to get one, when it comes out," Barbara said, fidgeting in her seat.

Amusement filled Kara's eyes as she leaned towards the redhead. "Is that because you threw your crap cell phone out of the window when you couldn't get reception?"

Barbara shifted, sighed, and nodded. They got her there.

"So, how would you ladies like a drink?" Harry asked her and he smiled. "It's on me."

"Okay, one drink, and I stress that, one drink," Barbara said, even though she knew that it was rarely one drink.

Barbara was determined to be the responsible one even if being the responsible one only was by process of elimination.

"Ooh, it's one of those slot machines," Donna said, in anticipation.

Barbara's eyes flashed through the machine. She heard stories and decided that it was her responsibility to warn Donna about them all.

"Donna, those machines are rigged so people are parted with a month's wages," Barbara warned her.

Kara turned around, activating her X-Ray vision when she peered into the machine and she turned back to Donna with a grim nod.

"Barbara's right," Kara said, trying not to look at the redhead's smug expression.

Harry looked at the machine and smiled knowingly."Oh, there's really no problem with these machines, all you need is a steady hand to work them."

With that, Harry put a coin into the machine and pulled the lever. The machine gave an eerie glow and suddenly, a shower full of silver dollars spit out.

"See, Harry was able to do it," Donna said.

Barbara raised her eyebrow. She tried to figure out a logical reason that was different from the illogical reason. "Doctor Potter…seems to have an affinity with them, yes."

"Please, Barbara, call me Harry," Harry told her, amused out how flushed she looked about this statement.

"Right Harry," Barbara said and Donna walked over to the machine. "Donna, I'm not sure that you have…"

"Here, you just have to have a feel for the machine," Harry said, placing his hands on either side of Donna's waist and held her steady against the machine. The Amazon, rather instinctively or on purpose, shifted up against him. Harry held to keep her in place. "And once you get a feel for the machine, pull the lever and let it all flow."

Donna did as she was requested, and she pulled the lever. She waited for its progress and seconds later, a shower of silver dollars popped out.

"That's awesome," Donna said with a smile.

The Amazon Princess was on a roll. She decided to do it again, popping another silver dollar in, and once again, more of them popped out of the machine.

"Oooh, I want to try, please," Kara said, not sounding too eager.

Before she had her chance to go, the entire group ordered a round of drinks.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe that they kicked us out," Kara said and she took a staggering step from the club.<p>

She looked and sounded a bit tipsy. She didn't look as bad as Barbara and Donna, who looked pretty blitzed.

"Can't believe that they accused us for cheating, when their machines were so obviously rigged," Donna said, leaning up against Harry. It was for the practical purposes of standing up and also for the purposes of her being comfortable. "Well, I guess we got enough money…"

"And they comped us a room if we stopped playing," Barbara added, leaning against Kara.

Kara snickered in amusement at both of them. They looked pretty much out of it.

"How much did you two drink anyway?" Kara asked, and shook her head.

"I don't know, mother, how much did we drink?" Donna asked and Kara glared back at her, hands on her hips.

"You know, your mother would kill you if she knew what you had been drinking," Kara said with a smile on her face.

With one sweeping motion, the blonde stepped over. She decided to nudge her way over to Harry's other side. As a result he was sandwiched between an Amazon and a Kryptonian and he was okay with that arrangement.

"Oh, that's good," Kara said, snuggling up tight against Harry with a smile on her face.

"What my mother doesn't know, won't hurt me," Donna said, shaking on wobbling legs.

"And what your sister finds out…..you know, you're not going to be able to fly that plane back in your state," Kara said.

Barbara frowned and had an inquiry that made sense in her state. "You know, aren't you worried about someone stealing the Invisible Jet?"

Harry's curiosity piqued because of this statement. "You have an invisible jet?"

"Donna's sister has one," Kara confirmed, with a wide grin on her face.

The young blonde could feel Harry's arm wrap around her, holding her up. Not that she needed it. she felt like resting her head down on his shoulder and milking this arrangement.

Harry smiled knowingly. "I see…."

"I'd let you see it, but you kind of can't, because you know, Invisible Jet, and stuff," Donna said and she looked up at the bright lights. There was a lot to do in Vegas. "So, now that we got booted out of the Casino, what do you want to do next?"

"Let's get married," Kara giggled.

Donna turned to Kara and frowned at her rather brazen statement.

"No, seriously, what do you want to do?" Donna asked with a smile.

"I was being serious," Kara said huffily, with arms folded and a scowl across her face.

"Actually that's not a bad idea," Barbara slurred and she held her balance to prevent herself from making a facep plant into the ground.

"Are you….to each other or to Harry?" Donna asked slowly.

She felt Harry's hand on her bare back, which sent shivers down her spine. That was actually something that she considered a good question and she couldn't really figure out the answer to it.

"Interesting question, what did you have in mind anyway?" Harry asked Kara and the blonde looked at him.

"Well to you, of course…..well if you would….you know," Kara said, a small part of her her wondered if this might just be a bit too sudden.

There was an even bigger part of her who told that smaller part of her to shut up. This part of her brain grew with strength when Harry tightened his arms around her and brought her into a smoldering kiss. The blonde's mind was assaulted with this molten hot kiss. Returning the kiss, once her brain returned to full boot up mood, she pulled away.

"Does that answer your question?" Harry asked. Barbara looked at him, corking an eyebrow.

She looked a bit tipsy, but not as much as Donna. This really should have told them something.

"Well, I think that Kara might need a second opinion."

Barbara was only half kidding when she said that. In seconds she felt a feeling of regret. Harry's arms locked around her, nearly dropping Donna who fell over with a nice little eep, and she landed hard onto the ground.

"You could have caught me," Donna protested to Kara but the blond smiled sheepishly.

"Yes, I could have," she agreed and could see Barbara get more of the same. The dark haired Amazon pulled herself to her feet. Donna frowned and gingerly rubbing her backside to bring some life back into it. Kara nudged Donna once Barbara stepped back in a daze. "So do you think that the second opinion was enough, or do you think that we're going to need to get a third opinion?"

"Third opinion, for sure," Donna replied and she threw herself into Harry's arms.

In response, he pulled her into a nice long kiss. The Amazon closed her eyes and felt his tongue push deep into her. His hands explored her body and she breathed heavily. Nipples hardened and her pussy ached the more he worked over her body.

If that didn't answer the question, when Harry pulled away, he wasn't sure what did.

"So, what are we waiting for?"

* * *

><p>All things considered, Harry pulled off the wedding quite nicely. The girls were pleased with it and Harry was pleased with it.<p>

"It's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission for some things, at least that's what Martha told me," Kara whispered.

Donna caught something with this statement and she had a moment of clarity in a sea of drunken insanity.

"You know, your mother might not be too fond of you for doing what you did," Donna said and Kara raised her eyebrow. "I know, mine won't be either…but…"

"Why don't you sit down Harry, and we'll get ready," Barbara said and she looked over her shoulder.

She sobered up to the point where she wasn't able to fall flat on her face. That was good, she was pleased.

Kara smiled, she wondered what the point was to put on some lingerie, just to have it ripped off in the heat of passion. She figured it was more for the benefit of their new husband than anything. Donna looked to say the same thing but Barbara and Kara lead her into the bathroom across from them.

Harry would have to wait, the three girls picked up something special for tonight, but it was a surprise.

The door of the bathroom opened. An amazing sight greeted Harry when all three beauties exited the bathroom.

Kara wore a sheer white nightdress that allowed her nipples to show out on the other side. Harry smiled, looking over her alluring youthful frame. Her lacy white panties shimmered into the night light.

Barbara was wearing a black pair of bra and panties that looked fairly lacy and it showed off her body. She stepped forward and placed her hand on Harry's chest. She ran her hand down his chest in a slow and seductive manner.

Not to be undone, Donna sauntered out of the bathroom. The Amazon Princess only barely covered the bits that needed to be covered. She nudged Barbara off to the side and smiled. With one further swift motion, Donna wrapped her arms around Harry's neck. Leaning forward, she hungrily kissed him.

"Hey, no fair," Kara pouted.

Barbara gave Kara the evil eye in response. "You had your turn, just wait."

Barbara forced Kara to shut up with a blistering and hot kiss. The blonde relaxed into the embrace of the redhead, their tongues pushing together, trying to force dominance with each other.

Donna was off and Barbara stepped back and took her place on Harry's lap. Harry rested his hands underneath her taut ass cheeks, squeezing them. The redhead pressed her hot lips upon his. The fiery kiss heated up their passions. Tongues tried to dominate the other. Barbara tried to assault Harry's tonsils with her tongue and he returned the favor.

Kara and Donna indulged each other in their own tender passions with each other with Kara impatiently waiting for some of Harry.

When the group switched off with each other, Harry yanked Kara into a warm embrace. She eagerly took her place on his lap and her tongue pushed up against his. The two of them looked determined to dominate the other with this passionate kiss with each other. Harry lifted Kara's hands up and pinned them against her head.

She grinded against him. In the meantime, Donna and Barbara stripped Harry's clothes from his body, enjoying what he saw.

"Great Hera, he's sculpted like a god," Donna whispered.

"Surely a physique like that would be worthy of all of the goddesses," Barbara said, gazing upon his body in an appreciative manner.

"Well yes," Donna conceded, she was not going to lie, Barbara had her right there.

"I would have to agree," Harry said with a smile on his face. He responded by brushing his fingers against the legs of both girls and caused shivers of desire to fill their bodies.

"So, time to get to the good stuff."

* * *

><p>"So…..that's what happened in a nutshell, might have skipped over a few bits, but you get the general idea," Donna concluded and both of the other girls smiled. "But even though my mother's likely to kill me, I think this could have been the best night ever."<p>

"I would have to agree," Barbara said with a shifty little grin.

Harry finally got ahold of Karen and she answered immediately.

"Let me guess, you're married?" Karen asked and Harry smiled at her.

"How did you ever guess?" Harry asked her.

"History has this ability to repeat itself," Karen replied with a smile.

Something outside caused them to divert their attention.

"Great, Toyman, again, does that guy ever take a hint?" Kara asked.

Frantically she looked around for something.

"Here," Barbara said to her, handing her the bag. "I managed to find enough of our clothes…..and thankfully we didn't throw them all out of the window."

"Thankfully,' Kara said, but she did seem a little disappointed. "So, I guess it's time to suit up….."

"You better stay here, Harry….um no offense but…"

"Actually, I have a couple more surprises up my sleeve," Harry said swiftly.

Kara whistled. "Okay, fair enough."

It was time to head out on a brand new adventure, and to stop Toyman's plans, after he tried to start them up.

**To Be Continued on September 16****th****, 2014. **

* * *

><p><strong>So not much to add other than flashback chapters can be really hit or miss, but I thought that there was a lot of fun interaction for this one. As I mentioned, this was supposed to be the first chapter of the story.<strong>


	18. Chapter 18: Playtime

**Chapter Eighteen: Playtime. **

Someone with the name of Toyman would have to have a flair for the dramatics. That was something that Harry reminded himself. The man was crazed, but that shouldn't discount how dangerous that he was. Still, through said danger, he would attack and in style.

Okay, it wasn't as dramatic as the toy soldiers that he sent the previous day and obviously this was a warning of things to come. That being said, there was something foreboding about a toy Jack in the Box that was wheeled out in the middle of the Vegas, strip.

Things hit another level of menace when said toy Jack in the Box sounded like it was ticking. Time grinded by and it may have slowly ran out.

With Helena hitting a dead end, Harry found himself faced with not that many options. Kara dropped down right next to him, with Donna and Barbara following. The box whined and groaned when it rested next to him.

"It's a good morning here in Las Vegas, and all of you, you've been very naughty, some of you spending all of your paychecks, others cheating on your spouses!" Toyman sang in a jovial voice. Statements that hit too close to home for some people. "That's none of my concern. My concern is to take the naughtiest person of them out. And you know who you are, don't you? You've been a very bad boy and it's time for a spanking."

Harry hoped that he would keep talking because that would make it easier to take them.

"Still creepy," Kara said with a shudder.

Barbara swooped down and took a look at the Jack in the Box, and then gave her honest assessment of the situation. "It's more than a recording device…..and there might be a signal, it's pretty faint, but there might be one inside."

There could be a signal, faint as it was being said. It is hard to track. Barbara didn't care because that was the type of challenge that she thrived on. Nothing got her blood pumping even better than that.

"We're getting a signal," Barbara said, looking over her shoulder to her two sister wives, along with Harry. She almost was insulted about how easy this seemed at first. "Yeah, he's not really good at masking this."

"Yeah, he is," Kara said cringing. Schott might have been eccentric, kind of creepy, but there was one thing that he wasn't and that was an idiot. "Trust me when I say this, we could be walking into a trap."

Kara's warning fell on mostly deaf ears. Barbara looked over her shoulder and returned her gaze back onto the Jack in the Box.

"Um….I don't know….about that," Barbara said, nervously.

Now that Kara planted the idea in her head, the possibility struck her as very real.

"Better to walk into a trap that we know is sprung, then to walk somewhere where we don't know where we're going," Harry said.

Barbara raised her eyebrow in response. She supposed that she had a point. And he had been speaking from experience. That was another feeling she had.

"And there's a pretty good off chance that he's making us think that he's laying a trap," Kara said, frowning.

Kara didn't deal with Toyman too many times but she had ran into him more than once.

Especially given the caliber of person that he tried to kill, it was difficult to see why he had been let out of prison. For obvious reasons, Kara was not about to be sending any sympathy cards for the death of Lionel Luthor but still. The innocent people that were put in danger and that really pissed her off greatly.

"So, do you got anything?" Donna asked and she was getting nervous.

"There's a bomb in the Jack in the Box," Harry advised and Donna's head snapped downward, she could say that there was a pretty good reason why she became nervous then. The dark haired Amazon Princess responded with a labored.

"Oh, that's wonderful," Donna said, crossing her arms together and once again. The ticking of the clock grew more intense when she peered down.

"And now there isn't, because I disabled it," Barbara said, trying not to look too smug.

Smug happened to be her default state when she did something she was proud of.

"Oh excellent, way to go," Kara said with a smile and she would have done a dance if she had not been so bad at doing so. "Now any luck on the signal….."

"Ninety five percent complete…child's play really…..well then again some people are being either very sloppy or very crafty."

They would find out in a matter of moments, and Barbara found out that the tower was located in Las Vegas.

'_What are the coordinates?' _Harry asked, popping into Barbara's head, which caused the redhead to nearly jump halfway off of the ground.

Harry casually caught her in his arms, much to the thinly veiled amusement of Donna and Kara.

'_Wait…..are you talking to me in my head or am I finally going insane?' _Barbara thought, shaking the cobwebs off at the sudden intruder that entered her mind.

'_Little of both, Barbara, a little of both,' _Donna said, unable to keep the grin off of her face.

She realized that she had access to the mental network, which was kind of cool. It was the one thing that anyone couldn't tap into. The only person who might be able to do so would have to be an extremely strong telepath. Those types of people, Donna had her doubts about their abilities to do so.

Harry might just be that strong.

'_You know, maybe I should have told you girls about this before I bombarded you mentally,' _Harry thought, with an apologetic grin attached to his face.

'_Yeah, that might have been a good idea,' _Kara said barely able to keep back the next round of laughter from coming to her.

The quartet approached a large transmitting tower with the utmost of caution and care. This was exactly where the signal was traced. So they were on pins and needles to ensure they had been lead right.

There was laughter coming from inside the tower, which was never a good sign. That being said, Kara grabbed onto the door and ripped it open, seamlessly if it was tissue paper.

There was a Toyman that was sitting with his back turned away from them all. His head bobbed up and down in a mechanical fashion.

"Okay, Toyman, the game is over!" Kara yelled and Donna and Barbara looked at Kara like she grew two heads. "Okay, it sounded much better in my head….but seriously, you better give up."

"I think that you don't understand the rules, and don't understand…" Toyman said and the chair spun around, with a blinking clock being shown in his eyes. "That I'm in control."

Kara backed off and her mouth hung open. "It's a bomb!"

"Obvious statement is obvious," Barbara said and Harry sent a wave of energy from his suit.

The Toyman statue toppled over and the bomb was disabled. He stepped back, taking a moment to catch his breath.

"There might be some kind of clue here that could point us in the real direction."

Kara smiled but then the doors opened. She was on a hair trigger and she nervously saw someone approaching. After what happened, she was not taking chance. She never had been the person to ask too many questions.

She could see the person approaching, and stopped, she looked just like her, well with a few differences. For one, she was about a head taller and Kara was a pretty tall girl in her own right. This woman swooped down on Kara. Her hair was a little bit shorter, and her body was a bit more mature, with her heaving breasts contained in her tight white costume.

"Supergirl, meet Power Girl," Harry said.

The two girls meeting together caused Harry to be unable to keep the wide grin off of his face when he saw both of them looking each other over.

"Um, hi," Kara said, and she felt intimidated standing in the presence of her larger than life older counterpart.

Kara flushed when she caught herself looking at her older counterpart's breasts. They were so big, but were they real? Pretty sure that they were extremely real, but one could never be too sure about something like that. She had to get one other tiny look, just to make sure.

* * *

><p>Karen turned up, she just missed Harry. The Jack in the Box in the middle of the street was taken care of and a brief mental prod from Harry pushed her into the right direction.<p>

The doors were already opened. No signs of chaos were present just yet That kind of disappointed Karen to be honest, she was hoping for some brutality and violence. But that just goes to show you, you can't get what you want in life all of the time.

The blonde increased her fairly quick strides and she came face to face with a younger version of herself but there were a few differences. For one, she had longer hair, but the same bright blue eyes were presence. She also had a smaller set of breasts, and she wore a blue top that looked rather homemade with the prominent Red "S" on it. A red flowing skirt and a pair of red cowboy boots topped off the outfit.

"Supergirl, meet Power Girl," Harry said, with a smile on his face.

"Um hi."

Karen smiled, looking at the younger version, who she referred to as Kara in her head, because Harry was the only one who called her Kara now. In fact, she even referred to herself as Karen, because she became the mask of Karen Starr.

The blonde cleared her throat when she saw that the younger blonde was staring at her chest. Granted, that wasn't the first time that she caught someone doing that and no it wasn't the first time that she caught another female taking a peak at the girls either.

"So…I guess you're an older version of me," Kara answered with a smile on her face.

"I believe introductions are in order," Barbara said.

Right now she was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, and a pair of tight leather pants, but she had enough of the equipment to function properly. Her other costume was left behind in Gotham City, but she managed to have the foresight to pack half of the equipment.

"Given that you're going to be sharing a bed with Harry and I, we should get an introduction with each other," Karen said and Kara smiled.

She wondered if having relations with an older version of herself would be incest or masturbation. She would have to settle with just being plain hot. Actually it was plain hot no matter how you sliced it.

"Right, I'm Kara Kent….born Kara Zor-El of Krypton, but you already knew that I think," Kara said with a smile. Karen judged that she was about sixteen, maybe seventeen years old; she hadn't hit her growth spurt just yet.

"I think that I just missed you," Karen said with a smile.

"Came to Earth about six months ago, my stasis pod was floating about one of the colonies of Argo…..my mother and I….in fact…."

"Wait, your mother….our mother….she's alive…..?" Karen asked, this was news that surprised her.

She was floored by this news and wanted to know for sure.

"Well, she's in stasis, my cousin just got there in time," Kara said with a smile on her face and she sighed at the thought of it. "Another few days and her pod would have failed as well…good thing my distress signal was finally picked up in time for the both of us."

Harry thought that he should have picked up that Distress signal. The satellites weren't up until a couple of months ago, so it should have been obvious why they didn't. It was unfortunate but Kara was here now and that was all that mattered.

"I have a cousin?"

"Yes, we can talk about families later, in case you didn't notice, we do have a problem," Barbara said, not wanting to sound so rude but at the same time, she wanted to get to the matter at hand. The nineteen year old girl, one of the youngest graduates at GCU, smiled and turned to Karen. "I'm Barbara Gordon…."

'_Really, well that's interested,' _Helena thought, an older version of Barbara Gordon disappeared back home and it was interesting to run into the teenage version of her here.

That being said she had to focus on the investigation. There was a lot of parts to it that she needed to run on through.

And the Amazon who looked to be about eighteen years smiled. "And I'm Donna Troy."

"Now that we've got that all out of the way, back to Toyman," Kara said anxiously.

She would have to have a nice conversation with her older self later about a few things but that could wait. When a madman ran about the city, she didn't have time for such pleasantries.

"He never does anything easy, does he?" Karan asked and Kara sighed.

"No, he doesn't but…..it's all a game for him, and the prize is going to be the lives of innocenet people if we don't put a stop to this," Kara said, and Harry placed a hand on her shoulder with a smile.

"We're going to put a stop to this I believe…"

'_I have something,' _Helena chimed suddenly. _'Meet me at these coordinates….'_

'_Um no offense, but who exactly are you?' _Barbara asked and she folded her arms across her chest.

Barbara supposed that she would have to get used to people that she might have never met popping into her head. Someone like Harry would pick up an army of wives.

'_Helena Wayne,' _Helena said in a stoic voice with the other five making their way out to meet her.

'_Oh, Helena Wayne any relation to…..' _Barbara thought but then she stopped when she realized what she was saying. _'Alternate universe, yeah I know, I know.'_

'_So, she's another wife?' _Donna asked. There was a lot of confirmation though the bond link. _'So are there more than us five or are there….'_

That question would have to go unanswered, at least for now, when they were going to meet Helena.

Most annoyingly, Toyman was right under their noses the entire time. It was funny. Sometimes a lot of things went full circle and this little caper was far from the only thing that did.

* * *

><p>"So, this is the place," Kara said, it looked like a giant doll house. She scoffed in a critical manner when she looked it over. "I always knew that there was something a bit off about him."<p>

"Off or not, he's fairly dangerous," Barbara said, and she could see the front entrance dead ahead, but that would have sensors are over it. And after a quick scan, that belief was confirmed. "Oh this is wonderful."

It was packed with sensors and to get it would take a miracle.

"Yes, it is," Harry agreed, but there were many ways in.

All one had to do was find a creative way inside or let the villain overplay his hand. The villain overplaying his hand works rather well.

Toyman's voice thundered over the loud speaker. "You know, I didn't want to drag too many people into my game, but if you're going to insist…..I'm going to have to make some new rules to ensure that this is a game that you never forget."

His laughter sounded like nails dragged across a chalkboard. The troops came marching in and Harry looked at them, and sighed.

'_Well this is going to be something,' _Harry thought to himself.

The footsteps of toy soldiers exited and they closed in on the group.

"And here's some bad news," Barbara said and Donna turned towards her friend and sighed. "Yeah I know, bad news, it's always bad news, we could never have good news for a change but this thing…"

"Triggered to explode," Huntress said, and she backed off, trying to find the signal. "And I think that if we don't disable them in the right order…"

"Everything goes boom, very good, you get the rules to the game!" Toyman cackled. "I might not get Luthor, but I'll get my revenge on you for disrupting my game."

"Okay, we have one shot, we better make it count," Power Girl said and she turned towards Supergirl who nodded in response. Homemade costume or not, she was pretty sharp and quick witted.

Just like her, and Karen really had to smile about that, watching Kara scan the energy fields.

"Third one to the right, then the second one, then the one to the back, and then the first one," Helena said helpfully. "And then the two side by side right there."

"A rather weird order," Karen said and Helena shrugged.

It went without saying that they were dealing with an extremely weird guy though.

"No, no, no, this can't be happening," Toyman said with Arcane waving his hand and the toy soldiers along with the explosives that they had were disabled.

"Look out!" Donna yelled, seeing cannons retract from the walls and start firing at them.

The Amazon closed her eyes, and dodged the fire, before they hit the ground. Ducking her head, she pointed towards Kara, who smiled and shifted. Her eyes squinted and fired a blast of the heat vision at the ready.

"I've got this one!" Kara said, frying the cannons one at a time and what one she didn't fry. Barbara caught with a projectile that launched through the air and struck the cannon with a huge impact.

"Amazing shot," Donna said to Barbara and Barbara tried not to look pretty pleased with herself.

It was time to knock down the door and pay their respects to their enemy.

"You know, I don't like this game, let's play a new one! Who's up for a little bit of dodgeball?"

Barbara groaned, she really, really hated dodge ball, especially this kind of dodge ball with the red balls shooting out of the cannons on the wall. They hit the ground and blew miniature holes from the ground. The explosive kind she hated that much more.

"This is getting kind of old," Donna said, getting knocked back but she bounced off of the wall and Harry grabbed her. She graciously smiled and sat up.

Harry could see the launcher firing the big heavy balls out and turned towards Karen, who noticed it as well. Helena slipped back into the shadows somewhere. That was not really something that he could worry about right now. He flicked his wrist and impacted the large dodge ball launcher, causing sparks to fly in every single direction.

With it taken out like that, Harry was at ease and Toyman slammed his hand on the console when his little machine broke.

"No, no, no, no, no!" he yelled, and he picked up a large cone and hurled it at the window but it bounced off. "That's not fair, you cheated, you cheated, YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A BUNCH OF CHEATERS!"

"I think someone is upset," Harry whispered to Karen but he did want to know where Helena went off to.

"Let's see, self destruct sequence…"

Suddenly Huntress popped out of the shadows and grabbed Toyman by the wrist, forcing him back. His wrist cracked with Huntress pushing it back and forcing it down onto the table with a huge thud.

"I don't think so," she said and Toyman backed off, and tried to get away.

He activated a jet pack on his person and shot up, up, and away. He scrambled through the nearest exit in his attempt to get away.

Suddenly, his jetpack failed before he could even clear the hideout and it exploded before he could escape.

"Um, ouch," Donna said, looking at Toyman with wide eyes.

It was obvious that didn't end too well for him. Most interestingly, it was because of his own stupidity that he seemingly got himself blown to smithereens.

'_So, I guess that's the end of that,' _Kara thought, grimacing, that was not one of the finer moments of a super villain. Obviously the jet pack was defective. Donna and Barbara turned towards her, and Helena, Harry, and Karen did the same. _'Right, that's got be the end of that I mean…..there's…..'_

Kara stopped herself, before she embarrassed herself. She did not want to say that there should be no way that he would have survived that because she had more sense than that. She knew better.

* * *

><p>There was a hard and fast rule that Harry learned numerous times and that was if there was no body, then there was no guaranteed death. And even if you found a person's body, you would still have your doubts that something was up.<p>

Well Harry had more than a few doubts about Toyman and he disappeared into the night.

"Okay, I want to know who equipped him with military grade technology," Barbara said and she turned towards her fellow sister wives and husband. She was sure that was a question that ran in all of their minds. "Because, I don't care how well off someone like that is…..that kind of stuff doesn't come easy."

"Toyman was some kook that was working out of a basement…..and now he's set up with all kinds of technology," Kara said and she frowned, with Harry looking things over.

"The Jetpack was made to fail," Harry said, coming to the grimmest conclusion that he could potentially could and the girls looked at him in curiously. "But someone would have to be playing a sick game…..let's see what the computer systems are like…."

"On it," Barbara said and her eyes brightened and she resembled a kid on Christmas morning. There might be something on their incriminating that she could find to bring the Toyman down and Harry smiled. She didn't really see it because when she hacked, she was in her own little world.

That being said, this had her baffled, the deeper that she dug into the computer system, the more that she didn't find. It was to the point where she wanted to sigh.

"Guess he's not as careless as we hoped he was."

Kara looked around, seeing one of the weapons that had not been equipped to the toy soldier and she lifted it up. The blonde stepped back and examined it. It couldn't be, but yet it was. "What….this doesn't make any sense?"

Harry gave her a shadow of a smile. "I've found that when something makes little sense, it makes perfect sense more often than we think it does."

"Well things thing right here, it makes no sense, I've seen pictures of weapons like this, they're issued to the Military, which you all know," Kara said and Huntress bent over, looking at the weapon.

"And they're issued to the military from LuthorCorp," Helena said and Kara nodded in response, she didn't really know what was going on here.

Other than the obvious fact that she didn't like what was going on here, but that much was really obvious.

"Well…..the plot thickens," Harry said crisply and he was running through a number of theories in his head, from the outlandish to the somewhat plausible. And there were also a few theories that were so insane that they had to be true. "I don't really know what to say here."

"What, you don't think that Luthor masterminded the attack of his own company to drum up some positive press, do you?" Karen asked but then she thought about that. That actually didn't completely fail the "BS" test in the back of her mind. She honestly didn't know what to believe now.

"Hmm, I don't know," Harry admitted, that was really possible, but was it probable. He didn't really know and he kept racking his brain for alternate theories. "I'm going to make a phone call, could the five you look around….."

"Yeah, I'll see if I can find a backdoor here," Barbara said but then she stopped when she noticed a nasty defense. "Oooh, that's kind of clever, and nasty too."

"What is it?" Donna asked, brimming with curiosity and she placed her hands on the back of Barbara's chair.

"There's a nasty little worm program, that will wreck the files of anyone who gets in there and by wreck, I mean absolutely wreck, and also send e-mails to everyone in their contact list and wreck their computers and then…..well I'm pretty sure that you can figure out the chain," Barbara explained without taking a breath.

She was glad that she was working with a clean device that was not hooked to any contacts. That being said, even with a good firewall there was no guarantee that they could block anything.

"Yikes, I see your point," Kara said, she could see Barbara bring up the layout of the program.

"And that's not all, this bad boy consumes anything that is on the computer, it's kind of like the cyber equivalent of flushing your drugs down the toilet," Barbara said and Kara placed her hands on the back of Barbara's chair and sighed.

"Interesting analogy," she commented but she would have to go with it.

"But accurate?" Barbara asked and Kara nodded. The blonde bit down on her lip in absolute frustration once again.

"Very accurate I'm afraid," Kara commented and she crossed her arms over her chest when she looked at the computer. "So, what do you think?"

They waited for Harry to return, whatever phone call he was making, it was taking an extremely long time.

"LuthorCorp, they would do something like this," Karen said and she turned Helena, but she left to go see what Harry was up to.

That being said, there was really no reason to go and meet with him because he made his way up the stairs. The dark haired crime fighter met Harry's gaze when he marched up the stairs.

"My contact says that she'll look into things but it may take a lot of time," Harry said and Barbara frowned.

"This system is dead…..I did manage to get an address…let me punch that it," Barbara said and she frowned. She checked to make sure she didn't leave any stone overturned. "It was a warehouse, belonged to some guy named Mannheim; I don't know anything about it."

"Well you're going to have to dig deeper, because that's what you do, won't you?" Kara asked, giving Barbara an encouraging smile which she returned.

"I'll see how dig I can deep," Barbara muttered underneath her breath but she wasn't really taking many chances. There were a couple of things that she could do and she did have a friend based out of Metropolis that she would have to touch base with.

"So, now the three of you are part of this…and I'm guessing that you went into Vegas without any permission."

"Hey….." Kara said but Karen cut her off.

"It's not up to me to give you a lecture or punish you….the punishment part is Harry's job, now that you're officially married to him," Karen said with a suggestive smile.

Kara's face turned red at the thought of what her new husband could do to her. She breathed, the thought of what he could do to her was extremely tantalizing to say the very least and the blonde stepped back, nervously looking on.

"We aren't here with permission no, and I took my sister's invisible jet," Donna said and Helena turned towards her with a raised eyebrow. "I know, my sister has an invisible jet, people tend not to believe that, I don't know why."

Donna felt like she was being X-Rayed, maybe because she was. Honestly, the Amazon Princess didn't know that well. That being said, she backed off, her arms folded over her chest and she wondered what would happen next.

"So, back to the hotel room, I guess?" Kara asked and Harry smiled.

"We've got a lot to discuss, you know," Harry said and Kara grinned.

"Most people wait until before they're married to drop the heavy secrets…..yeah I know I have room to talk," Kara said, burning under her older self's gaze.

That was something that she didn't expect to experience. What a day she had anyway.

"As you know, we're not most people," Harry told her and the blonde sighed, she wouldn't disagree with that.

That being said, they all knew what would come next and it was a wonder someone, between the three of them, didn't come down to Vegas to track them down.

Perhaps they shouldn't breathe too easily just yet.

* * *

><p>"So, I think that this was a pretty good trip, all things considered," Kara said in amusement when she made her way up the stairs. "I guess…..though we got to admit what happened…..we had some fun and some consequences…"<p>

"And there isn't any way to get this annulled is there?" Barbara asked and Karen smiled.

"Only if you hadn't slept with Harry, but when that happened, a magical marriage is pretty binding," Karen told her and the redhead whistled. "You don't regret it."

"I regret the lecture that I might get….because I should have known better," Barbara said with a sigh. She let Kara and Donna talk her into this but they didn't really put a gun to her head and make her go. "But the actual act, no I don't regret it."

She might think twice if Harry was bad but he was good. There's a refresher course that she would need to take right now.

Donna opened up the door and then she blinked.

'_Oh shit,' _she thought but she didn't say it out loud.

Kara on the other hand, didn't have such tact. "Well, Donna, you're boned."

"And not in the good way," Barbara muttered but she should have known that one of them would have gotten busted.

And it was by the person whose invisible jet they borrowed. A tall Amazon woman with dark hair and blue eyes, dressed in a black top and blue jeans, wearing bracelets sitting on the bed stared down at them. Her foot dangled and her eyes glared down at them.

"Hi, Diana," Donna said in a small voice, trying to hold onto her bravado but she was failing.

She could see an unpleasant talk coming.

**To Be Continued on September 19****th****, 2014. **

_Someone is busted!_

_In all seriousness, some huge plots are going down in this chapter. I won't say much more about that, but there is some serious long term shit being built up. _

_So someone asked about the ages of various characters. Keep in mind that this is an estimation. I think that the Harry/Karen/Helena trio may have gotten de-aged slightly when they crossed universes. _

_Harry Potter: Almost 21. _

_Karen Starr-Potter/Power Girl: 21._

_Helena Potter/Huntress: 25. _

_Patricia Swann: 26. _

_Barbara Gordon-Potter/Batgirl: 18_

_Kara Zor-El/Kara Potter/Supergirl: 17_

_Donna Troy-Potter/Wondergirl: 17(Well, There's that Tricky Amazon Aging Thing But She's 17 for all intents and purposes)._

_Diana Prince/Wonder Woman: 21. (See Donna.) _

_Lana Lang: 21._

_Lois Lane: 22. _

_Alexandra Potter: 11. _

_So next chapter shall be interesting. _

_See you for the conclusion on the date above. _


	19. Busted In More Ways Than One

**Chapter Nineteen: Busted In More Ways Than One.**

* * *

><p>Donna was in deep shit right now and she knew it, big time. Her sister's eyes burned into her. She didn't think that she could be in a worst predicament if she would have tried. And she knew from experience that she had tried. Diana's arms folded underneath her chest and she looked at Donna. This look was so intimidating that even Barbara and Kara took half of a step back, even though Diana technically had no authority over them.<p>

Both could agree that their best friend and sister was in very deep shit. Extremely deep shit, so much she waded in it.

"So," Diana said in a calm voice and Donna felt herself wilt a little bit. At least for a second, until she stood up and looked Diana firmly in the eye. "What in the name of Hera were you thinking?"

Donna wasn't going down with a fight.

"I can't believe you!"

Diana's sharp look met Donna's eyes. "What….what exactly can't you believe?"

"Come on, you know…..you get to go to Man's World all of the time, without someone watching over you…and you don't get any static over it," Donna said, knowing that she was on some extremely shaky ground with the entire hijacking of the Invisible Jet thing.

It was a wonder that Diana didn't scream herself hoarse. She settled for staring her sister down and once again Donna took only a half of a step back. She tried not to be intimidated, even though she realized that she'd be in deeper trouble when her mother found out.

"Yes, and it took me a while to earn that right," Diana said, getting the responsibilities she did, didn't come easily. She had to slowly work on her mother for weeks, months, what seemed like an extremely long time. And even then she had to appeal to the goddesses. Talk about your jumping through hoops with that one. "And by the standards of Amazon, you are merely just a child…"

"I'm not a child, I'm a grown woman," Donna said, and she balled her fists up.

She took a deep breath, breathed in and out. She had to calm down.

Diana slowly rose to her feet and she was a whole head taller than Donna, who wasn't short by any means. Donna wondered if she pushed thing too far but by this point, she didn't really care.

If it came to a fight, well Donna didn't much fancy her chances against her older sister. Every time she fought Diana in combat, she got her ass kicked, no two ways about it. She did a little bit better sometimes.

"A grown woman wouldn't have stolen a jet to fly halfway around the world," Diana said, mentally counting to a hundred and preying to Hera to give her strength to deal with this. And if a few other goddesses wanted to pitch in with a little help, Diana wouldn't be too opposed to that as well. "Just what were you thinking anyway?"

Donna calmed down enough to properly face her sister.

"I…I might not have been thinking, I admit that," Donna said, but her arms folded across her chest firmly.

Donna readied herself for a fight, even though she knew going against Diana might not end all that well for her. The glaring look her sister was giving her sent shivers down her spine.

"At least you admit that," Diana said.

"But, you would have left the island, if you had a chance when my age, and don't try to tell me you wouldn't either," Donna countered, scowling at her sister and daring her to question.

Diana wasn't about to admit her sister had a point. She wondered if how Donna was acting was some kind of twisted form of karma for how she acted at a young age. All sorts of things she got up to "Maybe I wouldn't, but that's not the point…"

"I think the real point is that you're just jealous that you didn't get invited," Donna said and Diana's exasperated look fixed on her sister.

She wouldn't dare to admit that prospect maybe had the tiniest amount of truth. That wasn't really the point though.

Barbara and Kara followed the progress. Amusement danced through the eyes of both girls. It was like watching some kind of demented tennis match, and it was hard to really tell who was coming out ahead. It was more entertaining than anything on television though.

Harry watched closely, he hoped that he really didn't need to step in. The hot tempers of both Amazons showed that hope might be misplaced. So he prepared to close ranks if worse came to worse.

"You got married, didn't you?" Diana asked, noticing the ring on Donna's finger and Donna shifted nervously, mentally weighing her options in her mind. "You went to Vegas, and you dragged Kara and Barbara along, and got married."

"Now, Kara was willing to go, in fact it was her….."

"Donna, you chose to go, unless someone put a sword to your throat," Diana said, she expected more from her sister. Even though she almost wondered why.

Technically Donna was the most long lived of the three, even though Barbara was the most mature of the three. Kara, being new to Earth customs, she was kind of wild and untamed.

"Well, you're just jealous….that you didn't get laid."

Harry didn't say anything but that was kind of low.

'_And she goes to the throat,' _Karen thought, she and Helena had remained quiet like the rest, waiting for this to play out. This was more entertaining than anything on television.

"Oh, really?" Diana asked, looking at her. She glared at Donna and the slowest realization hit the younger Amazon she said way too much. "That's…..that's not the point to begin with."

Barbara and Kara looked and Harry was about to step in but Karen shook her head. She figured she might be able to deal with this.

'_Oh boy, this won't end well….look Harry, why don't you go, so I can try and smooth things over,' _Karen thought to him and Harry looked and turned to Helena.

'_Yeah that might be for the best,' _Harry agreed and his dark haired wife nodded. She looked towards the door. _'So, we should investigate that lead you had earlier.'_

"I hate to interrupt," Harry said and suddenly both Amazons looked at him, with Diana noticing him for the first time.

She had been so preoccupied with Donna that she did not notice him until he spoke up. That was quite the grievous oversight on her part.

Once he was sure that Diana had his full and undivided attention, Harry continued. "But…..it seems like you two have something to hash out with each other, and I'd just be out of the way."

"So, you're the one who she married," Diana said with a sheepish smile. "My sister and I need to have a talk right now and…well…I'm sure that…"

"Perhaps the two of us can talk together, figure out what we can do," Karen said with a nudge towards Diana and Donna was looking from Harry to Diana curiously.

She really had no idea and after stealing a quick look from Kara and Barbara, she figured they didn't really know either.

"We'll touch base when we wrap up things," Helena said to Karen and Karen turned to explain to Diana what happened.

She knew a bit about what was happening in Vegas, and the attacks by Toyman, half of the reason why she was so upset with what Donna pulled. Her younger sister could have put herself in danger. Even though she was well trained, was it a crime to be concerned?

* * *

><p>"Okay, if anyone knows what might be going on, it's this guy," Helena said and she turned towards Harry. "His name is Snitch."<p>

"His parents must have set him up for a life of an obvious squealer than," Harry said with a grin.

Helena shook her head at her husband. She knew that he was being facetious.

"Obvious codename," she reminded him and Harry smiled. She realized that she had been had and he knew that.

The dark haired Wayne heiress turned around, and walked forward into the warehouse and she could see him lurking around in the shadows.

She frowned, he wasn't making it easy. With acrobatic flurry, the Huntress removed a staff from her outfit and then slammed it through a curtain. She hit something and was glad that she did.

The staff latched onto the coat sleeve of a weedy looking man, who was pulled out. He looked like your average office geek but the problem was he didn't look that he showered for days.

"So, you're Snitch," Arcane said taking in his ragged form with his eyes.

"Who wants to know…"

"The trail lead to you, you were sending a messages to Toyman, both you and Mannheim," Harry said to the snitch named Snitch.

"No, no, no, I was merely selling Toyman information of when Luthor would be in Vegas….but he had to send someone else, and he ruined in and the Toyman…..well he sold the Toyman some faulty products, didn't he?" Snitch asked and he knew a lot more about this than he was saying.

His attempts to disguise it underneath incoherent babbling were not lost.

"Toyman bought the military grade weaponry from this Mannheim guy, didn't he?" Helena asked and suddenly Snitch gave a startled gasp when he was hanging upside down, swinging like a pendulum.

"No, no, no, not buying, he was selling, selling, he already bought them, someone calls himself the Penguin, he was a gangster from London, just moved over to Gotham City, Toyman was buying the items, taking a few for himself, and he was selling them to Mannheim at a premium," Snitch babbled. What little bravado he had was lost by Huntress dangling him upset down like a piece of meat.

"Oh, he was selling them, wasn't he?" Huntress asked, her voice oddly calm or at least calmer than it would have.

The pigeon started to sing even more.

"Yes, yes, he was selling them at a premium, at top dollar even," Snitch whimpered. "Mannheim's working with Morgan Edge, and with Intergang, and there's a rumor around Metropolis that Mannheim made a deal with the devil to get some weapons that would allow them to match the Blur."

"Do you know anything about the Blur?" Harry asked, he had his own suspicions but he wanted to know through the grapevine.

"Well, whoever it is, they move pretty fast, the camera's can't really pick them up, you see," Snitch said and his hand quivered again. "And you know…..a lot of people think it's some type of government conspiracy, you know big brother is always watching out for them and all of that shit…..but I guess we're never going to know. I mean, the dame doesn't stop long enough to talk to anyone."

Harry had his suspicions about the Blur and this was confirming them slowly.

"Wait, so it's most certainly a woman…"

"It is, haven't you read the papers?" Snitch asked and Harry did.

"What do you know about the Penguin?" Helena asked, she knew who the man was in her world but given that this was a different universe.

She didn't want to rely on too much foreknowledge because it could get her in trouble. Especially when said knowledge was wrong, that would be an extremely bad thing.

"Don't know much of anything, except he seems to be able to get his hands on anything, as long as the price is right, you got the scratch, and he'll cash out, he will," Snitch whispered, and he almost looked almost anxious, almost like he was going to be shot by speaking out like it. "But….."

"Yes?" Helena asked, and he opened his mouth and closed it. "Tell us, if you know anything."

"Well, he's making a deal with Zucco….you know Fat Tony, he's Maroni's boy, and Maroni's trying to muscle in on the Roman's territory….not that you'll be the scariest thing to come down there, because…..there's a demon that's been terrorizing the mob, I about bet you anything someone's been fucking with the occult," Snitch said and Arcane raised an eyebrow. "And they got more than they bargained for."

"A demon?"

"Yeah, they say that he looks like a giant Bat, I haven't seen him, Falcone's brat was a whimpering wreck after he ran into the demon, I mean, you thought that he would have wet his pants," Snitch said but he lowered his voice. "Don't tell the Roman that I said anything, he'd fit me with a pair of cement shoes and pants to match."

"Oh, I wouldn't dream of snitching on someone who calls himself snitch," Harry said dryly. "Oh, and…..you can hang around for a while, I'm sure someone will cut you down…"

Harry doubted very much Mannheim was using this warehouse now, and all roads lead to the Penguin.

"In my world, the Penguin was a foul bird named Oswald Cobblepot," Helena whispered to Harry and his interest was grabbed.

"The same Oswald Cobblepot who is the owner of the Iceberg Lounge?" Harry asked her and Helena nodded in confirmation.

'_Well, I explained things to Diana, the good news is that she doesn't blame you for it, which really is interestingly contrary to some of the stories that you'd get about the Amazons,' _Karen said and Harry smiled.

'_Those stories were written by men, who got spurned by them, and they took it out on the Amazons,' _Harry thought and Karen frowned and slowly nodded.

'_Fair enough,' _she thought in response, shaking her head. Jilted people really colored a lot of the parts of history. _'So, what are you going to do?'_

'_Does she want to talk to me?' _Harry asked and Karen paused, checking with Diana who was there in the room with her.

'_Yes, she does,' _Karen answered with a smile on her face.

'_I'll finish up here, you should go and speak with her,' _Helena suggested and Harry decided to do just as his wife suggested to him.

* * *

><p>Donna was not too happy about the fact that her older sister was going to meet her new cousin, if nothing else for the embarrassment factor of the situation.<p>

Diana on the other hand, might have been amused by her sister's begging and pleading, if the situation didn't get too serious.

"Diana, please….you don't have to do this, I'll do anything, anything," Donna said and she grabbed Diana by the wrist.

"I don't blame Harry for this, if that's what you're worried about," Diana told her coolly but Donna's worry was only somewhat pacified. "But…"

"I just….it's complicated," Donna said, she didn't feel it was a good idea to beg her sister not to embarrass her right here and now. She already danced on thin ice enough as it is.

"Well, you made this situation complicated, and now I'm going to have to explain this to our mother," Diana said and she gave her sister a warning. "And since you're a grown woman….legally thanks to your marriage, the consequences of breaking the rule of the goddesses will be your cross to bare."

Donna gulped. That was one part that she didn't forget.

"What consequences?" Kara whispered to her, she never saw Donna look so dire and it was really kind of freaking her out to be honest.

"Those who get married without the blessing of the goddesses may be banished from the island….I didn't do it on purpose," Donna said and Barbara nudged her, reminding her of something.

"Harry asked you if you were sure eight times…"

"I know that!" Donna yelled looking rather mortified.

She cupped her hands over her face and sighed. This situation was more than bad enough as it is without her two best friends making it worse.

"What's done is done, I guess," Diana said, but she hoped that her sister would be shown mercy due to the circumstances. Her mother told her some stories, as a warning of what might happened.

The only solace she had, it did take some extreme circumstances for women to get banished from the island.

'_Oh Hera give me strength,' _Diana thought but she got grim amusement by the fact she may have to appeal to multiple goddesses to get the strength she needed.

Then there was the Invisible Jet thing, Diana hadn't technically cleared that with her mother. It would be a hard time explaining why she wanted it to her mother, given that she had the ability to fly.

The door swung open and Donna crossed her arms and sighed, she looked like she was waiting on death row for something to happen.

"Diana, I didn't really get a chance to talk to you, Donna has told me about you."

Diana knew because of the nature of sibling rivalry that things could get exaggerated really quick. She looked from Donna who looked back at her, not even blinking.

With that, she slowly turned towards Harry, with a frown crossing her face. "What kind of things?"

"Good things, I can assure you," Harry said, exchanging a knowing smile with Diana.

Donna's eyes looked from her sister to her new husband. Perhaps it was just her imagination but there was far more to this exchange than met the eye.

"There's a nice café downstairs," Harry continued. "If you want to use it to talk about what happened…."

"That would be nice," Diana agreed, after the trip that she had, she needed something to eat to calm her nerves.

Harry led the way, allowing her to leave first. Before he left, Harry gave Donna a reassuring smile, but the younger Amazon sister didn't see it. That was because she took her head and buried it firmly into her hands.

Kara smiled, leaning over, and she patted Donna on the back once more. The Amazon princess shifted against where she sat.

"It's going to be fine," Kara told her and Donna turned towards her slowly, giving her the evil eye.

"Is it?" Donna asked quietly and Kara smiled.

"Trust me," Kara said with a smile on her face and then she turned towards Barbara. "So, what are you going to do when your father finds out about this?"

"Deal with it," Barbara said in a swift voice, she wasn't going to let Kara rattle her, even though her father finding out something like this, well she didn't even know how to describe it. But she would not let it get her down. "What about Martha?"

Kara's amused expression faltered but she shrugged. "Well I'm just staying there….I'm more worried about my cousin….overreacting….."

"You mean the B….."

Kara clapped her hand over Barbara's mouth to shut her up. It might have been too little, too late. She could see Karen and Helena looking at them, and the way they were looking at them was not making them feel much better.

Then again Donna didn't really care about that, she was trapped in her own little bubble, worrying, wondering what Diana and Harry would be telling each other. Her horror might have just begun to be honest. Perhaps she overblew things in her mind, but something told her that she wasn't.

"It's going to be alright, Donna," Kara told her friend and Donna sighed, she had an interesting perspective about what being alright was going to be.

"Harry has given us the go ahead, we'll go back to Metropolis, and I'm sure that we'll figure out now to proceed from there," Karen said to both Kara and Barbara.

Karen figured that the return flight would give them enough time to think precisely how they were going to deal with this problem.

"So, how did you get here?" Kara asked but suddenly, there was a redhead who was at the door and Kara recognized her immediately. "Lana?"

"Kara, what are you doing here, does Martha know that you're here?" Lana asked and Kara got up to her feet, looking at her cousin's old friend.

"No," Kara said, and Lana sighed, with Karen and Helena taking Lana off to the side to explain this lovely situation to her.

Lana gave a long sigh when they finished. She almost expected something like that happened and was really disappointed she didn't get to be a part of it.

"So, Harry got married….to these three…you know we might have to avoid all future trips to Vegas," Lana said in a half joking manner and Karen shrugged in response.

"The more, the merrier," Karen suggested and Lana gave a long sigh.

She didn't know whether she should be amused by the entire situation or kind of disappointed that she missed the trip. She settled for a combination of the two. That was the happy medium as far as she was concerned.

* * *

><p>"You know, there are far worse people for Donna to run into on a trip to Vegas than you," Diana said, she was sitting across from Harry in a private booth in the Café. No one could disturb them, and Diana had gotten her fair share of looks from the men, some of them had a couple of drinks.<p>

Which a year or so ago, she would have wanted to break their jaw but as of right now, she really didn't care, because it was just background noise to her at this point. That was just one of the things that she had to deal with.

"I'm glad that I'm considered to be harmless," Harry said with a smile, sipping on the coffee. He surveyed Diana for a second. "So, I have to ask you a question."

"You may," Diana said, wondering about what he would ask.

"Are you upset about Donna going to Vegas, or jealous about the fact that you weren't invited?" Harry asked her.

Diana dropped the cup of coffee that she was drinking very nearly but she held onto it, and maintained her composure. It was a very near miss though.

Despite her initial shock, Diana remained coherent. "The truth is, I freaked out when the Jet was gone…..because my mother doesn't really know about it. You just know how fun it's going to be explaining that to her…..even though I'm a grown woman and I think that I can handle owning an Invisible Jet."

"Of course, it's almost a requirement of being a grown woman to own an invisible Jet," Harry told Diana and she looked at him, but he casually ate the piece of pie that had been served. "Speaking of which….."

"You're going to ask the same question that my friend in Metropolis did about the Jet, aren't you?" Diana asked him.

"If you don't want to talk about it, then I'll respect you not wanting to talk about it," Harry said and Diana smiled. "But…I understand that the Island has strict rules about men visiting it."

"You wish to talk to my mother personally about the situation that Donna got herself into," Diana said, cutting off Harry at the pass and Harry smiled.

"The thought did cross my mind," Harry told her.

Diana leaned back in her chair. She realized that it was making her shirt ride up a little bit. It grew tighter against her chest and showed off her toned stomach. The Amazon didn't bother to cease this action though.

"Well, I'm going to have to speak with my mother, and until that happens, I don't think that it would be wise for Donna to go on the island, some of the Amazons might react…..defensively," Diana said, choosing the right words for this situation.

"Is that what they're calling it?" Harry asked Diana.

"Well they aren't all man haters if that's what you're wondering, it's just that some of them…..are very….."

"They tend to protect their own, I understand," Harry said with a smile. "But you need to understand that Donna's a part of my family now, so I will protect her interests."

"What I wanted to hear, what I expected to hear actually," Diana said to him, shifting in her chair, and crossing her legs. "I'll have to speak with my mother, and then she's going to have to speak to the goddesses about this predicament, and I don't really envy what she has to do."

"Well, I'm sure that it will all work out in the end," Harry told her and Diana raised her eyebrow.

"I think that you have enough optimism for the both of us, and I understand how you felt, I have a younger sister…and she can tend to be a handful, and I'm sure that she'll get worse when she's a teenager," Harry said and Diana smiled, she didn't know that.

"Really, she will be a handful when she goes through that rebellious teen stage, and yes if you talk to my mother, you will get some stories about me," Diana said, with a grin.

"Oh really, like what?"

Diana gave him a knowing smile. "I can't recall off hand."

"You know, I don't really have any room to talk, because I did far, far worse as a teenager," Harry told Diana and Diana smiled. "But, I really can't recall off hand either exact details."

"Indeed."

Diana returned to drink her coffee, even though it was almost all done. That was one of the simpler pleasures of Man's World, a nice cup of coffee. She found herself hopelessly addicted to all of the pleasures it gave.

She managed to resist ordering another. Diana put down the cup of coffee and gave her sister's new husband a smile.

"So, despite the circumstances it was nice seeing you again."

* * *

><p>Kara and Barbara were taken up the Elevator, along with Karen, with Donna waiting in the Lobby for Harry to eventually return. Lana slipped back to work sometime in the meantime and Helena was on the hunt for the Penguin.<p>

It was down to Karen to give Kara and Barbara a tour of the Penthouse, given that both girls would spend a fair amount of time here.

"Wow."

Barbara thought that she had died and went to Geek heaven. she was in the main room of the RAO tower and her eyes widened like saucers.

"I know that you're really curious, but you shouldn't touch anything without permission," Karen warned her, pinching her.

That caused Barbara to snap back into reality and give Karen a piecing look. Kara laughed so the piercing look was directly on her.

Karen looked serious when she continued her explanation. "I'm sure that you'll understand that some of these systems don't respond too well to people who aren't keyed in."

"Some of these looked pretty inspired by Kryptonian legacy systems," Kara whispered and by legacy systems, she meant systems that were standard on Krypton about a thousand years or so before she was born.

"Yes, they are," Karen said and Barbara blinked suddenly, and nodded.

"Which explains why the RAO system is so hard to hack….or so I've heard," Barbara said which caused Karen to snort in response. Barbara threw her hands up into the air. "Okay, fine, but…..can you blame a girl for her curiosity…..I mean….you should consider it…..well never mind."

"You should consider this system to be a very good one, if Babs here couldn't hack it,' Kara said, patting the redhead on the head and she blushed slightly. "And I mean that in a good way…..because she is able to hack into the Pentagon."

"I'll deny that in a court of law though," Barbara said, her cheeks flushed at the praise. Then again she had a curiosity with computer systems at an extremely young age.

"Even if you weren't married to Harry, we would have a position for you in this company," Karen said and the fact that she was married to Harry, well that just sweetened the pot a little bit.

"Seriously?" Barbara asked, she tried not to look too excited. She epically failed at that to be honest and Karen snickered in response.

"Yes, seriously, this is a company that thrives on innovation and I think that with your creative outside the box thinking, you will be a good asset to the company," Karen said with a smile and Barbara once again looked rather pleased with herself. "We'll talk about that later, first I have to show my younger self something…that might be useful if she's out there getting attacked by all kinds of dangerous enemies."

Kara recovered from nearly dying of the extreme cold only a few months ago so she didn't have that much superheroine experience. What she did, she kicked plenty of ass at, in her own biased opinion.

"Oh, I really haven't done much, that Toyman deal was the most dangerous person I've ever fought, and he really has his anger directed for the most part at my cousin," Kara said but she could not hold the excitement that she had in her for much longer. "So, what do you have to show me, anyway?"

"Follow me, and you'll see," Karen said, she wondered if she was like this at that age. She was going to have to guess that there was a strong likelihood.

She couldn't honestly recall off of the top of her head.

"So…when did you meet Harry?" Kara asked, making some light conversation.

"First day at college, he was my student mentor…and I think that he took a lot of interest in me, not because of my powers or…"

"Because of your really big tits?" Kara asked, her eyes looking at them and Karen cleared her throat. Kara's eyes went back to hers and she sighed. "Sorry, but they are nice, can I touch them?"

"Maybe later if you're good," Karen said, and Kara shifted herself nervously, her arms folding together. "But, as you might have guessed, I outgrew my old costume."

She pulled back a door and walked Kara a little bit into the lab, where one of her older costumes is good.

"The red and the blue is nice but….they really see you coming in that, and…..I'm pretty sure you want to do your own thing," Karen said knowingly and Kara nodded in response, when she got a look at the costume that Karen showed her.

The blonde looked over the costume in an appraising manner. There was a black crop top. It would have just stretched maybe a couple of inches past the bottom of her breasts. Kara thought that her costume was rather conservative now, too conservative, as she saw the flowing black mini-skirt ,and the silver and black cape that latched about the area of her shoulders.

"It's made of material that helps absorb added yellow solar radiation for storage that you can release into your body for an extra charge in case of an emergency," Karen explained to her younger counterpart.

Kara looked over the costume. She kind of liked it.

"So you made the cape pretty practical, I like it," Kara said, smirking in agreement. "It does show a lot of skin, doesn't it?"

"Well, it allows you to absorb yellow solar radiation at a much faster rate, and…..besides you can't deny that it is good to drive people nuts," Karen said, reaching forward and twirling the lock around the head of her younger self. "And we're quite the little exhibitionist in our off time, aren't we?"

"Yeah, I guess that we are," Kara replied shamelessly. She took to sunbathing in the nude ever since she came to Earth.

It recharged her powers faster so there was a practical reason for doing so, really there was.

"I want to know about….your mother," Karen said and Kara wondered when this conversation would turn around. "You said that she was being held in stasis…"

"Yes, but the technology at the Fortress is only able to sustain life support, not bring her out of her state," Kara said in frustration.

Karen reached forward, gripping her sister by the hand and Karen relaxed.

"Maybe you should take me to the Fortress…."

"Can't I don't have a key and the only one that can let you in is off world," Kara said and Karen looked at her. "My baby cousin…"

And Kara prepared to explain that to Karen, who was all ears. Given that in her world, she didn't even have a cousin.

* * *

><p>Diana made her way back to Themiscyria, not knowing what to expect. She knew that her mother knew that Donna was gone. Diana had already left the island before Hippolyta could react in any way, because time was of the essence.<p>

The Princess of the Amazons passed a group of woman who were heavily armed and she made it to the end of the line, where a beautiful Amazon with flowing red hair, and bright blue eyes lookd at her.

"Artemis," Diana said to her in a warm greeting.

"Princess Diana," Artemis said to the Princess of the Amazons, and she reached forward and pulled her forward, planting a kiss on the top of her hand. "I trust your journey to the island was of safe passage."

"It was safe," Diana confirmed and she frowned, she could not tell what state her mother was in, by the looks of her fellow Amazons. It was one of those strong battles of wills, where she didn't want to ask and she didn't want to tell, so both sides were trying to stare back and forth with each other. "Is my mother….."

"She awaits you," another Amazon said and Diana turned around, taking the long trek into the Royal Palace.

It gave her plenty of time to think and to tell.

Her mother stood there, perched upon the Throne and the Royal Guards backed off to give Diana some room. Her mother was a regal woman and looked like she could be Diana's older sister more than her mother, if she was going to admit things to herself. The Princess of the Amazon made careful strides up the stairs.

"Diana, welcome home…where is your sister?" Hippolyta asked and Diana knew that she had only seconds to speak of this.

"A problematic situation has occurred, that might prevent Donna's safe return to the island," Diana said and Hippolyta raised an eyebrow. "I don't know where to start with this…"

"Perhaps the beginning would be the most ideal place, my daughter," Hippolyta offered and she could tell that this story was long.

She just hoped that it would be as dire as Diana hinted it might be.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on September 23<strong>**rd****, 2014.**

**So we officially meet Diana, even though Harry already met her.**

**This chapter should have really been titled a snitch named Snitch, even though he was only a small part of the chapter. **

**Yeah, I know the Blur thing is kind of obvious what I'm doing, even though I'm not going to stop milking it. **

**The things the superstitious and cowardly lot think of in Gotham City.**

**Next chapter, we have some interesting conversations. **


	20. Island Adventures

**Chapter Twenty: Island Adventures.**

Diana concluded the one conversation that no one wanted to have with her mother. She thought that this could have gone better.

"So that's what happened," Diana concluded, wishing she could say something better than that.

Karen filled her in on most of what happened and Diana really wished that she had support. She had to face her mother for certain things before but nothing like this.

Hippolyta's steely gaze met her daughter. Diana appreciated the fact that her mother was the Queen of the Amazons now more than ever before.

"Well, I can't say that this is ideal, but at the same time, when your daughters get to a certain stage, you can't control their actions much longer, Queen or not," Hippolyta said. The woman looked oddly thoughtful and dare Diana say it, more calm than normal. "Sometimes, your daughter decides to get married to some mysterious handsome stranger, alongside her best friends in Vegas, and sometimes she decides to acquire an Invisible Jet. I guess that we have different ways of coping with the pressure of royalty."

Diana was surprised, even though she shouldn't be about the fact that her mother found out about the Invisible Jet. She opened her mouth and was about to ask her mother about it. She just couldn't bring herself to ask that question.

Fortunately Hippolyta was able to beat Diana to the punch and spare her from answering it.

"You had always had a liking to things fast and furious, and even if it is Invisible, there were enough rumors and whispers that I was able to piece two and two together," Hippolyta said in amusement.

One thing that she questioned is why her daughter even thought that an Invisible Jet was practice. Given that she had the ability to fly, it seemed like of redundant.

"Well what about Donna…..the laws….."

"That will be her cross to bare once the Goddesses made her decision, although they might be reminded some of the decisions they made hasility in the name of love, and how there might not account for taste," Hippolyta said and she stared down Diana carefully. She went for the extremely important question. "So tell me, what is my daughter's husband like?"

"He wishes to speak to you mother, about the circumstances of this…"

"He does realize that that was Donna's choice, and you are willing to vouch for him that he was not going to pressure her into doing something that was not in her best interests," Hippolyta answered and Diana frowned when she looked at her mother.

"You do realize that Donna wouldn't have done anything that wasn't in her best interests, and would not have done anything that she didn't want to, because she is that stubborn," Diana said and Hippolyta smiled at her daughter.

"Stubborness is a trait that runs firmly in this bloodline," Hippolyta said and she once again thought of the odd circumstances that she had been presented with.

Her daughter knew but perhaps this was an attempt to exert her independence, and prove that she was not a child. It was a hasty decision. Hippolyta understood better than anyone else that matters of the heart could cloud the better judgment of a person. She had been down that road before and she hoped that it would not bite Donna as much as it bit her.

"Yes, of course, mother," Diana said, and she knew that it was a slight towards her but her mother also had pointed out on numerous occasions that she was equally stubborn as well. They all had their moments. "So shall we…"

Hippolyta's eyes met her daughter's "Diana, you must understand my child, this is a situation that I cannot take lightly. It may be several days before your sister will allow to return to this island, although….."

"Harry intends to take her in and take care of her, just like his other wives," Diana said, glad that she was able to smooth over that situation.

She might have been less impressed if it wasn't someone like Harry Potter. That managed to soften the blow.

"A strong male can handle multiple women, I am glad that my youngest is in his firm hands," Hippolyta said with a smile on her face and she sighed. Raising two daughters on her own might have been a larger challenge then managing the island and all of the hot tempers with the Amazons. "And he does wish to face me…."

"You know, I don't see why you can't leave the island and make the trip….."

"Diana, if I could, I most certainly would but there are….circumstances that you don't know about," Hippolyta said and she could sense the retort coming from her oldest daughter. "And yes, I would explain it to you. To make a long and complicated story shorter and simplified, there are rumors that some of the less favorable gods are making a power play."

"Ares or Hades?"

"It may be an alliance with both, but it could be a scheme of a far more devious player," Hippolyta explained and there was a name that burned on the tip of her tongue. "Circe."

"Circe, she was banished for her schemes last time, wasn't she?" Diana asked and Hippolyta smiled.

"Circe doesn't seem to have acquired the usage of the word, no, in her greater vocabulary I'm afraid," Hippolyta said crisply to her daughter and Diana frowned, staring her mother down. Hippolyta shook her head and grew more serious yet. "But then again, I do have to appeal to the Sacred Six, and hope that they will be able to both forgive what Donna has done and allow Harry to appear on the island for a meeting."

Diana nodded, the Sacred Six of Artemis, Aphrodite, Athena, Demeter, Hestia, and Hera were among those who helped establish this island for sanctuary. It was down to them what Donna's inevitable fate would be.

"And perhaps if given the opportunity, I will explain to them the reason why this island was established in the first place and it most certainly was not to judge those part of the outside world," Hippolyta added, a burning gaze going in her eye.

She most certainly had the air of a woman who was willing to go to war with the goddesses to get precisely what she wanted.

Diana blinked, her mother was intensely staring forward and she sensed that there was something more to this entire mess than she first thought or that first met the eye.

"Mother I…"

"Do not concern yourself with these things my daughter, tell Artemis that I will be gone for three days, and until I return, she knows what to do, and if….it happens, she knows the security protocols," Hippolyta said and she stepped up and wrapped her arms around her daughter, pulling her into a tight hug. "And…you've done well with extending our influence past these borders. Perhaps we have been placed inside our sanctuary for too long."

Diana could feel her mother's arms withdraw from her. The Amazon Princess frowned, she had this feeling that there was so much that wasn't being told. She couldn't quite shake it but there were changes that were happening.

Changes that she hoped that she could find herself on the ground floor of but she didn't know. Her mother might not even know anything. Her expression softened when she watched her mother's retreating back.

"Have safe passage, mother," Diana muttered, hoping that this turned out well, because there were instances.

She got up, her mother walking through the Gateway. The Amazon Princess backed off and saw that there was someone else waiting for her at the door.

Diana turned to face Artemis, the general of the Amazon armies who was not to be confused with the Goddess of the same name, even though it might be an honor to get confused with her.

"So, how much of that did you hear?" Diana asked her.

Artemis was firm in her response. "Enough where I know that it isn't my place to pry. But I know what to do if it happens before the Queen returns, don't worry."

* * *

><p>Donna waited for Diana to return to see what her mother had to say. Needless to say, she was just a tiny bit jumpy. The dark haired Amazon was pacing back and forth. She wouldn't be surprised if she would wear a hole in a carpet.<p>

Damn it she was so jumpy and that was irritating some of her fellow bond mates.

'_Stop doing that, you're making me tired,' _Kara replied and Donna crossed her arms, returning fire with a scowl.

'_Sorry, can't help it,' _Donna thought, she was about ready to lose all sense of her mind, and about ready to scream.

'_Well just calm down, you know that there isn't much that you can do,' _Kara said and she sighed.

She had her own things to deal with and she had to call home to check in in a little bit. Barbara already headed back to Gotham City to face the music, of course she was technically of age being eighteen years old.

Still, owning up to the fact that you got married in Vegas wasn't exactly an ideal thing at any age. She figured that it would be the best thing to tell her father, even though he might not like what he found out.

Donna's expression brightened ever so slightly when Harry showed up. His presence calmed her even though she was still a basket case of nerves.

"Not back yet?" Harry asked her gently.

Donna glared at him for a second. Then she backed off, she supposed that she shouldn't put the brunt of her agitation on Harry.

'_No,' _Donna thought to herself and she returned fire with a long sigh.

"I wouldn't be this tense if she was back right now," Donna admitted and Harry sat down next to the couch. His hands rested gently on her shoulders.

"You got to relax….you Amazons do know how to relax if I'm not mistaken?"

"Most of the time…actually we do," Donna said, and she held her tongue to say what she was really thinking, even though Harry's eyebrow raised up.

"That's good," Harry told her and he placed his hands down on either side of her shoulders and started to rub her bare flesh.

Donna had never gotten a massage from another man but she leaned into it, allowing a sigh to escape her lips. Her husband had magic hands, even if the pun was something of a cliché, and the dark haired Amazon panted in pleasure. She was sure that he intentionally worked her up to keep her mind off of what happened.

"Oooh, Harry," Donna breathed, succumbing to her husband's touch rapidly.

"Are you feeling good now?" Harry whispered to Donna and Donna nodded.

She was relaxing. The energy pulsing through his hands caused her to feel hot and bothered. Her mind really went in some interesting directions when he worked her over.

"Are we doing okay?" Harry asked, and he slowly rubbed the back of her neck, moving around, to pull her shirt off.

Donna had no body image issues and this was her husband. She wanted this, that was the most vital part of this. She allowed him to pull off her shirt. More flesh revealed itself when the garmet pulled off of the beautiful princess. She wore a very thin and lacey black bra from the waist up, and it barely contained her firm, high breasts.

Harry's hands roamed around her body and the young Amazon could feel her pleasure heighten, when they grazed underneath her breasts. It came close to cupping them in his strong and firm hands but not quite.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked.

"Better than okay, I'm amazing," Donna started and she turned around.

She was ready to face Harry fully, her nipples poking out from the other side of her bra and she was begging for attention. Her body wanted it, she lusted for something, and she hungered, her lips moistened in more ways than one.

Harry grabbed Donna and pulled his wife into a deep embrace, along with a passionate kiss. This much the young Amazon princess returned with equal hunger, her nails digging into his shoulder when she done so. She slowly worked his shirt off and smiled, running her hands down his abs. A satisfied grin flew over her face when she worked his muscles over.

The Amazon could feel him but she wanted to feel all of him. The kiss intensified and that caused her panties to get extremely wet and uncomfortable, with his hands roaming all over her body.

Suddenly, things peaked to the next level. It was only inevitable where they would go next.

* * *

><p>Donna was down on the couch, with a grin on her face, and Harry smiled when he looked towards the door.<p>

"You can come in Diana," Harry said and Diana entered the room, looking rather spell bound by the situation. To her credit, for the most part, she managed to shrug off her sister's condition, even though it was rather hard to do.

Diana walked in, holding her head high and bold and she stopped in front of Harry, hitching a breath that she held in for a little bit.

"So what's the deal?" Harry asked Diana, throwing the ball back into his court.

"I've talked to mother," Diana said and Harry smiled. "And she talked with the goddesses…"

"And?" Donna asked, she was nervous and she didn't really want to be left hanging in suspense and Diana looked towards her sister with a smile.

"Mother wishes to talk to Harry…..she got that permission, as for your fate….the goddesses are still trying to determine that."

Donna groaned, she would have been a lot more at ease with a flat out "no". The fact that this was hanging over her head like a well-placed pendulum right about to slice through the top of her head, she wasn't having a good time at it.

The goddesses sure know how to drive someone nuts. Donna sometimes cursed their very existence and she didn't feel bad about it at all.

"It will be okay," Harry whispered to Donna, and she got up, wordlessly pulling the clothes on. Harry turned his attention away from his wife towards her sister. "And….when did your mother say this meeting was going to take place?"

"She said that she would be fine with it taking place at any time that you're ready," Diana said and there was a moment where Harry's smile shifted.

"No time like the present."

* * *

><p>Harry smiled when he and Diana arrived at the edge of the island, allowing for the gateways to give them passage.<p>

"You are the first man who the Amazons willingly have allowed to set foot on this island," Diana informed Harry and Harry noted the emphasis on the word "willingly. He gave Diana a questioning look and she gave him a grimace when she thought about it. "It was before my time to be really honest…..a long time ago….."

"I see," Harry answered and he waited for Diana to lead him onto the island. The two of them crossed the threshold of the island and Harry was ready "So, is there anything else that I should know?"

"Just be yourself, and it will be fine, my sisters…..well they've had enough with men trying to deceive them with being something that they're not," Diana informed Harry and he turned towards her, raising his eyebrow towards her and she smiled. "Trust me when I say this…..there have been enough false people there to last a life time. They don't hate men. Well most of them don't, there are a few who take a more extremist view…..my mother manages to remind them often enough of the reason why we have established this island."

Harry walked onto the island, his shoulders raised high and proudly when he approached, there were beautiful women as far as the eye could see, lined up and down the island. Some of them were regarding Harry with curiosity. Some had not been present when men like Hercules had tried to enslave them; others had only seen men in photo books.

There was a few that had been allowed to observe Man's World but it was always from a distance. Diana was among the first who looked at things up close and personal.

Diana and Harry reached the royal guard, who stood before them at the gate, their jaws set when they looked at both of them.

"I'm here to see Queen Hippolyta, regarding my union to her youngest daughter, Donna Troy, allow me to pass, I mean you no harm, unless if I'm attacked," Harry said and they stepped back, regarding him closely.

Both sides engaged in an intense battle of wills with the other.

Diana wondered how they were going to react, Harry was sincere but at the same time, the Amazons looked as if they were questioning his motives.

"The Queen wants to see him straight away and the goddesses have allowed special permission on the island," Artemis told the other members of the Royal Guard, a warning in her eyes not to do anything to cause difficulties.

To cause difficulties with this would be akin to causing difficulties to the goddesses.

"Welcome Harry Potter, Queen Hippolyta has been expecting you, she will be with you momentarily," Artemis said.

"Thank you, Artemis," Harry said with a smile and the redhead nodded, with the other members of the Royal Guard speaking in hushed tones to each other, wondering what his intentions were. The Princess's unexpected nuptials were a cause of gossip that was unbecoming of the Amazons.

"Fall in line," Artemis told her guard and they nervously fell into line. She would not argue with the leader of their armies. "There's nothing to see here, do you hear me?"

They nodded their heads and Harry smiled, walking with Diana. The walk seemed to be far longer than it really is.

"Artemis helped train me, and…..they know better than defy her, unless they want to be used as breathing practice dummies," Diana whispered to Harry and Harry smiled.

"So, she's the best in the world at what she does….."

"The only person who can match her in combat is my mother," Diana told Harry and there was a small amount of excitement and a greater amount of pride bubbling from her voice at what was being told here. "And…here we are."

'_Oh Hera, help me,' _Donna thought. She didn't relish her husband meeting her mother.

'_I'm sure that it won't be that bad,' _Harry said with a smile to try and reassure his wife.

'_Harry is just meeting your mother, with your entire future at your home and your…..yeah that sounds bad, never mind,' _Kara said and Harry cleared his throat. Kara grew suddenly more somber and extremely serious. _'Seriously, Donna, everything will be okay, trust me….and…..I'm sure that your mother will understand.'_

Donna sighed; she knew that her mother would understand, in her own fashion. It was others that she wasn't so certain about. She had never directly interacted with the goddesses, but she could always feel their presence and she felt like she was underneath their judging eye.

* * *

><p>Hippolyta, the Queen of the Amazons, was an extremely beautiful woman that much could not be denied. She sat patiently upon the throne and looked down at her daughter and her guest when they both approached.<p>

"You may leave, I can handle this," Hippolyta said to both of her guards and they opened their mouths to protest their Queen being left alone. "I have learned much after my last encounter with a man…but…..not all of them should be tarred by the same brush, just like not all women should be given the benefit of the doubt, and false assume they have no wrong doing in their actions."

There was a couple of Skeletons in the closets of the Amazons, Harry had a feeling and Hippolyta shifted her gaze over towards Harry, and she beckoned him to come forward.

"Diana, you may stay if you wish, but close the door so we do not get disturbed," Hippolyta said and Diana walked over, closing the door behind her.

"I'm Harry Potter, Donna's husband."

Hippolyta recognized the name instantly and smiled.

"You're the one that Diana met as well, well you seem to have the ability to captivate my daughters," Hippolyta said and Diana looked at her mother.

"Mother," Diana hissed underneath her breath, making a cutting motion with her hands and Donna was snickering, even though Harry could hear her.

'_Well I was worried about my mother embarrassing me, but it turns out that I don't have to worry about that too much,' _Donna thought, barely able to keep the thinly veiled amusement out of her tone. _'At least I don't have to worry about being alone in that.'_

'_If your sister could hear you right now,' _Karen said and Donna smiled, she couldn't hear her, at least not yet.

As far as she knew anyway Diana wasn't figured into the bond yet. Diana wasn't one to remain silent so unless she was acting completely out of character. Donna was going underneath the very accurate assumption that she could not have been heard no matter what.

"Queen Hippolyta, it is an honor to meet a woman who has raised two wonderful daughters," Harry said and he gripped her hand, kissing it.

The Queen of the Amazons tried not to look fazed and only the observant would sense the brief shiver that went down her spine. Harry stepped back to allow her room.

"I trust that they're a reflection on you," Harry said to her and Hippolyta said.

"Yes, I hope that they are, but looking in a mirror such as that indicates that there might be some flaws with yourself that you haven't noticed," Hippolyta said with a sigh, but it looked like her daughters were both having better luck with men then she ever did, which was a plus.

"But it does underline the good qualities as well, doesn't it?"

"Yes, Harry, it does…..but we're avoiding this situation very badly," Hippolyta said and Harry sat down next to her. "There has only been two cases of Amazon Marriage throughout the history of the island and both….well they didn't exactly end well and were the reasons why the goddesses imposed the rule that Donna might have told you about."

"Yes, she told me about that, how anyone who got married had to have permission from the goddesses to do so," Harry said.

"The goddesses have not given their final word, but I'm thinking that they might be trying to get something out of the entire deal," Hippolyta said, crossing her arms together and there was an instant where she looked at him.

"So, the politics of the divine is causing this situation to lead to a huge headache," Harry said and Hippolyta responded with a prominent sigh.

"Unfortunately, that's what appears to be the case," Hippolyta answered, brushing her fingers through her hair and giving a long sigh. "Diana, would you fetch both of us a drink?"

"I'll do it, where are they?" Harry asked and Diana smiled but didn't say anything.

Hippolyta gave a shadow of a smile. "It is not a problem at all….."

"No, it really isn't," Diana said and Harry smiled at both of them.

"You two shouldn't have to get up in your home, and get something for me….."

Harry had a pretty good idea what game they were playing. To be honest, it was a very transparent game. He was going to score some points here because he knew how something like this worked. It took him a while but never the less he learned how to play the game.

"You're our guest though," Hippolyta said and she crossed her legs together and stared Harry down.

"But it's your island…"

"So we should be the ones to offer you hospitality," Hippolyta said and she got up herself, pouring the three of them drinks. "But, I would congratulate you Harry, because you passed the test…..but you already knew it, didn't you?"

"Pretty much yes," Harry agreed with her and the Queen of the Amazon situated herself down in front of Harry, lifting the drink to her mouth and she sipped it.

Harry decided to do the same thing and he felt a swelling of warmth fill his body once again.

"Worthy for a god," Hippolyta said, and she looked at her daughter knowingly. Diana agreed, but she was going to keep her mouth respectfully shut. "And for the record, I will say that under my authority as the Queen of the Amazons, you can visit the island any time, as should Donna."

'_Really?' _Donna asked suddenly and excitedly, and she tried not to seem too anxious.

"Your daughter is pleased with this news," Harry said and he proceeded to explain the situation to Donna.

To her credit Hippolyta listened extremely intently and didn't judge the situation.

'_I wonder what else that mental link could do,' _Kara thought and Karen smiled and focused hard, which caused Kara to be struck by a surprise orgasm.

The blonde shuddered and shivered completely, she thought that Harry was kidding when he described that particular function of the bond.

"Your hospitality is quite welcomed, Queen Hippolyta, but wouldn't the goddesses not be thrilled with what you're doing, by going over their heads?" Harry asked her and Hippolyta smiled.

"Well, I'll deal with them, and I've been meaning to have a few words with them," Hippolyta said. The entire Circe diabolical might have been avoided with the goddesses having been more upfront and then there was Zeus playing his bullshit games.

Then again half of Zeus's problems came from sticking his lightning bolt in the wrong place.

Hippolyta wondered what a meeting between Harry and Zeus would be like, he was due to be knocked down a peg or two. That being said, she smiled and took another drink.

"It was a pleasure to meet you Harry, Donna has chosen well," Hippolyta said and she gave Diana a smile again, almost prodding her into something or perhaps she was giving her some encouragement or a blessing. It was really hard to tell at this point.

* * *

><p>"So that went on about as well as I expected," Diana said, with a smile. "I've got a couple of things to take care of over there before I head back home."<p>

"Oh, no problem, I enjoy the company," Harry told her honestly.

"You know, it's rather cumbersome to get from the island and back this way," Harry said and Diana smiled at him in response.

"Not if you have an Invisible Jet," Diana said, and she stepped towards him, with the Amazons leading them off of the island. "But, yeah, that was just security reasons, plus you know, it's a taste of the faith and durability of the Amazons and all of that."

"So, do you think that you've passed that test?"

Diana smiled in response. "I think that much should be obvious, Harry."

"I'm glad that it is, and for the record, I have no doubt that you are able to pass this test, and pretty much any other test that you would have been thrown in your way," Harry said, grabbing her hand extremely firmly.

Diana was not that hesitant, rather she took it, and the two of them lifted up into the sky and flew, feeling the crisp sea air smack their face when they kept flying.

"So, flight, that's interesting that you're capable of it, or is this some kind of magic trick?"

"Well, that's an interesting story, and one that I want to tell to you later," Harry said with a smile and a wink. "I think that we should pick up Donna, because she'll want to see her mother and…"

"I'll escort her back to the island and if any of our sisters give her any static about what happen, they're going to answer to me personally," Diana said and there was a firm glare on her face, with her jaw completely set.

Harry hated to be the Amazon who caused Diana's younger sister any static with her on the case.

"With a threat like that, I doubt that any of them are going to try anything," Harry said and Diana smiled.

"Most of them wouldn't, but you'd be surprised about how brazen some of the Amazons are be, but my mother might be the worst of them all," Diana said and Harry laughed.

"You would have to be to defy an edict from the goddesses," Harry said and Diana smiled. "She said that they wanted something, that's why they were playing games."

"Hmm, I wonder," Diana muttered, and given the rumors of all of the flaws regarding some of the gods, she did wonder.

That was not the point now that was well beside the point.

'_Donna, honey, get ready, your sister and I are coming back and she'll take you home, your mother wants to speak with you,' _Harry thought and Donna sighed.

'_Well at least I'm too old to get grounded,' _Donna admitted in relief.

'_Never too old to spank though,' _Kara thought and Donna grew completely red.

'_KARA!' _Donna yelled in a mortified tone of voice and Karen interjected through the bond link, in amusement.

'_You know, the same goes for you as well young lady,' _Karen suggested and there was something suggestive about her voice and Kara yelped in surprise.

'_You know, I would pay to see that,' _Barbara thought but then she smiled and nodded. _'I'm on my way back from Gotham by the way…but I'll tell you when I get back how everything got, this is one of the things that I'd prefer to do face to face and not over the bond link.'_

"Sorry, I'm talking to the girls over the link," Harry said and Diana looked intrigued.

"Doesn't that…no offense, doesn't that get annoying to hear voices in your head like that all of the time?" Diana asked and Harry smiled.

"No offense at all Diana, and it might seem rather annoying at times, but I think that I cope with it well enough," Harry said, in responded with a shift grin. "Besides, I'm able to turn it off, or on at will whenever I choose to."

"And they can as well?" Diana asked and Harry smiled.

"Exactly."

The two settled down on the ground outside of the RAO tower and Diana was amazed by it. She had been by it a few times.

"So, if you ever have time, maybe you can swing by and go out to coffee and watch a movie," Harry suggested in the most nonchalant manner possible and Diana blinked, she was momentarily caught off guard by that suggestion.

"You know, I'd like that," Diana commented in agreement, she could barely keep the grin off her face.

* * *

><p>Barbara waited for Harry to return, after parting ways with the two Amazons.<p>

"So, what did your father have to say?"

"I won't say that he thought that this wasn't something he was pleased by, but he figured that whatever was done is done," Barbara said and she dropped her voice. "Then again, I'm pretty sure that there are a lot of things that I do that he might not be too pleased by, so a spontaneous Vegas marriage might rank surprisingly low on the list of things that I shouldn't be doing."

Harry nodded; Barbara filled him in on enough where he got the significance of this situation.

"My father doesn't blame you to it, at least I managed to talk him down from conducting a complete background check on your, as far as I know," Barbara said and Harry raised an eyebrow. She laughed and smiled, leaning forward to give her husband a nice soft kiss on the lips. "That's a joke, at least, I think that it is."

"Okay, if you say so," Harry told her and Barbara frowned, crossing her arms over her chest and she peered back at him, and she sighed. "But I guess that he still wants to meet with me."

"Really, that much is obvious, isn't it?" Barbara asked him and Harry smiled. "Actually, we're meeting in a friendly venue, with lots of witnesses."

"Oh, really….."

"I've got us tickets to the Haly's Circus, it's going to be in Gotham City for the next few days, with the Flying Graysons, the spectacular acrobats are manage to defy death without use of a net," Barbara said with a smile on her face. "And there's a sword swallower and….."

"Please tell me that there aren't clowns there," Helena said turning up and she popped up next to Barbara who turned over her shoulder in surprise.

"Actually that got cut for budget reasons," Barbara said and Helena relaxed, becoming more at ease and Barbara was curious to why she was reacting the way that she was reacting. "What do you have against clowns anyway?"

"Loads," Helena said, evasively stepping around the question, but the truth was after what happened in her world, if she didn't see another clown in her life, it would be all too soon.

"They're unnatural abominations," Harry said with a smile on his face and Helena nodded in agreement. "So are you coming or….."

"I've got to continue the Cobblepot investigation, and the only way that I can do it, is if I go into Gotham City," Helena said and she looked resigned to this point.

"Cobblepot…..you don't mean the…"

"We'll explain later," Harry said to her and Barbara frowned.

"But if you can explain it to me now, then I can help you now," Barbara said, her arms folded over her chest and there was a set expression on her face, with Harry staring her down and he smiled in response.

"I'll tell you about it once we get in the plane on our way to Gotham City….providing we're all going," Harry said and Helena nodded in response.

If she would have run into the alternate version of her father, then so be it.

**To Be Continued on September 26****th****, 2014.**

* * *

><p><strong>I thought that there were a lot of fun moments in this chapter, and some interactions. The scenes involving Harry, Donna, Diana, and Hippolyta obviously drove this chapter. <strong>

**It should be obvious why Helena detests clowns if you really think about it. **

**We're off to see the Circus. Surely nothing could happen there, could it?**

**Stay tuned this Friday. **


	21. Fallen Part One

**Chapter Twenty One: Fallen Part One.**

Some called the Circus the greatest show on Earth. Others called it a trainwreck and the exploitation of people. Regardless of what each and every individual person considered it as one thing could not be denied. The circus got a ton of people out there in droves.

Young Alexandra Potter relished the opportunity to get out and about and be able to see the Circus. It was one of the opportunities that she didn't have when she was growing up. Although to be fair, she was still growing up and enjoying some degree of a childhood. Even if those early years of her life were rather rough on her.

Still, she was glad that she got this opportunity, going out and about with Harry, along with Helena and Barbara.

"Oh, this is going to be so awesome, it's a shame that there aren't going to be any clowns," Alex said and Barbara and Helena both cringed.

Helena shook her head. She might have to work on educating this one about clowns and their evils later on.

"Well, I'm sure that there are going to be plenty of other things that will keep your interest, Alex," Harry told her and the young Potter female nodded, crossing her arms, when they made their way into the front entrance. Harry took this opportunity to lean in and talk to Barbara. "So, when is your father showing up?"

Barbara frowned. That was a really good question actually. "He said that he was meeting us here right about now, he's never one to be late you know."

"I know," Harry replied with a smile and he ran his hands over the top of his hair.

He reached in and grabbed Barbara's hand. He squeezed his wife's hand, holding it in tight to him.

Barbara hitched in a deep breath. She thought that she should be nervous. It wouldn't be too bad though. She was a grown woman, therefore capable of making her own decisions, both good and bad. She would fight this one to the death that this was a good decision.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked Barbara, nudging her.

"Well, I knew that we would have to face this one eventually," Barbara commented to him.

"We'll face it and we'll do so together," Harry told her.

"Not nervous are you," Barbara said, half teasing but she was half serious and also completely worried. But rather at ease that her father had witnesses around them, but really worried still. Then again she might be completely paranoid.

Okay, she was completely paranoid. Who could blame her though.

Harry gave his wife a questioning look. "No, I'm not worried…because I've deal with well worse than an overprotective father."

Barbara arched an eyebrow. That response only made her have another question. "Does anything faze you?"

"A few things, but I just go with the flow and see where life takes me and all that," Harry answered, and his face contorted into one of those smiles. His arms crossed together and Helena took a step forward.

She was taken aback when she nearly ran into someone in the Circus.

Of course, knowing her luck she would run into her alternate universe father, much younger. It was really jarring to see him in his prime. Especially with all of his limbs functioning and attached. She only saw pictures and that wasn't the same thing.

"Excuse me, I didn't see you," Bruce said in a jovial voice. He attached himself to one of those vapid model types that seemed to be hanging around Gotham City billionaires.

The type that always looked for some free-pubiclity, maybe some free money for all they knew.

"That's alright," Helena said, he was wearing the mask, but the mask kind of got blurred in those later years.

Batman started to seep into Bruce Wayne's life and her mother was the only one that could bring him down to Earth, but damn if her mother didn't have her own problems. Her mask flittered in and out often enough as well.

"You must be Harry Potter," Bruce said in surprise. He wasn't expecting to see Potter here but he was glad to meet him finally in person. "I've heard about your work and it's about time someone managed to loosen the Luthor chokehold over Metropolis."

"It's never easy," Harry answered with a smile on his face, looking Bruce directly in the eye and he walked over to shake his hand. "This is Barbara Gordon…..you may have met her father."

"Yes," Bruce said and he leaned forward. "I thought that I may have saw your father in the parking lot, Miss Gordon, he's on his way in."

"Great," Barbara said, not sounding so happy but if Bruce noticed, he didn't say anything.

"And this is my….."

"I'm his sister, Helena Potter," Helena said, side stepping the answer for Harry and Bruce looked at her, surveying the situation for a moment.

Helena wondered if he bought the story. There was a moment where she felt like she was getting scanned by some lie detecting machine.

"I can see the resemblance, but then again, I can see the resemblance between myself and Harry, but….a few of the less repeatable papers reported it as such, but I guess they have to get something right, sometime," Bruce commented with a light chuckle and Harry smiled in response but didn't really say much of anything. "But….."

"Twins separated at birth, I've heard the rumors trust me, they are pretty outrageous, aren't they?" Harry asked and Bruce nodded crisply at Harry's blasé response.

"Rather outrageous, yes," Bruce agreed and he faced Harry down. "But there are sometimes validity to even the most insane of rumors, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes, many times," Harry said and he saw Alex standing over the corner, pleading to be acknowledged. "And this is my cousin, Alexandra."

"Hi, Mr. Wayne," Alexandra said in a mostly respectful voice, even though she thought that he looked like a bit of a dork.

She had to be polite, even though it was kind of hard for her to be so. She only barely disguised wrinkling her nose up.

She could have sworn that Helena gave her a shadow of a smile before she turned away.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all…"

James Gordon turned up, looking gruff and Harry stared at him for ten seconds. He got a strange sense of Deja-Vu for some reason. He shook his head.

"Sorry, you remind me of someone that I knew in a past life," Harry said swiftly and he said no more other than that. "I'm Harry Potter….."

"Right, the boy that Barbara found in Vegas," Gordon said but then he realized that he was dealing with the Harry Potter, and was rather surprised. Barbara had a thing for him. Not that he spent too much time worrying about that. He didn't think that it would escalate to marriage though. "So…this is not the most ideal situation, but I had some time to think about it, and Barbara is eighteen and old enough to make her own decisions…..even if this was not one that I preferred to make…..so welcome to the family."

Harry saw Gordon extend his hand and Harry took the hand, shaking it. Barbara breathed a sigh of relief.

"You don't have any criminal records, do you?" Gordon asked and Barbara looked outraged.

"DAD!"

"No, I haven't even shop lifted a stick of gum," Harry said. He did once crush a toad with a falling cabinet.

That was purely out of self-defense and it was nothing that would really hold up in a court of law, as far as Harry knew. Considering it was also out of this universe's jurisdiction, Harry had nothing to worry about.

"That's good, Barbara has chosen well…..and you know, that look hasn't worked on me since you were six," Gordon said and he was sure that Harry was on the level.

'_So how much did you explain to him?' _Harry asked Barbara.

Barbara threw her arms up into the air. She figured that they were getting to this point soon enough but she didn't have to like the point that they were getting to.

'_I explained enough to him, if you must know,' _Barbara commented lightly and she could already feel a headache that was coming onto her.

The redhead female crossed her arms together and Harry placed his arm around her shoulders, pulling her in, which caused her to become a little more at ease, just a little bit, but not too much.

'_Okay, that's good enough for me,' _Harry said and he followed Helena, Alex, and Barbara up, they had some good seats to enjoy the show.

Harry didn't want to say anything out of fear of jinxing it. That being said, he hoped things fixed up to be a nice relaxing evening. He looked forward forward to a nice quiet night that would be devoid of any and all incident. That would be a nice and welcome change to the normal insane life he lived. He was ready to just kick back and enjoy the show and enjoy the events that would unfold for him tonight.

* * *

><p>The roar of the crowds could be heard outside of the Circus, as the preliminary acts warmed up the Circus. Everyone knew what they were here for, for the main attraction. The main attraction was presently standing backstage, waiting for their cue to go on.<p>

A young female of about eleven years old, with a long sigh crossed her arms over her chest. She had long dark hair and bright blue eyes, and she was slipping on her uniform. It was a red top with green shorts, and she looked and felt liked a total dweeb wearing it, especially out in front of all of these people.

She supposed that it went with the territory, but it didn't make her feel any less of a dweeb.

"Rebecca, honey, we're on in five minutes, are you ready?"

Rebecca Grayson pulled a face, looking about as critical of her appearance as a pre-teen girl might, even though she was a bit of a tomboy. She wondered if something like this was normal outside the circus. The young pre-teen guessed that she didn't.

She supposed she couldn't even use the excuse that she looked ridiculous because she was performing in the circus and being ridiculous was one of the key aspects of performing.

"I'm coming Mom," Rebecca said and she closed her eyes mostly so she didn't have to look at herself. Even though she looked and felt like a complete and utter dweeb, she was coming, and she walked out of her dressing room, where her mother was standing there, in a similar costume. The girl had to admit it. Her mother was able to pull off the look much better. "So, how do I look?"

"You look great," Mary Grayson said with a smile on her face and Rebecca stared at her mother.

"People are going to laugh at me," she said, placing her hands on her face and pulling a sour face. She supposed that things didn't look too bad in this dim of a light, but never the less, she shook her head.

"They'll be dazzled by what you do up there, to be worried too much about how you look, and besides…..our manager says that we needed a fresh look," Mary told her daughter and Rebecca grumbled underneath her breath.

"Maybe you should fire him, he obviously has no taste."

Mary patted her daughter on the shoulder in a consoling manner. Rebecca crossed her arms over her chest and gave an extremely prominent scowl but she didn't really say anything else.

"It will be over before you know it, and I'm sure that you'll look back upon this fondly. Perhaps you'll even enjoy it"

Rebecca shook her head in disbelief, the day that she walked around like this willingly would be a sad day indeed. That being said, she looked a lot more normally dressed than the rest of the circus.

"Your father should be right across the hall….why don't you go and get him?"

"Right, okay," Rebecca said, making her way across the hallway.

Rebecca was on her way to meet her father but something stopped her in her tracks She saw Mr. Haly, the owner of the Circus, talking to some fat guy. She never saw him before in her entire life.

"Tell you Haly, there's already been some faulty pyro tonight, it's a good thing that no one got barbequed," the fat man whispered to Haly. "You know, my boys and I can make sure you have the best equipment and you know….it wouldn't cost you much, say half of the gate receipts. I'm making you an offer, it would be a shame if something happened to anyone tonight."

Whatever this fat buy was selling, Haly wasn't buying. He waved a rough finger in the fat man's finger.

"Zucco, I told you for the last time, I'm not paying up your racket, and you better get out of here before I call the cops," Haly said and suddenly, the strongman exited his dressing room.

"There's not any trouble, is there, Mr. Haly?" the strongman asked in a rough Russian accent.

"No, there isn't, in fact, Mr. Zucco was just leaving, weren't you Mr. Zucco?" Haly asked and Zucco raised his hands in the air.

He'd pay up now and pretty soon Zucco would be running the circus, and Haly would be out on the street. That was how things worked in Gotham City. You followed a pecking order or you get smacked down.

"It'd be a shame if something would happen…"

Haly reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun, pulling out on Zucco. The mob boss was surprised at the stones on this circus owner and also really impressed.

"It'd be a shame if something happened to you," Haly said, holding the gun on Zucco.

"That thing isn't even loaded, is it?" Zucco asked.

"Stick around and find out," Haly said and the strongman took an imposing step forward.

"Yeah, don't say, I didn't warn you, guess you've got a stone heart Haly, and I'm just trying to protect these good people," Zucco said and he walked off.

Rebecca stood, as Mr. Haly and the Strongman moved to the trailer. She could have sworn that she saw Zucco pass something to one of the roadies backstage.

The Grayson girl felt a hand on her shoulder and she spun around. After what she witnessed, the girl tensed herself up. Her body relaxed, when she saw that it was only her father standing there.

"Rebecca, are we ready to go on?" John Grayson asked and the girl nodded. "What's wrong?"

"There was some guy back there…..he was demanding money from Mr. Haly….."

"Oh, I'm sure it was one of the agents, they're always out for a bigger cut of the cash, and it's the performers who get screwed," John said, not aware that he said the last part out loud.

Rebecca wished adults would take what she said seriously sometimes. It annoyed her just a little bit.

"He said that there would be….."

"Coming up next, doing their death defying acrobats without the aid of the net, ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for the Flying Graysons."

"That's our cue," Mary said and Rebecca stared down the hallway, the man was gone.

"But….."

"Becky, I'm sure it's nothing," John said, he needed to be of sound of mind when he was two hundred feet above the ground, without the aid of a net.

That really was less imposing than it was. He was up there countless times and never had a miss.

"It sounded….."

Mary grabbed her daughter, and the three of them made their way out in front of the crowd.

Rebecca had to focus on the performance out there, and all of the people, this was one of the biggest crowds that she ever performed in front of. Most of their performances had been in rinky dink rural towns and cities where the performers outnumbered the people. This was the big break for Haly's Circus in Gotham City, so everything had to go right.

* * *

><p>The Circus went on without a hitch, other than a pryo screwup that caused people to jump. No one got burned and everyone thought that it was just part of the show to add some color to it.<p>

Harry sat with a smile, with Alexandra pretty much balanced on the arm on the side of the seat, sipping on a soda, something that Harry was sure that he would regret, if she got wired later on.

"And now ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, performing their death defying act, without the aid of the net, ladies and gentlemen, the Flying Graysons."

There was a loud applause and Barbara looked on, she was curious to see how this worked. Either they were completely nuts, which was likely, or there was some trickery. Out of the two options, she found the option less likely.

Alexandra looked excited, on pins and needles at the excitement of what this act would bring.

"Are they really going to fly through the sky?" Alexandra asked.

Helena was skeptical and hated to burst her bubble.

"Well, maybe with the aid of wires," Helena said, ever the detective she was trying to see how this worked. The name Grayson seemed familiar to her somehow, but she couldn't really put that piece together.

Was it someone that she knew when she was younger? Perhaps but she gritted her teeth in frustration when her memory failed her. That happened at the worst possible time.

"Just sit back and enjoy the show," Harry whispered to his wife and Helena smiled, leaning back with a grimace.

She could see that her alternate universe father was sitting several rows down and about four or five seats to her right. Helena blinked, it was odd how she kept running into her ever so briefly. Selina Kyle sat there, although she was busy talking to another female and didn't really make eye contact with her.

"And they're off ladies and gentlemen, and an acrobatic maneuver where they've just defied a plunge that would bring everyone to their death."

The crowd went wild and Helena shifted after a second but then she saw that Selina slipped off into the ground. The roar of the crowd heightened at the insane stunt from up above.

"And the youngest Grayson makes it, it's unbelievable."

"No wires yet," Barbara muttered peering high from the sky. She blanched when she studied the rope in a critical manner. "That rope doesn't look very safe…."

Harry looked up suddenly, along with Helena looked up as well.

Barbara had a point, the rope that was hanging from the trapeze didn't look very safe at all, and the two adult Graysons were going to perform a death defying stunt.

"Oh, that was…"

The announcer stopped suddenly, when the rope gave way and creaked. The adult Graysons dangled in a death defying manner and they only had seconds to realize that their fate was doomed.

There were a few people in the crowd that cheered, thinking that this was all part of the show, and so did the circus hands that were watching from below.

"MOM, DAD!" Rebecca yelled and she could see the rope give away, her eyes widening.

Everything flashed before them and suddenly, both of them were down on the ground.

"Must have been a stunt double," said some loud mouth from the crowd and Rebecca turned around, upset.

She saw the same man who was arguing with Mr. Haly earlier slip into the crowd. He stopped when she spotted him. The man made eye contact with her for a second, almost committing her details to memory, before slipped off.

"Ladies and gentlemen….the show's over," the announcer said in a hushed voice, his bombastic demeanor being completely thrown off. If this was a part of the act, he was not let in on it and the medic that was on hand made his way to the ground.

"He's not moving, she's not breathing, someone call an ambulance, this is not a show, I repeat this is not part of the show!"

Gordon sat in the crowd, a night at the Circus turned into a murder investigation. Most people figured out really quickly that this wasn't part of the show and so they freaked up.

Harry and Helena exchanged a look and both of them were thinking the same thing, this was not an accident, this was murder. The real question was who did it? They looked up at the youngest Grayson who looked completely horrified beyond belief.

No one could blame her, she saw her parents brutally slain before her eyes.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe it, I can't believe it…..I tried to warn them….I tried to warn them…" Rebecca said and she tried to repeat this as a mantra, shaking her head.<p>

Her eyes widened when she saw the Circus cleaned up. She kept muttering things underneath her breath. Try as she might, she couldn't reassure herself that it wasn't her fault.

"Sorry, Miss Grayson, your parents died on the way to the hospital," one of the circus hands said in an apologetic voice and James Gordon was standing at the edge of the door, talking to a young Asian female officer.

"But….they didn't….." Rebecca said and she took a deep breath to calm herself.

It failed big time.

"It's okay, here take this," Gordon said, handing her a handkerchief to watch her eyebrow. "I'm Lieutenant James Gordon, this is Detective Ellen Yin….."

He pointed out the woman. The girl only barely acknowledge her, she was lost in a world of grief. Rebecca nodded, folding her hands over her lap and she sighed, it was rather frustrating what she was trying to say.

Especially given that she just learned that her parents had died and wouldn't be coming back.

"I tried to warn them…..there was someone out there…..with Mr. Haly…..and…..it was time to go out," Rebecca said and she looked like she was about to blue screen right then and there, she sighed completely. The eleven year old girl was buried underneath a huge amount of stress.

Yin frowned. "You couldn't have known….just calm down….it will be okay."

She sat down next to the girl and she nodded, still looking rather distressed.

"Has anyone seen Haly?" Gordon asked some of the performers.

"I did," the strongman grunted and he looked rather uncomfortable for someone who was so big and imposing. Gordon turned around to face him, raising a surprised eyebrow. "He was having words with Zucco…..third time this week….."

"Zucco….Zucco," Gordon whispered, suddenly he was racking his brain.

It was a name that he heard a few times. Not for good reason.

"What did they say to each other?" Gordon prodded.

"He told the guy to hit the bricks, and…well he left, and I thought that was the end of it," the strongman said, he didn't really feel that comfortable with that, given that it lead to the death of two people.

"Zucco….does this Zucco have a first name?" Gordon asked, he was pretty much putting two and two together.

If this was the same Zucco he thought that it was, things were going to go insane pretty quickly.

"Ah, I don't know, he never said, and Haly always said to drop the subject, saying that he was nothing like a pompous blowhard," the Strongman said and he felt really bad for the kid but shit like this could have happened at any time. It was just unfortunate that it had to happen in front of this many people.

"He was out there in the crowd," Rebecca said and Yin turned towards her. "I saw that guy and….he looked at me and he left….disappeared when all of the people were running around…."

"That could be a problem," Gordon whispered to Yin who nodded in response.

The fact of the matter was that if the Grayson Girl made eye contact with Zucco, she was the prime witness. Given who Zucco worked for that put her in a lot of danger. There have been grown men who have gotten hurt when caught in the middle of Maroni's business, and all indications was that this was the situation.

"You know she'll be in danger," Harry said, turning up next to Gordon and Gordon turned around to face him, with Barbara standing next to him.

"Barbara, you know this is an official police investigation…."

"I know that," Barbara said and she looked in her father's eye. "But you can't deny that Harry has a point."

Gordon sighed, he had a point, but that wasn't the point.

"I'm not denying it…."

"We got a witness," another cop said, returning from outside. "They said that they saw Haly get into a car in a hurry…..not sure if he went in on his own or someone picked him up."

Gordon knew that this situation was not as cut and dry as it might have seemed at first. At first, he assumed that this was some extortion racket. There was another angle he could consider. He wondered if Haly made some kind of deal with something that he shouldn't to get the Circus to come to Gotham City.

"File it as a kidnapping right now," Gordon told him and the cop nodded in response. "Yin, could you stay here and keep an eye on Miss Grayson."

"Yes, Lieutenant Gordon," Yin said, not taking her eye off the girl in question.

"We might have to put her into protective custody, and we need to keep wear underneath wraps…..because you know that if this gets back to the wrong person, the entire investigation will be….."

"I know," Yin said, she looked at Gordon and sighed. "Go do what you have to do…"

Gordon suddenly ran into Bruce Wayne when he was about ready to leave. Wayne and Gordon made eye contact for a second.

"So, what will happen to me?" Rebecca asked, and she couldn't believe this.

"I don't know sweetie…..but it's too dangerous to stay at the Circus," Yin said and Rebecca balled her fists up by her side and gave the Detective a challenging look.

"I can take care of myself," she said and Yin nodded.

"I know that you think that you can," Yin said and suddenly she saw Harry Potter hovering in the background ,along with James Gordon's daughter.

"If push comes to shove, I have a place where she can be safe," Harry said, and Yin looked at him.

"We won't rule you out," she said and she like many others was curious about Harry Potter. Then again, he did have that air of mystery. He did seem to be on the level without a hint of criminal involvement which was odd for someone so mysterious.

Alex sat herself down next to Rebecca and the girl turned towards her, and Rebecca looked at her.

"I lost my parents when I was really young," Alex told her and she sighed. "It's…..not easy."

"I can see that," Rebecca said and things were getting really awkward, because there was really no idea what they could say.

"And it must be worse because you actually got to know your parents and now you'll…..well you'll never see them again," Alex said and she frowned, wishing she could console the girl a bit better. "Harry told me that things might seem like they're going to get better but it's going to be hard…"

"I'll be fine, I can take care of myself," she persisted but she could see that there are people crowding around.

The person that took out her parents, killed them, he was out there somewhere. She didn't know where they were but she knew that they were out there.

She wondered if any of the adults believed her.

"Alex, are you ready to go?" Harry asked and she opened her mouth.

"What about….."

"Mr. Wayne has agreed to take her in, if that's fine," Harry said and Alex stared at Harry.

Rebecca was taken ajar about that. She honestly didn't think too much about her living arrangements. She was shell shocked about what happened.

"Um….I guess that would be fine," Rebecca said, she didn't know what to believe but then again, her entire world had been turned upside down.

It was something that she wouldn't get over any time soon. The dark haired young girl shook her head and tried to make sense of things that were very difficult to make sense of. One thing was for sure, she didn't really know what to expect.

Rebecca got up to her feet and Bruce waved her over to talk to her. She was so in a funk that she didn't notice Helena watching her closely.

'_She'll be okay, for now,' _Helena thought.

'_Will she be?' _Harry asked.

'_Yeah, Wayne Security actually is good, if the Manor is like anything in my world,' _Helena said.

The kidnapping attempts on her didn't work out too well for anyone. That was before her mother got her hands on the would be kidnappers.

Harry and Helena turned to each other, both of them had a lot of work to do tonight.

Looking over his shoulder, Harry saw a shady figure standing in the shadows. He raised his hand and caused him to trip over his face. After he got tripped off, the gun slipping harmlessly from his hand.

The GCPD's finest pounced on him suddenly and Yin watched, with her mouth opened.

"I better come with you, to make sure you get home safely," Yin told Wayne and he nodded.

Rebecca could see that she was this close to joining her parents and she know new what it was like to have her entire life race before her. Up hundreds of feet in the air, she felt safe, but down here, she felt really vulnerable.

* * *

><p>Tony Zucco sweated like a pig in the suit as he was talking frantically with one of his men on the phone.<p>

"What do you mean…someone was asking questions, well you didn't tell them anything did you?" Zucco asked and he shifted anxiously, he felt like he was going to have heart failure. This extortion racket wasn't going anywhere. "Well you better not have…..I'm not going to tell you where I am, do you realize that someone could be listening to this line…..yeah burn it all…..it looks bad enough as it is."

He intended to kill all three of the acrobats but he only got two of them and the brat saw him. What was worse, the guy that he sent to snuff her out didn't come back and he might have gotten caught. The clumsy bastard tripped over his feet and security would be picked up around her.

Then half of his men were taken out by a mysterious shadow. Zucco heard about the Bat, but he had dismissed the entire mess as a bunch of BS. Now this latest incident was too much to dismiss as any type of coincidence.

There was only one thing to do and that was call in a favor from the boss. Zucco didn't want to do it and he knew that Maroni was butting heads with the bird. Zucco could get a fuck less about that. He needed Maroni's help and he needed it now. The boss owed him a favor after he deflected the heat off of him for all of these years.

He dialed the phone, waiting nervously for it to pick up on the other end. It rang a couple of times and Zucco closed his eyes.

"What do you want, Zucco?" Maroni asked in a short tempered voice.

"How did you know it was me…"

"Oh, call it a dumb hunch, you stupid bastard," Maroni grumbled and his mood was really foul right now and Zucco wondered if he even dare ask. Maroni didn't wait for him to ask because he was ready to enlighten him on it anyway. "You've always been causing a lot of trouble with your games and you know what, I've had it about up to here with it all…I'm not in the best mood to begin with all that's going on. You just happened to drop a lot more shit on my lap."

Zucco thought that was unfair. He prepared to argue his face, even though he thought he just might be fighting a losing battle.

"Boss, I didn't….."

"Do you realize who just showed up at my club and caused me a fucking headache?" Maroni asked quietly and Zucco knew better than to respond. "It was the Bat….."

"He exists….."

"Yeah, all we need to do is confirm the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, and the Easter Bunny, and they can form their own rock band," Maroni said, his voice rather snappy. His hot temper boiled over to the surface. "Zucco, you're a useless son of a bitch, and you fucked up…..good thing that I was able to clear up enough of your loose ends…the Circus…..you could have gone for any other business…..but I guess that you have some affinity for the Circus."

"Why do you say that, boss?" Zucco asked curiously.

"Because you're nothing but a fucking clown, numbnuts," Maroni growled. He would have loved nothing better to bury a gun down Zucco's throat and unload the entire clip into his gut. "And you left a witness!"

Zucco prepared to defend that. The witness could be taken care of, he just needed more time.

"Just a kid….."

"A kid that was talking to one of the cops in Gotham City that we can't put in our back pocket, and you could kill her now, but that would really raise suspicion on us, so guess you fucked that one up," Maroni said and Zucco continued to sweat. "If the Bat comes knocking down your door, then…..well I can't be held responsible for anything that might happen to you."

Zucco's heart pounded harder and he was really getting closer to having that heart failure that might push him over the edge. He breathed deeply and managed to calm himself down.

"You didn't tell him where I was, did you?"

"I know that you look it, but I'm not stupid," Maroni fired back, frothing at the mouth a little bit. "But anything from here on out, that's on your head, and don't be surprised if he's come knocking at your door any second now."

That put the fear of god in the rotund mobster. Zucco looked in the corner with shadows moving and he nervously twitched, his breath knocked out of his body. Maroni hung up, obviously not having a very good day.

"There's nothing there, nothing at all, nothing to worry about," Zucco said and he clutched his hands around the desk and pulled out a shotgun.

He would shoot first and ask questions never, anyone who came through this door without knocking.

* * *

><p>It was back to the Circus for Huntress and Arcane. They were here on a mission. Both of them prepared to look for that one piece of tangible evidence that would lead them to the person behind this.<p>

'_I don't even need to tell you who is behind this,' _Helena thought.

There was only one rat who could do something this brutal. The fact Rebecca survived in the first place was an accident. She was alive but not okay.

'_We know it's Zucco, you know it's Zucco, but we need to find him,' _Harry thought and Barbara chimed in.

'_Right, I'm running background checks on the guy, he has a few aliases, and he's been one step ahead of anyone who tried to track him…..someone in that shape staying one step ahead of anyone….'_

Barbara allowed the snarky response she had regarding Zucco running.

'_He had to have help,' _Helena commented calmly and that was something that was agreed to by all.

Harry activated a little device in his mask that allowed him to do a quick sweep of the area around him and there were people who were lurking around and it wasn't just cops.

He repelled to the platform where the Grayson's did their act. He didn't know what he found but he scanned the area.

Helena kept watch on the ground and she saw someone lurking around in the shadows. She pulled out a throwing dagger and threw it at him.

It caught his sleeve in the curtain and Helena walked over, pulling him into the light.

"I'm just a roadie…um….what are you doing here?" the guy asked, whimpering, having the air of someone who got his hand caught in the cookie jar.

Harry didn't buy his story for a moment. He smelled a huge line of BS from a mile away. This guy reeked of it.

"Some roadie, aren't these guys a made of a bit more stronger stuff?"

"Alright, I get coffee for the main acts," the young man said, his bravado failing really correctly. "Job doesn't pay that much, but it helps put me through college…"

"It might not pay that much but someone else could have slipped you something underneath the table, you have access to all of the areas of the Circus, including the rafters," Arcane said and the many flinched. "Does the name Tony Zucco ring a bell?"

"Zucco….Zucco…..I never met the guy, I swear," the circus hand said and he was sweating profusely.

His pain only was about ready to begin when Huntress repelled him up to the rafters. He screamed like a little girl when she dangled upside down.

"Think of what the Graysons felt when their rope was about to give way, think about what you'll feel if my hand slips, and think about what their daughter saw when her parents dropped to their doom," Helena whispered and she dangled the hand above.

"I swear…."

She was holding onto him by his coat sleeve and pulled him up.

"I found a can of gasoline back there where he was, it seems like someone was trying to get rid of the evidence, so he didn't get implicated," Arcane said and Huntress dangled her prey upside down and he whimpered.

"Please….please….Zucco just told me to replace the ropes with a different kind of rope, I thought…I thought it was going to be okay."

"You knew exactly what you were doing," Huntress said and she let him drop.

The circus hand screamed and Harry casually waved his hand, causing a net to fall at the last possible second.

He breathed in and out. He thanked God, he would have thanked anyone for not being a big splatter on the ground.

"Next time, you fall without a net like the Graysons, so tell me exactly what was happening."

The threat of death caused the man to sing like a canary.

"Right, Zucco was willing to fund the circus, take it to new heights, but Haly….he decided to go back on the deal…and he wanted to send a message…."

"You knew what you were doing this entire time, didn't you?"

There was another figure that loomed in the shadows and Huntress turned around to face him. She had forgotten that particular version of the costume.

"So, you're on the same trail, aren't you?"

**To Be Continued on September 29****th****, 2014.**

* * *

><p><strong>Business is about to pick up here.<strong>

**There are a few characters that are changing genders to female. Why? I'll give you the simplest and most direct answer that I can. Because. Just because I'm the author and that's what I want to do. There is no reason more sinister and convoluted than that. **

**I did enjoy how Rebecca came off. I actually thought about including Dick in there too, as her twin brother, but he would have been offed with his parents. Maybe I should have. I would have had people out for my blood, and I don't think that I can kill off Mr. Grayson. He's one of the few male characters that I like in comics and one of the few that I might ever consider doing as a lead, other than Harry(who isn't technically comics, but I consider him a DC character, and I've given She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named full dominion of the Harry Potter series. That's obviously what Rowling subconsciously wanted, but I've had that rant before), Clark, Peter, and Conner. **

**Unless I use a male OC, which I might as well just use Har-Zod to begin with anyway. **

**Yin's cameo is just that, unless something changes. **

**I did enjoy Maroni and Zucco's interaction and how that came across. You can tell that Sal is pissed. This leads to a cross city gangwar that's really not a main plot, but mostly something going on in the background that will be reference from time to time. One could argue that there's always a gang war going on in Gotham City of some sign.**

**Special Monday chapter for Part Two, because I had to switch the schedule around. **


	22. Fallen Part Two

**Chapter Twenty-Two: Fallen Part Two. **

* * *

><p>A true meeting of the minds were about to take place. Huntress and Arcane came face to face with the one and only Batman. He reached up and placed his arm around his wife.<p>

This meeting not only was inevitable but to be honest, Harry expected it to happen sooner or later and he could tell from his wife's body language, she expected the same thing. The stage hand tried to get away but he was not having the best of luck, especially with an extra set of eyes.

"Yes, we have," Huntress said calm and cool as could be. Her arms rested over each other underneath her chest. She knew why he had vested interest, but it would be wise to not let him know that she knew.

Any reaction that she could have, it would let him find out and that wasn't what she wanted to deal with. The blue eyes of the Huntress locked onto the steely gaze of Batman.

"You're a long way from Metropolis," Batman said, turning over towards Arcane with a calm expression on his face.

Helena almost forgot how territorial her father could be. It had been an extremely long time.

"Figured that I'd drop by, considering that there was a gross injustice that happened in your part of time," Arcane answered in his most icy tone and he was not about to back off. Batman could play that Alpha Male game all that he wanted.

He wasn't going to win it, not against Harry anyway.

'_Oh boy, clash of the titans right here,' _Barbara thought, and the fangirl in her was excited to see what was going to happen but the crime fighter in her bitch slapped the fangirl back into line and made her stay focused. They had an extremely important investigation to deal with.

Helena could sense Barbara's amusement and very nearly cracked a smile. Emphasis should be put on the nearly part. She kept herself in line. She wondered what the World's Greatest Detective would have to make of this.

"He says that someone called Zucco paid him to change the ropes," Arcane explained, trying to get a sense of what was going through Batman's head.

It was obvious that Batman was in the same mind as him. That made things just that much more easier. He didn't believe this guy's story at all and the Dark Knight Detective's steely gaze flowed over the man, who backed off, with a long and prominent gulp.

"Tony Zucco, he was one of the chief members of the Maroni mob, in fact he was Maroni's second in command," Batman said and Arcane blinked.

"Note the past tense."

"Word is it that they had a falling out, with Zucco's extortion racket causing Maroni more problems then he would have liked," Batman said and he didn't smile, he didn't give any indication that he had anything to do with these problems.

It was something that was understood.

'_Oh you know that he's ran into Maroni more than few times, left him hanging, guy might have a couple of teeth missing…he's said to be away on business at least right now, but I can dig deeper into that,' _Barbara thought and Harry smiled.

'_Would you, thanks, I need to know the type of people that he might be in bed with, so I can figure out how to wrap this up.'_

Barbara did just as she was asked and dug deep into the Maroni files. She was confident that she could find something interesting that would push this investigation to an entirely new level.

"So, he doesn't know much of anything, he was just a tool, I'm surprised that Maroni didn't have him diposed of yet, or Zucco didn't….." Helena said but Harry put his hand up.

'_Spoke too soon, I think,' _Barbara said and she could see what they saw.

Batman was already gone as quickly as he started.

'_So, is this how everyone else sees me?' _Helena asked and Karen smiled.

'_Yes,' _Karen thought, enjoying her sister wife's annoyance at the sudden disappearing act of the World's Greatest Detective because the shoe was finally firmly on the other foot.

That being said, there was something that was happening in the shadows and there was a thump, where two men fell to the ground.

'_Well, service with a scowl,' _Kara thought, she could see why any of the criminals would fear Batman, he didn't mess around.

"So, the Circus left town early, I see," one of the thugs said, trying to make small talk but Batman wasn't having it, he smashed him into some pieces of wood. "Hey, watch the face, you know, the chicks did that…"

Batman nailed him hard again and made sure to hit him directly in the face.

"Talk, what were you doing here?"

"Looking for Zucco…..he might have been around tying up this loose end, and there's someone high up that wants him tied up after he….."

The thug got silent but it was too late, Batman jumped on his statement like a rather intense shark smelling blood.

"After what?" Batman asked and the thug shivered and he opened his mouth, and one could argue that he was intensely brave or insanely stupid for ignoring Batman when he gave him a direct inquiry.

Huntress watched, she wouldn't have felt sorry for this thug, but she almost did. She knew that Batman wouldn't kill him, no matter how much the bastard deserved it. That would have broken his code, the same code that got him in trouble.

She supposed that it wouldn't matter anyway. The thug might have died from heart failure when he was dropped from a certain height and then pulled back up.

"Well you see…..this entire Circus thing…..well you know it's a Circus, and the boss he doesn't want any of those loose ends hanging around and Zucco is a loose end…..and so is the old man….but I don't know….he might already be in the harbor by all I know, all I know that he isn't here, is he?"

Another thug tried to get up. He couldn't get away with anything. Huntress knocked him out with a spinning back hand punch and caused him to crumple against the wall.

"You're welcome," Huntress said, and she held her crossbow on the thug, grinding her heel into his chest, drawing a little bit of blood.

'_And to think that I might have be the tame one out of this entire crew,' _Harry thought and he shook his head in amusement.

'_So that's kind of scary, isn't it?' _Karen asked but never the less, Barbara had hit the jackpot.

'_I might have an idea where Zucco might hide out, at least the general area,' _Barbara said and she fed the information to Harry so he could share it for the entire crew.

It was as viable of a location as anything else, what did they have to lose? Harry smiled, when they set out to hunt down Zucco.

The bastard deserved to fry for what he did and there were a few other things that he deserved to go down for.

* * *

><p>Zucco felt like the hunted, and he was trying to get to the car that was waiting. His mind was running a million miles a minute. His mouth ran even faster. The larger man could be seconds away from having a heart attack.<p>

"This is nuts, the boss threw me away like a cheap tissue and…now this," Zucco said and his hands were sweaty.

He had heard that the Bat was nosing around a lot of places. Even though it had been two days since what happened, he already felt like he aged about twenty or so years. He tried to keep his breath from being lost. The mobster's ragged breathing continued to heightened and he shook his head. Nuts didn't even begin to cover what he felt.

"Okay Tony, easy does it, you've been through worse, you just got to go under ground…make sure you get all of that in the trunk," Zucco said and he knew when he was moved into the bunker, he would take these goons out.

They were pretty disposable. Some of the might have been competent. He had enough to go under ground for about six months. Hopefully by then a gang war would break out as they tended to do in Gotham City and Tony Zucco would have been able to worm his way back into society, at least that was the idea.

Whether or not he would succeed in any way shape or form it remained to be seen. There was a lot going against him. The rotund mobster knew that much.

"What the fuck is the hold up?" Zucco growled underneath his breath.

"Boss, there's something wrong with the transmission, the car won't start," one of the boys said and Zucco cursed his luck.

Of all the dumbshit rotten luck, he would have to have a piece of shit car that wouldn't start when he wanted it to start. He might as well just lay back with the gun in his mouth and pull the trigger right now.

Zucco picked up his cell phone. There was more bad news coming on through. His contact at the GCPD said that he was wanted.

The stooge that he paid off squealed on him and backed up the kid's eye witness testimony. He also hinted that if the wrong cops found him, he wouldn't be heading to prison, he would be heading to the morgue. Maroni must have sent the word that he was a liability and for the cops in his pocket to take action.

'_The boss really is pissed off,' _he thought and he should have skipped town after the Circus but everything that went wrong, did in fact go wrong. His heart raced again.

"Did you fucking get that fixed yet?" Zucco asked and he looked through the bushes.

BANG!

He unloaded a round into a bird, boy he was jumping as fuck. His hands shook madly and his palms got extremely sweaty.

'_That son of a bitch, I swear if I ever have a chance I'll….'_

BANG!

That wasn't for Zucco's end, the man who was fixing the transmission had been knocked over and suddenly, his other bodyguard turned around. That was his final action before he got hit right in the chest. He had no chance against the man who shot him.

That was his cue to run on foot. Despite the adrenaline that was pumping through the veins of Tony Zucco, someone of his size, he didn't run too far or too fast. He was panting, bent over clutching his chest and wheezing. He couldn't catch a breath and therefore he couldn't really catch a break. It seemed like no matter how far he ran, there was someone who was right behind him.

They were practically up against his ass. The man who had been dubbed Fat Tony cursed himself for not losing a few pounds.

"This is bullshit," Zucco spat, and he looked around, pointing his weapon with a completely shaky hand and shivered. "Show yourself, show yourself you son of a bitch."

He knew that this was the bat and he could see one of his bodyguards down on the trail, bleeding from the chest.

"Sorry, Zucco, but we got to tie up the loose ends."

Zucco was about ready to fire back, but his hand was shot, causing his gun to clatter to the ground. His entire life flashed before him when he cursed his luck.

"You brought down things that you couldn't imagine on our own house…when you disrupt the family business, you hurt the family. Your racket was fun but you got too greedy and it doesn't work when money doesn't get put in my back pocket."

Two more shots plugged Zucco and the man could barely breathe now. A third shot to the heart brought him down.

"Make sure that his body is found, want this to serve as a message that we're not to be fucked around," a man said, stepping out of the shadows. He was wearing full GCPD SWAT gear, and his two companions were wearing gear. "Clear out the car, and his little shack, I want it burned, we don't have much time….."

The SWAT had had been hired out to do a little job for one of their chief benefactors nodded. They spread out, leaving Tony Zucco on the trail. The lead SWAT member lifted his gun one more time, his face in the shadows and one bullet connected to the back of Zucco's head.

One could never be too careful in circumstances like this. The mobster bled on the trail completely and without a question deceased.

* * *

><p>Had Arcane shown up about ten minutes earlier, he would have seen what happened. He would have caught who did it.<p>

The only thing that he saw was a burning car. It looked like some beaten down rust bucket. Someone tried to fill up things really fast.

He shielded himself and the other two with him from the explosion. The nasty smell of gasoline filled the trail.

"Someone got to Zucco before we did," Batman said, taking a step forward and sure enough, barbequed human remains could be spotted at the end of an extremely beaten trail.

The smell was really overpowering and it made Harry sick to his stomach and he could handle a lot.

'_So do you think it was the mob or the GCPD?' _Helena asked Barbara.

'_I don't know, if it was the GCPD they must have done this outside of their frequency, so they're learning,' _Barbara thought but she hacked into the computer of the lead SWAT commander, and she managed to recover a deleted e-mail sent to him from Salvatore Maroni. _'Not well enough…'_

"There's Zucco," Helena said and Harry slowly turned, to see Zucco nailed to a tree, his arms and legs spread in the crucifix position.

He was dead before they even got there, and the bastard was hung up to dry like a martyr. With the number of times he had been shot, there was no chance for survival at all.

"So, they didn't want anyone to get to Zucco," Harry said and he brushed his hair back out of his eyes and sigh.

'_So, what about Maroni?' _Barbara asked.

While Batman couldn't hear the mission support that Harry had for obvious reasons, he did manage to come up with an appropriate response. "Maroni's gone, he's out of Gotham City, until the heat is gone."

Helena looked at her alternate dimension father with a calm expression on her face. "Where do you think that he could have gone?"

"He could have gone as close as Bludhaven, he could have skipped the country completely," Batman said in a nonchalant voice and they both nodded.

Harry thought that any theory could be potentially viable, at least in his opinion they could have been.

"The only thing that matters is that he's not here," Harry replied and he wanted to have another look around because there was something about this entire crime scene that was unsettling. "It was the SWAT."

"Unsurprising," Batman said and Harry could tell that he had dealings with the SWAT.

'_There's a seven figure bounty for any SWAT member that brings in the Batman, dead or alive, but his face has to be intact enough to figure out who is underneath the mask,' _Barbara thought and she sighed. _'If only they put that much effort into going after the criminals, Gotham City would be a lot safer place.'_

'_Maybe,' _Harry thought, although he was skeptical about it. Then again, it was criminals who were posing as law-enforcement going after a would-be vigilante.

One could debate until they were blue in the face about who was in the right about that one. Regardless of who was, one thing was for sure. There was a distinct case of misplaced priorities.

'_Well, that might be cynical but I guess that you're right,' _Barbara thought, her father, god bless him, was able to do a lot but he was only one man.

There were other good cops on the force, but a good cop can become a bad cop in one cruel instant. It was just a matter of finding the right price tag to entice them into doing something.

'_Of course, I don't like it any more than you do,' _Harry thought and he could see Batman scanning Zucco's remains for anything out of the ordinary, morbid as that might sound.

He needed to slowly build up a case of what he could find.

Therefore the mental communication really worked out well to be honest.

"He fired at least one shot," Batman concluded when he had got the data that he needed.

"I'll check the medical records," Arcane said and that was obviously Barbara's cue to go in.

'_Oddly enough no gunshot admissions in the hospital for the last eight hours,' _Barbara thought, which was strange. _'Then again, that isn't really an indictment for anything, given that whoever he shot….if he shot anyone, could have went completely off of the grid.'_

'_I'm sure that's possible,' _Helena said, they were running around in circles.

"Zucco's death isn't the end of this all, he was merely a loose end that Maroni needed to tie up," Batman said, looking towards Arcane and Huntress.

He didn't really work well with others but given that they were involved in this situation, he figured that it was common courtesy to tell them what exactly was up. Or at least what he thought was going on here.

"Yes, I'm aware of that," Harry answered, placing his hand underneath his chin and looking extremely thoughtful at what was going down.

He was about ready to ask a question but Batman was gone.

And that was just as well because the sirens of approaching police could be heard.

'_If he's gone then we should be as well,' _Helena thought and she smiled. _'Thank you for your help Barbara…..we'll meet you back after a little bit….we need to go pick up Alex and it's back on the plane to Metropolis….if you're willing to go with us.'_

'_Hey, I have a job open at RAO, so I think that I might have to stick around, besides I want to learn about the system that I was unable to hack, and make sure other people don't try,' _Barbara thought.

'_Using your evil skills for good, I guess that I approve of that,' _Kara said.

Zucco was left nailed to the tree, an unsettling scene to leave someone. They were sure that the police would find him like that and would have their own explanations. Even if it was painfully obvious that someone on the force gunned him down and left him like that.

* * *

><p>"You didn't really do that," Rebecca said, her mouth opened.<p>

Alex found herself annoyed by the indignation of the other girl and called her out on it.

"I did…..I don't even know why you're surprised, you spent half of your life above the ground on the high wire, so why wouldn't it be possible?" Alex asked.

"But how did you make the jump?" Rebecca asked and Alex smiled, shrugging her shoulders. The two girls were sitting around Wayne Manor, with Alfred hovering in the background.

Normally a butler might not be the best security. Unless you consider one fact and that fact was this butler was packing a couple of surprises, like a shotgun and some military training. Therefore one could argue that Alfred was some rock tight security.

"So, Harry is your….."

"Cousin, can't you tell, we have the same green eyes," Alex said and Rebecca shook her head.

"Well, he's interesting, I guess….." Rebecca said with a shrug of her shoulders and suddenly, Bruce came up from the stairs. "So, you're back from your meeting?"

"Sorry about that," Bruce commented when he showed up. "But…..I was talking to the GCPD…Lieutenant Gordon informed me that the man who killed your parents…..he was found dead."

"Oh….." Rebecca said not knowing what exactly to say. She had a feeling that saying that this was good might not be the best thing, no matter how much he deserved it. She turned to Alex. "Did the guy who kill your parents…"

"Yes, he's all gone, and so are his followers," Alex said and Rebecca raised an eyebrow. "He was a cult leader."

Rebecca nodded, she supposed that made sense.

"I understand that the only family that you have left is your great aunt, but she's getting on in age, isn't that correct?" Bruce asked and Rebecca nodded in response. "So, if you want to, you can stay at Wayne Manor for the time being. The GCPD prefers that you stay in Gotham City until the investigation on the murders is considered closed."

"Really?" Rebecca asked, she was overwhelmed. Sure her parents provided for her, but this place was so big. Her entire house that being the trailer that they stayed in, could fit in Bruce's study alone and still have room enough to spare.

"I think and I'm sure that you're agree that it would be far more dangerous to go back to the circus after that…..but again the choice is yours…..and maybe you should think about it for a little bit and get back to me," Bruce said but it was obvious that Rebecca already had made up her mind.

There was a knock on the door that caused both girls to become alert.

"I guess, that's my cue to go," Alex said and she turned towards Rebecca, giving her a warm hug. "But the two of us….we're going to have to stay in touch."

"Yeah, I'd like that," Rebecca said, she was barely able to keep the smile off of her face at the thought of that but she shook her head.

She never had a pen pal before, and Alex jotted down her address, to hand to Rebecca. With that done, it was time to go. She parted ways with her, and saw that Bruce was already talking to Helena and Harry about something.

"So, it looks like she's going to stay here…..yes, I know that you said that you might take her in, but given that the investigation is ongoing, the GCPD wants her to stick close to Gotham, but with Zucco gone, things should be much easier," Bruce said and Alex ran into Harry, with Harry scooping her up, not being fooled by one second by the yawn that she tried to stifle.

She draped herself onto his shoulder as he held her up by one arm.

"Just let me know if you need anything," Harry said and Bruce looked at him.

"I believe that I got it all covered….."

"Monetary wise perhaps, but there are some considerations that money might not be able to handle, just know, that if you need help…"

That was about as direct of an admission as Harry was going to give and Helena turned towards him, questioning him.

'_So, he was going to figure it out anyway sooner rather than later, they didn't call him the World's Greatest Detective for anything,' _Harry said and Helena nodded in response, she would have to concede to that point.

'_But did you have to push the bread crumbs directly underneath his nose like that?' _she asked him and Harry smiled.

'_Well not really I didn't, but I figured that if we need to work together and we will because there's a gang war going on…..I think if I gave him that big of a hint, he knows,' _Harry said, his statement getting misdirected upon the way.

'_I'll be keeping a close eye on her, because I know the type, she's going to want to be a part of that world sooner or later, because of what happened to her parents,' _Helena thought. _'She's only there as a temporary measure though, but…..'_

'_Temporary can mean a long time when the wheels of justice move slowly, but I'm sure that we'll be seeing a lot of her regardless,' _Harry thought, when he looked at her. _'Bruce got an upgrade in security without knowing it, whether he likes it or not. At least for as long as Rebecca has to stay in Gotham City.'_

'_Oh, I'm sure that he'd be thrilled that you went and did that behind his back,' _Helena thought.

'_You know, I don't care,' _Harry thought.

'_What about Maroni?' _Helena asked and Harry smiled at her.

'_Guy looks to be a slippery one from what I can find out but he can't hide out forever, we'll flush him out of the sewers like the snake that he is,' _Harry thought.

Really he wondered how deep this went and whether Maroni would be clipped by someone. It seemed extremely likely that he could eventually.

Time would only prove to be the judge of that.

Barbara was waiting for them outside of the drive and she could not help but keep a grin off of her face when the two of them approached her.

"So, are you ready to go?" Barbara asked and all three of them nodded.

"Depends on if you're ready to go yourself," Helena said, with a smile.

There was no need for the group to rush. The best thing about having their own private jet is that they didn't have to wait around for a flight to happen. They could leave any time.

"I just have to pick up a few things from my apartment, and I'll be ready to leave," Barbara said.

She had thought about moving away from Gotham City for a while. This spontaneous Vegas marriage thing just sped up the time table a little bit more.

There was someone that said that no one ever permanently leaves Gotham City, well unless it was inside a bodybag. Morbid thought was extremely morbid but never the less, Barbara was on her way ready to leave for a brand new adventure in Metropolis.

She didn't think that she would lack any excitement, especially with the company she kept.

* * *

><p>Speaking of people who had business to take care of in Metropolis, Salvatore Maroni exited the vehicle, wearing sunglasses with a fake wig. He looked rather absurd but that was the idea. He needed to get across this city without a business meeting.<p>

This city had their own vigilantes to worry about. He knew that much. None of them were shit your pants quality like the Bat was. Although there was less of a revolving door system in the prisons in this city, and most certainly not a place like Arkham.

Getting away from those Arkham nutjobs for a little bit also made Salvatore think that the change of scenery would be the most ideal. He needed a vacation from the likes of them.

"I'm here to see Mr. Edge," Maroni whispered and the young secretary nodded.

"He's waiting for you, sir," the secretary said, being in this line of business she knew a little bit about discretion.

Maroni took the long walk up the stairs, he would have thought that someone like Edge would have sprung for an elevator by now. He did have money, third only to Lionel Luthor and Harry Potter in this city.

That being said, Maroni knocked on the door and impatiently he waited for it to be answered. The door creaked open and a rather fairly fit for his age man with silver hair, dressed in a pinstripe suit and holding a cane answered it.

"Maroni, come in, and shut the door behind you," Edge said and it was obvious this particular man was not in the best frame of mind and he might have had his own problems. "Have you heard about what's been going on….."

"I heard your boy Mannheim's been having trouble dealing with the bird, and I've had my own trouble dealing with him and then there was the Toyman thing…"

"The Penguin is in talks with Lionel Luthor, and that could prove that Intergang's days in Metropolis might be numbered…."

"Ah, but you're an institution, in Metropolis and I thought that Mannheim got his hands on a lot of Star Wars shit…"

"I don't know, I heard the rumors but Mannheim has sworn to me that it's a bunch of BS and I had some men look around and I believe it," Edge said, he wouldn't be surprised if Ugly Mannheim pulled one little double cross. The man was ambitious enough to try.

Even though his next residence would be in a ditch when Edge took him out but the bastard would try, he knew that much.

"Oh, well I'm sure that he might be saying all of the good things. I don't know about that, someone like that, he's bound to screw you….."

"You took care of Zucco didn't you….."

"Torched all the evidence Edge, the Bat already knocked down my door…"

"I have my own problems without someone who runs around in a Halloween costume, thank you very much," Edge whispered and his voice was extremely raspy when he spoke.

He had been smoking for years, several packs a day and it showed. It wasn't killing him any faster than working in the mob.

"Is it….."

"Don't worry about it, Maroni…..but we should consider increasing our partnership with each other, because the longer that we wait, the more that all of our enemies get together and muscle us out…."

Maroni waved his hand frantically, interrupting that man. "Hey, I don't have any designs on Metropolis, so you don't have to worry about me."

"And I'd rather stay out of Gotham City," Edge said and Maroni chuckled.

"Best business decision that you could have made, Morgan," Maroni said and he looked at the media mogul by day, and crime boss by night. "So, what do you think that we're going to have to do?"

Edge picked up a huge cigar and lit it. His eyes focused on Edge when he took a long drag from it and looked thoughtful.

"We're going to figure out how to clip the bird's wings and Luthor…..well he has skeletons that can be exploited," Edge said.

"Sounds like you worked with the guy in the past," Maroni whispered and Edge nodded, but he didn't say anything and he wasn't going to go much beyond that.

* * *

><p>Barbara Gordon made her way up to her room in the Penthouse that was hooked to the RAO tower and she whistled swiftly, her eyes growing as wide as saucers.<p>

"Really, this is all mine, isn't it?" Barbara asked and she looked like a kid that had gotten a great gift on Christmas morning.

"You know, you seem so excited, but yes all of this is yours," Harry said and he briefly gave her the grand tour. She would find her way around everything in a matter of days. "And anything else that you need, don't hesitate to ask."

She saw the state of the art computer lab off to the side of her room and Barbara thought that she moved into the right place.

'_Don't you owe us an apology,' _Donna thought.

Kara giggled in response but Barbara folded her arms, glaring at both of her Super Best Friends Forever through the bond link.

'_What do I owe you two an apology about?' _Barbara asked, even though she knew where this was going and she knew that neither of them would allow her to hear the end of it for as long as she lived.

'_You know what you owe us an apology about,' _Kara said and she grinned in response. _'Hey, Donna…..would you like to do the honors, or should I….'_

Barbara sighed, she knew that this was coming and she knew both of them would never let her live this one down.

'_Fine, Vegas was a good idea, I was wrong, are both of you happy now?' _Barbara asked in amusement.

'_So you met Barbara's father, Donna's mother and sister…..all that's left is to take a trip to Smallville to meet….well my cousin and adopted mother,' _Kara said with a smile on her face.

'_Call ahead and see if it's okay for dinner this weekend, Saturday to be clear about things,' _Harry responded, figuring that worked into his plans quite nicely.

Kara gave her husband a mock salute. She had her own room in the tower as did Donna and Harry had a lot more bedrooms where that come from.

And Donna and Kara made it their mission in life to make sure Harry filled each and every one of them. That was their goal anyway, but that might be more of a long term project than anything else.

"So, I guess that everyone needs a hobby," Harry said, catching the tail end of Donna and Kara's conversation.

Both of them laughed in response.

"Those two need one that will get them into less trouble, you know," Barbara answered, and she shook her head, grinning in amusement, with Harry wrapping his arm around her shoulder. She kind of shivered a little bit when he pulled her in close towards him.

"Alright?" Harry asked and Barbara smirked.

"Amazing," Barbara responded and she shifted herself against Harry. "So…..you gave Donna some one on one time earlier…."

Harry ran his hands over Barbara's shoulders and that caused the redhead to flow into a land of lust and carnal desire. He was teasing her a little bit.

"Well, I think that after that crazed drunken orgy….."

'_You say that like a crazed drunken orgy is a bad thing,' _Kara answered and Barbara smiled.

'_Well, I don't think that Harry is saying that it's a bad thing, are you Harry?' _Barbara asked, looking at him with her bright eyes.

Harry smiled when he continued to run his hands over Barbara's shoulders, skimming it and caused her pleasure to heat up a little bit.

'_Never say that something like that is a bad thing,' _Harry answered, his lips curled up in amusement but he didn't say anything else other than that, when he continued to run his hands over Barbara's shoulders, causing a bit more desire to spike through her body. _'Okay?'_

Barbara responded by turning around and kissing Harry. She knew that she wanted but she wondered if she was going to get a lot more than she bargained for.

That being said, she was excited for the experience never the less.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on October 3<strong>**rd**** 2014. **

**This chapter wraps up the story arc and the gang war arc continues in the background.**

**Zucco got plugged by people who obviously didn't want him talking. **

**Some things that are set up as we transition our way into the next arc. And what a way to end things during this one as well. See you on Friday. **


	23. Settling Back In

**Chapter Twenty-Three: Settling Back In. **

* * *

><p>After that side trip to Gotham City and earlier Vegas, Harry thought that it was good to be back in Metropolis for a few days. Things had calmed down a little bit. The sales of the Red Sun phone hit a huge peak and Lana was there with the latest numbers.<p>

"Well, we can't keep them on the shelves, and in fact, we might not be able to keep them into the warehouse for much longer," Lana told him and she was positively beaming at the sight.

She never thought that things would go this well. She saw them going pretty well but she never saw them going this well.

"We're going to have to do something about that, you know," Harry said with a smile and despite moving up in the world, Lana still had a vested interesting in continuing her duties as PA even though that was far beyond her station.

"Well I've got a couple of locations scouted out, and that will open up several new jobs…..and a few of them are located in Smallville," Lana said and she looked at him with a grin on her face, that Harry didn't miss at all.

"Are you sure that you don't have a different motive….."

"Well my main motive is helping the RAO corporation grow, but there are a few properties in Smallville that could be snatched up by LuthorCorp, but you can bring jobs back into the community and cause a lot of good people to be able to keep their land," Lana said and it was almost like she was giving a personal sale's pitch.

And she said it without taking a breath which made things that much more impressive.

"She does drive home a good point," Helena said, making her way into the room and smiling at the proposal that Lana had drawn up. She thought that this type of proposal would be best for their growing business. "We're going to pick up these properties fairly cheap."

"But at a more generous deal than Luthor will who is trying to buy them out for a fraction of what they're worth and now that the banks are closing in before the end of the year, he's going to pick them up for dirt cheap," Harry said without missing a beat or taking a breath.

That was as equally impressive in its own right.

"We can keep these people who own them in their homes," Lana said, it was obvious that this was something that she had a lot of passion for. "And I'm sure that many of those people would be valuable assets for the RAO corporation in general."

"I don't think that you needed to twist my arm about this too much and it kills two birds with one stone you know," Harry said and Lana smiled at him.

"It does, and we did discuss this a bit and Smallville after what Luthor pulled is an undeveloped area," Karen said joining the meeting with the four of them.

She was kind of in a downer mood because one of the scanners picked up a spike of energy off to the distance. It got her hopes up because when something like that normally happened, she assumed that it could have been Patricia. Unfortunately, when she checked up on it this time, it was nothing except for a dead end.

"Well, I guess that we need to put the papers in order…..and oh, I have a thing to solve your other problem…..well technically it's my problem as well," Lana said and she smiled. "And don't get me wrong, I appreciate the opportunity that you've given me and I don't mean to be ungrateful but…."

"Lana, you're not being ungrateful, after all you've done, I should have given you a big raise and a corner office," Harry said and the redhead grinned at him, enjoying the praise that he gave onto her.

There were times where a person's hard work did feel appreciated.

"Well, I wouldn't be opposed to it…"

"Maybe after Christmas, Harry said with a smile and a wink and he walked closer to her. "But anyway, you were going to tell me something."

Lana tried not to get sidetracked about this, taking a moment for Karen and Helena to walk down the hallway. Neither stayed around for the meeting for too long. "Yeah, I have someone who…"

Kara popped into room at this moment and interrupted Lana after a second and Lana closed her eyes.

Harry chuckled in amusement. "Yes, Kara, what is it?"

The blonde stood there, with a smile on her face, a pair of glasses on, and her hair was pulled in a ponytail. She was wearing a blue blouse, a black jacket, and a black skirt along with stockings and high heels. She looked like a miniature version of Karen, other than for the obvious reason why she looked like a miniature version of Karen.

"Martha wants to know if six on Sunday is okay?" Kara asked and Lana smiled.

"Sunday and Monday as well are completely cleared up, and besides on Monday we can finish acquiring those businesses," Lana said, she didn't want to pressure Harry.

At the same time, the lease round out at the end of the month and the last thing she wanted was those properties to get into Lionel Luthor's ill gotten hands and put more money into his already overinflated pockets. That was her worst nightmare come true.

"Six on Sunday is great…"

"Great, you can finally meet my cousin," Kara said and she smiled, throwing her arms around Harry and the two of them exchanged a kiss.

"I'll get that," Lana said, and she chuckled. She was going to have to find someone for that personal assistant job sooner rather than later. Not that she minded doing it.

Still she had a lot of things to do and she could use a break with her work responsibilities being eased up just a little bit.

She had a friend that might be able to do it for the meantime, before Harry found someone else, but someone of her capabilities would not be in the personal assistant role forever.

Of course, Harry was bound to attract attractive women who were far too overqualified. He was the only male in the RAO building right now. Lana knew his reasons or at least what he gave as his reasons. She accepted them and didn't pry.

Lana answered the phone, leaving Harry alone with Kara for a few seconds.

"Lois called, she wants to know if you're still on for Wednesday afternoon," Lana said and she looked at Harry, with a smirk on her face, a knowing one and Kara looked really amused at this.

"LL girls have a thing for you, don't they, Harry?" Kara whispered, running her fingers through his hair.

"If you say so," Harry said and he turned to Lana. "Tell her that I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Harry could tell that both Lois and Lana were plotting about something. He didn't know what. He could tell but he could plot with the best of them as well. The grin that filled his face was one of grand amusement. They would see who the master was sooner or later.

"What are you up to anyway?" Harry asked Lana and Lana smiled, trying not to look too guilty.

"I don't even know what you could ever mean, Harry," Lana said and she walked off to check on something.

Kara drifted off during the meantime and Harry thought that he had an eventful next few days ahead of him.

Then again, when was his life anything but eventful?

* * *

><p>"So what do you think?"<p>

Karen looked at Kara, who was modeling the costume, it was a sleek black that shined in the sunlight, with a shining "S" that doubled as a shield that surrounded around her body for radiation. The custom also allowed her to fly out in space. The black skirt flowed down past her thighs, showcasing some lovely flesh, and the black boots and the clasp on cape was a nice touch.

"I actually like it, black and silver is your color," Karen told the blonde and looked her over, which caused the younger blonde's cheeks to flush a little bit when Karen looked her over. "It suits you a lot actually."

"If you say so," Kara said, she bit down on her lip in frustration with Karen looking her over and she shook her head.

"Take a look in the mirror and look at yourself, and see how good you look in that costume," Karen said and Kara turned around and she looked herself over.

The younger blonde gave herself a critical eye as she looked herself over. Her criticism relaxed when she felt every single inch of the fabric wrap around her body. It was a nice fit for her, every inch of her skin exposed like it was.

"I really do look awesome, don't I?"

"Yes, you look ready to kick ass, like a true heroine," Karen said and she could not help but shamelessly stare at her younger counterpart's ass. Kara turned towards her and folded her arms, giving her older counterpart the evil eye. Karen's shoulders shrugged and Kara tapped her foot. "Sorry, I couldn't resist."

"I'm sure you couldn't," Kara said, leaning her head down and pacing back and forth, before she struck a pose. She just wanted to see how one of the standard superheroine poses looked in the camera.

Okay it looked like of cheesy, so a costume only did so much. Her hands on her hips like that, she looked like she was posing for a wedding cake or something. Or for some kind of statue. She just hoped that no pigeons flew by.

The blonde frowned deeply and she offered her own honest assessment. "I guess that I'd miss the red and the blue….."

"But you look so much better in this one, plus this costume is built to absorb the yellow solar radiation a little bit better," Karen said and she slowly ran her hands down Kara's stomach in response and she smiled.

"I guess you have a point," Kara said and she looked at the cape, it was for decoration in her other costume.

This time it served a more practical purpose, one she was distracted because of her older self rather shamelessly feeling her up.

"The criminals won't be able to keep their minds on killing you when they see your coming," Karen said, and she played with Kara's cape.

"Hey, don't tug on my cape," Kara said, with a grin on her face and she smirked. "I'm pretty sure that's a rule, isn't it, not to tug on a heroine's cape…look it up, I'm sure it exists."

"Honey, I'm sure that you're right," Karen said and never the less, she played a little bit with Kara's cape. It was too much to really resist.

"Costume is a little bit loose fitting though, I guess," Kara suggested, shrugging and Karen smiled knowingly.

'_Wait about a year, you won't be saying that,' _Karen said to Kara, but then again she might have a different metabolism. Karen was on Earth while Kara was in Stasis in Argo so there were a few changes.

So she didn't know how her growth rate would be. It was a different chart of progression.

"So everything works well, maybe I should give a little test flight around the city just to make sure though," Kara said with a smile and Karen waved to her, telling her to go for it.

"Open window's right there."

Kara knew that, she learned her lesson about not flying through a closed window. Granted, she could not get hurt. There were a lot of people who got pissed off in the process of her shattering their window. As much as that amused her, that was something that she was trying to avoid.

Harry showed up at that instant and watched as Kara showed off her new costume. The young man watched his young blonde wife model it, with a sultry grin crossing her face when she spun around in front of the mirror. She then flew out towards the open window, ready to get her costume a more clear test run.

"So, she's enjoying her new costume, isn't she?" Harry asked.

"Alex got dropped off at her lessons?" Karen asked him and Harry smiled and nodded.

"Yes, and she's making good progress, I think that if I learned that much about my powers at that young of an age, I wouldn't have to had re-learned everything later on, without the stupid stick," Harry said and Karen grinned when she turned her attention away from Kara towards Harry.

"You really do have it out for wands, don't you?"

Harry's smile with slight but it was obvious as well. "What gave that away?"

Karen shrugged in response, barely able to keep the obvious grin off of her face. "I don't know, just an obvious hunch, maybe it's just me though."

"No, it's not just you, trust me on that," Harry said, running his hands through Karen's hair and the blonde smiled at the attention that she was getting. It went without saying that she always enjoyed any attention that she would get from Harry, made her feel rather good about herself to be honest. "The things are an annoyance that if I had a chance, I would never have to deal with them ever again."

Karen's grin didn't move from her face and she nodded. Kara returned after a brief spin around the city in her costume.

"Sorry, just had to deal with a couple of people who were trying to break open a…."

Harry kissed Kara, catching her by surprise. His mouth pressed onto hers and she opened her mouth to allow his tongue access. It was a welcome surprise. The blonde's mind went completely numb with the pleasure. Harry worked his tongue deep between her lips, down her throat and she returned the kiss with an equal amount of fire. She ran her hands down the back of Harry's hair.

"I think it's time for some bonding," Karen said and she ran her hands down Kara's young body. "Won't be the first time that someone had sex with that suit on, but it will be your first time."

Kara could feel the heat rise between her legs as both Harry and Karen teased her. It was time for all of them to have some fun.

* * *

><p>"So feeling that no time has passed, was that a surreal experience for you as it was for me?" Karen asked Kara and Kara responded with a slight shrug.<p>

She really didn't have that much time to think about it since the time that she got back to Earth. Now that she was here, she did.

"You know, at least you made it to Earth, I didn't really have that consideration you know," Kara said, rolling back her shoulders and sighing.

"Well, sometimes I guess things like that don't pan out quite as we like," Karen said and she turned towards Kara. "Your cousin has been off world a lot."

"Lot of responsibilities, but the Fortress is going to keep my mother nice and safe until then," Kara said, and it went without saying that her cousin took a lot of responsibilities by choice. There were a lot of people who needed saving, that much was for sure and that was something to be admired. At least in Kara's opinion it was.

"Well, maybe we'll meet your cousin when we go to Smallville on Sunday," Harry said, amused, with Kara reclining lazily on Karen's lap. He frowned when he came to an unfortunate conclusion based off of his search for Patricia. "But there are a lot of dimensions out there…"

"So, there are a lot of different versions of me, but some of them might not be heroines," Karen said.

The infinite number of possibilities interested her. That would be another project for another day.

"We got to collect them all," Kara said with a grin on her face and Karen watched Harry's expression with great amusement. "I don't mean versions of me, I mean all of them…..as it all of the useful, attractive, and powerful women."

"Well, everyone needs a hobby," Harry said and Barbara could not help but chime in through the bond link.

'_And a very time consuming one at that, although with those time dilation spells that you have, I guess that it increases the potential to multi-task,' _Barbara thought and there was no way that Harry was going to disagree with that. _'Any way you can divide yourself in two and cover twice the ground?'_

'_Actually come to think of it, that's a work in progress, and once my powers get up to an optimal level….' _Harry thought to himself.

"Wait, there's an actual spell like that," Karen said and she brightened suddenly, the perverted possibilities for something like that were endless. The blonde's eyes flashed with mischief as she could not wait to try them out.

"It's not really easy to pull off, but yes, you can create solid holographic copies that are hard wired into the nervous system of a person," Harry said to her and the blonde responded with a crisp nod, looking him over. "And yes, I will feel everything that the duplicates feel….give that I'm an extension of their personality."

"Again, the possibilities are endless," Kara said and Karen grinned in response.

"I was just thinking the same thing, you know," Karen said and she sighed with a smile. "Great minds think alike."

"Or at least perverted ones do," Kara said with a wide grin and Karen smiled.

As much as this enticed her, she had to be focusing on something else that was just as important.

"Guess that works out pretty well as well," Karen said and she leaned back in the seat that she was in. "But we're getting off the subject….."

"I'm edging over half if that's what you want to know," Harry said and he waved his hand, levitating a practice dummy and then he put a flaming spear through its chest, causing it to burn to bits.

Kara's eyes followed the impressive progress of the spear. What Harry told her slowly struck her. "Wait, that's half…"

"But I can get tired if I'm not careful, although I can pull off some of the more high end spells with a bit less difficulty now," Harry answered and he sat next to him. "Of course, most of my magic these days is tied into my stamina."

"Oh, I get where you're going with this one and that's the proper application of magic," Kara said and she shook her head. "Besides, why would you build all of those high power suits and never get a chance to use them? Just seems silly, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does," Harry agreed and he peered at Karen who shifted rather intently when she looked at him and the sigh that escaped her mouth added. "But powers can be useful, if only you know how to apply the properly and know when not to rely on them."

"And if you can kick ass without them, that just gives you more options," Karen said, after being on the old Earth without her powers for the last few weeks, she stepped up her game in her training.

"Things are a bit quiet today, aren't they?" Kara asked out of the blue.

"Yes, and that makes me worried," Harry said and he had his eyes on the scanner for any of the other Cosmic blips, as did Karen.

At first, it looked like they were like a dog chasing their tail, with no purpose, no destination. They were just chasing after false hope. That changed the more often they happened.

The more that they looked at these things, the more that they realized that they could have something to them. At least that's what Harry's thought was.

"You would worry about something like that, wouldn't you?" Karen asked, shaking her head in amusement and grinned but she had her eyes peeled as well.

After three years, they didn't give up hope but also after three years, things seemed to be rather much a long shot.

That being said, this was one of those lazy Friday afternoons and everyone was getting ready for the weekend. This weekend would be one that Harry would look forward to for quite some time.

"So, you'll finally get to meet my cousin," Kara said, it was almost like she sensed what Harry was thinking, because she kind of did.

Harry smiled knowingly, deciding not to say anything to Kara. He was going to let her assume what she wanted to assume.

The three of them looked forward to their trip into Smallville this weekend and for Kara, she had been away for a couple of weeks. Her cousin must have been extremely busy not to know about what happened or had been determined not to confront Kara about it yet for some reason.

Or some combination of both really.

* * *

><p>"Thanks for having us over Mrs. Kent," Harry said, with Kara, Karen, and Lana making their way to the front door.<p>

An attractive redheaded woman in her early forties greeted them at the door with a smile on her face. She looked to keep herself extremely fit, although the farm life did do that for a person. Especially with all of the added responsibilities that she had since her husband died of a heart attack eighteen months ago, it was his third and in some morbid way, the third time was the charm.

"It's a pleasure….and it's Martha," she told Harry sternly and she smiled, looking more approachable. "Kara, welcome back…and…..well you did make a good choice, I was afraid when I heard what happened that…"

Martha tried not to be too critical of the girl. She was young once upon a time.

"That I married someone who wouldn't be the type that I could bring home to you?" Kara asked and Martha smiled. "This is Karen…..she's my older sister…..the one that's from another universe."

Martha looked at Karen suddenly and she placed exactly who she was instantly.

"I've seen you in the news," Martha said, shaking hands with what was obvious an older version of Kara. "I had to admit that the resemblance was uncanny but I never expected that…..well it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise as well," Karen said and Kara followed Martha into the kitchen, to talk to her about something and that left Lana, Karen, and Harry alone with each other.

"It's got all of the touches of home, even after all of these years," Lana said with a smile on her face. It was good to be here back at this farm house. "And this is one of the pillars that should remain standing in Smallville…..I mean Smallville wouldn't be Smallville without the Kent farm, wouldn't it?"

'_No, it wouldn't,' _Kara agreed with a smile on her face and Harry walked inside.

"Is there anything that I can do to help, Martha?" Harry asked her and she smiled at him.

She appreciated the help but they were her guests. She would feel bad if they spent their visit working themselves silly.

"No, but thank you for asking, it was almost ready when you were coming here," Martha said with a smile on her face.

It had been a rough last couple of years for her and really for a lot of people in Smallville. Not to mention the meteor infected that had been a recurring problem in the city seemed to escalate despite the best efforts of certain people. Some of them died because of their powers, some of them disappeared, likely to be used as future tools for the government, while only a few were able to live great lives, beyond the stigma of their fellow meteor mutants.

"Things haven't been the best here in Smallville for a lot of people….."

"So Lana told you, didn't she?" Martha asked and Harry smiled, with the woman in question joining them in the kitchen and given a very obvious guilty as charged look on her face. "But yes, things aren't really the same here in Smallville after everything that has been happening…..and I hate to put a down note on your visit by bringing that up."

"We're going to expand into Smallville," Harry informed Martha and she smiled.

"Let me know if I can do anything to help," Martha said, eager to hopefully help make a difference in a town that she called home. After all, she knew most of the people here and was quite fond of a few of them. Real salt of the Earth people but they were going to be bulled over by the Luthor tornado that was threatening to run them down if they were not careful.

Lana snapped her fingers. She should have been able to see that a useful person was right here that could help.

"Actually, I believe that Harry might have a job for you, if you want it," Lana told Martha and Martha raised her eyebrow.

She had stayed on the farm, mostly out of respect for her late husband and it did seem to be one of the few stable landmarks that were around in Smallville. Plus as she said, it was really home.

"Just assisting me with getting things together in the expansion towards Smallville and also if you have anyone in mind that might be useful in helping us move into the community and keeping jobs in the community," Harry said and he smiled when he ate the food. It was delicious, the most delicious that he had ever tasted in his life come to think about it. "Oh, this is really good."

"Thank you," Martha said and she paused, taking a large bite which caused her to think about what she wanted to do. "To do something like that…I might have to leave the farm behind."

That was something that she regretted more than anything. It wasn't as strong of a regret as it would have been before. That being said, anyone who was able to see the despondent look on her face understood how much she regretted it.

"You're just barely breaking even on the farm, aren't you?" Karen asked and Martha was caught with a frown on her face.

"Yes," Martha said and she hated to admit it. It was just frustrating for her.

She expected a bit more in her life than just breaking even. Perhaps that was just her, however. Something that seemed like an ideal life when she was twenty something seemed like an less ideal life when she was forty something.

"You don't have to leave it all behind, in fact, one couldn't discount all that has been brought to Smallville thanks to the Farm," Harry added and Martha would have to agree about that fact. "But, Lana's moving up with a promotion."

"Congratulations on that, dear," Martha said and Lana could not help but smile.

"And if you want to take her old spot as my personal assistant…..she tells me that you're more than qualified," Harry said and Lana turned towards her.

"You are capable of a lot more than being on this farm, I always thought that you were," Lana said and she leaned towards Martha. "Just think, you could bring a lot of business back to Smallville….all you need to do is…"

"You know, I think that I might just accept that job," Martha said and she was confident that she could do some good. Lana had been working hard trying to make sure that Smallville was not going to be a town that was mastered by Lionel Luthor.

"Just think about it, and get back to me, whether or not you choose to, but I'd be happy to have you on board," Harry said, and he looked around. "Will Kara's cousin be joining us any time soon?"

Martha sighed; she wondered when this point would be brought up.

"Got caught up with something, but I'm sure there's always a possibility," Martha said and they made some light conversation.

* * *

><p>Kara informed Harry about a mysterious set of caves that was about Smallville. After learning that news, the young man's curiosity was such that he couldn't wait to check them out. Especially considering that they resembled the origin point for the castle and the Lair, so that gave him even more reason to enter the caves and take a slight peak.<p>

It was a bit of a trek but Harry didn't mind that. It would make the journey even more worth it when he arrived at the destination.

That being said, Harry could feel the power that was bathing in from the caves and approached the area.

Karen and Kara joined him a few seconds later, and both of the blondes smiled.

"Have you ever been in here?" Karen asked Kara and Kara shook her head in the negative.

"No, I really haven't been in here," Kara admitted, but she decided to correct that matter right here. "I think that the legend has it that this cave was made by a powerful goddess who came from the sky and could shoot fire from her eyes. It was also believed had super natural powers and some day she would return."

Karen looked towards her younger counterpart and Kara just responded with a light shrug and shook her head. "That's how the story goes anyway…..don't know how true it might be, it's just that's how the story goes."

"I see," Harry muttered but never the less, he was looking around the cave. It did look rather simplistic all things considered but looks can be deceiving.

"It could have been a Kryptonian outpost from some long time ago…"

"Well it allows a portal to created to the Fortress, which I can't access because I haven't been keyed in properly," Kara said, frowning.

She wished to slam her hands down on the set of rock. The blonde pulled back her angry impulses and just settled herself down on a set of rock.

"This place though, it's amazing," Harry said and he scanned everything. So far it appeared to be nothing but a few old runes around them.

"Careful," Karen said and she grabbed Harry's hand and he looked over his shoulder towards her with a slight grin.

"What?" Harry asked her.

Kara was curious as well. Karen reminded them all of something.

"You know that you and Ancient Runes don't get along all that well," Karen remind him and Kara's eyebrow perked up a little bit.

She had to admit that she was curious. Especially when you factored in the death glare that Harry gave Karen. Something that she didn't back down from at all.

"What's the story with this?" Kara asked Karen and Karen leaned in to tell her about it but Harry decided to explore before she had a chance to.

The runes, if they ever had any power in them, weren't there anymore. He ran his hands over the wall, thinking that there might be a portal, just like the one in his set of caves but he was not able to find anything.

Perhaps all that this set of the caves did was allow an easy access point to this Fortress of Solitude, wherever that might be. Harry continued to run his hands over the caves. He tried to mentally lock on to some kind of energy. There was absolutely nothing and that was bad news for him.

He was about ready to give this entire thing up for a lost cause but he frowned and looked over his shoulder.

He shifted a bit of the rock in the wall and he saw a crystal jutting out of it. It was a small fragment and it had the letter "Z" carved into it, in a crude manner.

Harry could sense that the crystal had some kind of familiarity to it and he reached his hand around the crystal, shifting it against the wall.

"What's in the name of Rao…."

"There's something back there," Harry whispered to Karen and Kara and both of them approached the wall, their mouths hanging open in surprise at what they saw.

"You're kidding me, right?" Karen asked and Harry shook his head in negative. "Wow!"

"Yes, wow, but I wonder what could be back there," Harry replied and Karen frowned in response.

"There's really only one way to find out, isn't there?" Karen asked and she placed her hands on the wall.

For a second she felt silly because nothing happened. Then something did, the rocks cracked apart and a blinding illuminating glow caught them off guard.

It allowed them a spiral staircase and Kara watched, she nearly fell over in response. The crystals blinked to life, illuminating their pathway down there. Harry dipped in front of her to lead the way down the steps.

"Okay, do Kryptonian crystals do what they're doing?" Harry asked and Karen was confused but Harry was happy to clarify. "Do they call to me like they're calling to me right now?"

Karen frowned. She couldn't hear them calling. If Harry said that they were calling, she believed everything that he said.

"I don't know," Karen admitted, that was some uncharted and unique territory for her.

The further they took their treck down, the more Kryptonian these caves looked. It was an amazing sight.

"Knowledge crystals," Kara whispered, her eyes following the progress when they scattered over the floor.

"But are they the good knowledge or the bad knowledge?" Karen asked and Kara shook her head, shrugging her shoulders.

Harry could see that the stairs ended at a certain point and there was a bit of a drop off. They could fly back up easily, so they dropped down.

"Nice soft landing, that's always a good sign," Kara answered and Harry placed his hand on her shoulder and smiled.

"Yeah, but…"

The trio paused and they could see more of the crystals lined up in the wall in slots, almost like they waited for Harry to approach them. At the edge of the row of crystals, they spotted something interesting, or rather someone.

Harry heard a strangled whisper in a language that he somehow recognized on a subconscious level and took a step forward, to investigate the source of it.

Needless to say, it proved to be enlightening in more ways than one.

**To Be Continued on October 7****th**** 2014. **

* * *

><p><strong>Oh, poor Lana she keeps missing her opportunity.<strong>

**I continue to tap dance around what I think should be obvious at this point. But for those who don't think it's obvious, I'm enjoying making them sweat. And potentially pissing people off who have got what was going on and I keep dragging it out. **

**It should be interesting to see if people can figure out the caves or not. Could be wrong, could be right, we'll find out sooner rather than later. **


	24. The Bridge

**Chapter Twenty-Four: The Bridge.**

* * *

><p>It was a bright day in Metropolis, a few weeks after the adventures in Gotham City took place. The ongoing Maroni investigation had been stone walled and Zucco's death had been ruled to be a gang dispute internally. The reason why was that the GCPD was behind the man's death.<p>

Business was booming rather well at the RAO Corporation and Harry couldn't be more happier. Especially with the new assets that he acquired recently.

"So, Martha agreed to do the job…..I figured that she might be interested in doing it," Lana said when she walked up the steps to the RAO building with Harry. "And I have to say that the trip to Smallville might have been one of the most intriguing on several levels."

The discovery Harry made would be testament to that fact. He couldn't even begin to feel how amazed that he felt so he wasn't going to really describe it. The two of them made their way to one of the larger offices.

Lana decided to jump in with a question that she had burning on the tip of her tongue. "So what are you going to do….."

"Well it's been down there for a long time, so I'm going to keep it safe and secure until I can move it, but I've already been researching ways about how to bring Kara's mother back to life, so this should work out just as nicely as a means to help me with that when I have access to the Fortress," Harry told Lana and she nodded in response. "And all of the deals that we made….."

"It was a good trip," Lana said, smiling. It was one of those take out two birds with one stone type of things. They helped Smallville and several small business owners, in exchange for expanding the RAO corporation, and a lot of people would not be losing their jobs or their land in response.

"I'm glad to see that you approved of the trip."

Harry mentally racked his brain for all of the things that he needed to do and there were a few more things that were left to take care of but that could wait for the moment. They also had to sift through the knowledge crystals. There was only one problem. The person who could help them the most needed to be brought out of her slumber.

"So, this is a nice office, but why are we here?" Lana asked with a grin on her face and Harry smiled at her.

"I'm really glad that you think this is a great new office, because this is your new office," Harry told her and Lana blinked, her eyes widened and her mouth drooling just a little bit.

"Seriously?" Lana asked him and Harry smiled at the redhead in response.

"Seriously, it's half of your Christmas present early, you said that you wanted a big office…"

Lana walked around, this was a big office, with a nice view of all of Metropolis. She had a nice office before. This one looked her old office that looked like crap.

And the fact that she and Harry were all alone in it didn't escape her notice either.

"So?" Lana asked him with a smile on his face and she took a step forward, closing the gap between them. "It's been a long time coming that the two of us have gotten some time together."

"Yeah, you know a lot of things have been happening….."

"Tell me about it," Lana said and she placed her hands on his waist and she looked into his dazzling green eyes. They were enough to make a woman weak in the knees and more importantly to make her wet in the panties. "But I think that we should celebrate a deal well done in Smallville, I mean, if it wasn't for you…"

Harry figured that he had to give her credit where credit was due. "You were the one who set it up….."

"But it was your business savvy that made it happen," Lana said and to the outside world, it might seem like a low income thing.

When you looked at the big picture and more importantly when you looked at things from a long term angle, things would improve.

Lana decided to take the plunge and she closed the gap between her and Harry. Her lips pressed against his with a searing kiss. Harry smiled when he pulled the redhead close into his chest, pressing her body against his.

Lana could feel herself heating up, when Harry returned the kiss. This was the type of kiss that ruined a woman's panties. The redhead returned fire, and Harry's hands rested on her hips and she almost begged him to go lower. Harry backed her onto her desk and leaned her back onto it. Harry kissed her fiercely.

He let go, leaving her panting and wanting more. Harry smiled when he looked down at the redhead, her hair framing her face and sticking to it.

"I think that it's time for my performance review," Lana said in a sultry voice and she placed her hand on his abs. Running her hand down she placed it on his inside thigh. The redhead allowed it to rest there and she continued in a sensual purr. "I'm ready to do exactly what you want me to do, Doctor Potter."

Harry smiled, he had been working her up for quite some time. Now it would all come to a head, in more ways than one.

"Well Miss Lang, let's test your oral skills first."

* * *

><p>Lana pressed herself against Harry, her legs wrapped around him after that amazing experience and she was so glad to have shared it with him. If she wore socks it would have knocked those socks off but she didn't. She found herself on the ground, panting.<p>

"So, are you satisfied?" Harry asked with a smile on his face and Lana pulled herself away, running her hand down his chest.

"Very…and Kara and Donna seem to be on a mission to recruit as many women as possible for your little h….collective," Lana said, correcting herself before she said it the wrong thing. "Well…I think that's a noble endeavor."

"Everyone needs a hobby, don't they?" Harry asked and Lana smiled, running her hands down his chest, and cupping his face. She leaned in for a kiss which Harry returned.

"I've got a couple of old friends who would be extremely interested, if I prodded them the right way," Lana said and she stopped and paused at the implied innuendo.

"Well, prod away, Lana, if you may," Harry said with a smile directed towards her and she leaned in towards him for one more kiss.

"So, that was a nice weekend, but you know that I'm ready for more and I'm not someone who likes to be left hanging," Lana said, folding her arms over her chest and looking at Harry with wanton lust flashing through her eyes.

"You know, there's too much of a good thing….."

"And you're a very good thing, but I've been wound up for this for months, and Karen and Helena weren't helping," she said and she pulled herself over Harry and gave him another kiss and it was off to the races once more.

Lana was determined to make up for the time she felt like she lost.

* * *

><p>"So, you're going to go off for the Lois Lane experience at any moment, now?' Kara asked and Harry smiled.<p>

It was true, he had an interview with Lois and he felt like forging a connection with her was important. Not just for the obvious reasons they were important either.

"You seem to….."

"Oh, no, I approve of it, in fact she could be useful," Kara said and she smiled. "And I'm sure that you got some use out of Lana, didn't you?"

Harry didn't say anything, rather he filed away from some notes at the caves. He wanted to get all of his notes in order before he found a way to get the occupant out of the ship.

"That was a long time coming for her, she was begging for it, I know that she was, I know what she wanted," Karen said, turning up to join them.

"And I'm sure that you didn't do a thing to encourage that," Harry said, absent mindedly working through the papers and he flipped through them. Karen stood behind him and she wrapped her arms around him, pressing her breasts against his back.

"I don't know what you could be talking about," Karen said with a smile and she looked over the reports. "That cave is a gold mine…"

"Which is why I had it sealed off on that level…Lana told me that the Luthor people wanted to buy that land so they could have access to the caves, someone got it in their heads that there is oil under the cave," Harry said and amusement danced in his eyes. If only they knew something more valuable than oil lurked down there.

"Always about the bottom line, isn't it?" Kara asked, and more people filed into the office.

Helena joined them, with Barbara. Donna returned to the island to see her sister and mother. Things were fine after what happened, and Harry wondered what kind of game the goddesses played now. As for right now, he knew nothing.

"It is always about the bottom line, if you're running a business," Helena said, stopping next to Kara and smiling. "Like it or not, money is the ultimate…..well its money, what are you going to do about it?"

"Source of all of the problems in the world," Kara answered, folding her arms and Barbara nodded.

"And the solutions as well," Barbara said. She worked on a new coding program, really a project really. She wanted to locate where the money went with some of the mobs. She suspected that it would lead her in some interesting directions.

Intergang activity picked up and she heard rumors that the Penguin and Black Mask made plays for territory in Metropolis, after expanding Gotham City. Those two moving any further than they did was a cause for concern, a lot of concern.

Then there were rumors about a partnership between Salvatore Maroni and Morgan Edge and the Penguin linked up with Rupert Thorne. Black Mask made his own deals, some old mob boss named Grissom and his chief lieutenant worked with him. The guy went by a number of aliases, one of them being Jack Napier but if that was his real name, then Barbara would eat her hat.

Then there were the Falcones and Barbara pulled a face at that thought.

"So you've got a pretty much who's who list of all of the mobsters in this entangled gang war?" Harry asked and Barbara jumped up but nodded in excitement.

"It's really a work in progress you know," Barbara said, grinning in response and Harry frowned. She decided to explain that. "It's a multi-tier system, all of them have their territory, but when the Penguin and Black Mask got involved, the rules of the game changed and the old system disappeared."

"There was honor amongst thieves," Harry said and Barbara nodded.

"This Intergang thing is weird, they've attacked two LuthorCorp facilities in the past," Barbara said. "And they managed to hook Toyman up…..as you know."

"Yes, I know all too well," Harry said and he smiled, rather interested at the work that Barbara put together.

Potentially unwillingly, Harry found himself stepping into this potential gang war, and it was on many sides. He didn't even know where to begin with that but he figured that it could go from many different angles. Any valuable assets these gangs had could be useful for him.

"You did leave Lana smiling," Karen said and she brought this back up.

"Given that all of the times that you enabled her cock-blocking, I really think that it's your fault that she was so hung on," Harry said and Karen stepped towards him, placing her hand on his.

"Oh…"

"Yes you did," Harry replied and squeezed her hand and she sighed.

"I guess that I did," Karen said with a guilty as charged expression on her face and Kara laughed in the corner. "You would have done the same thing if you had been in my position and you know it."

Kara threw her hands back and Harry smiled, stepping out for a second to allow the girls to discuss amongst themselves about what would not happen.

'_So, there's never a dull day with you,' _Donna thought and both of them exchanged a smile.

'_You know, I wouldn't really want to deal with a dull life,' _Harry thought to her and he didn't even think about what a dull life would be like.

He had a taste of it when he was younger and didn't like it. Being just Harry was a foolish dream. If he had ever said that he was "just Harry", Harry would want to freaking smack himself in the face and ask what the fuck was wrong with himself.

He stepped outside and looked over Metropolis. From his vantage point, he stood over the entire city and was the king of the world.

'_So how is the trip to the island?' _Harry asked he and Donna smiled.

'_Eventful, it had been a long time since Diana knocked my ass around,' _the young Amazon replied with a smile crossing her face and she nearly laughed about it. It was a lot easier to be amused by something traumatizing in hindsight, then when it was happening right now.

'_Well that's the only way that you'll learn,' _Harry thought and Donna crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head.

'_You sound just like my mother,' _Donna said and she pulled a face at that.

'_Well your mother is a wise woman,' _Harry answered and he looked outside. _'When do you think that you're coming back?'_

'_Diana and I will be coming back by Friday,' _Donna thought and Harry's interest piqued in response. _'Oh, and she's interested in about taking you up on your offer to have lunch with her.'_

'_I'd be great to have her, really I would,' _Harry said and suggestive statement was suggestive when he spoke but never the less Donna smiled.

'_Oh believe me, she would love to have you as well,' _Donna said and she knew that Harry and Diana met, although she was not privy because of the actual event.

'_Tell me more?' _Harry asked her and Donna flushed, shrugging her shoulders and crossed her arms together.

* * *

><p>Lois Lane knew better than anyone else that plans could change at the last second. She paced back and forth.<p>

An interview with Harry Potter, that was an elusive thing and she awaited to be buzzed upstairs. The reporter waited, she never was a patient person.

Pacing back and forth, Lois's impatience increased and her finger tapped against the side of door. She didn't mean to seem this wanton or needy.

"Lois, you may come up now."

Lois nearly fell over in surprise but managed to hold herself up and about. Not only was she given the go ahead to go up but Harry Potter himself gave the go ahead. The young man should have had a flunky do this do it. Most rich people would. That just proved to Lois that this young man was full of surprises. She looked forward to what else he might have in store for her.

The violet eyed reporter steadied her stance and climbed up the stairs to meet him. She thought that she could have used an elevator but she felt that walking up the stairs gave herself more time to compose what she wanted to say.

'_Don't stress Lane, this is just another interview…..granted its another great interview with someone that you want a piece of…..just pretend that he's in his underwear and…that won't help at all,' _Lois thought, her mind going wild at the thought of that particular young man in his underwear.

And perhaps even less. Lois fanned herself for a moment and she prepared for her date with destiny.

Hitching in her breath she raised her hand and knocked on the door in response. The dark haired woman waited for it to be answered.

"Lois, welcome," Harry said with a smile and Lois should not have been surprised to see Kara Kent standing there with Harry. She wore a tight red tank top and jean shorts with her hair tied back and her eyes hidden behind a pair of glasses. "Thank you for coming here….."

"No, I really should thank you for agreeing to an interview, you know how many people would give their right arm….."

"More than a few," Harry answered and Lois stepped towards him and Harry smiled in response. "But you'd get yourself for considerably less."

"Thankfully," Lois said and she made sure her note pad was there. "So, you've been going to war with the king of Metropolis, Lionel Luthor."

"Well, it's nothing personal…"

"It seems to me like you do have it out for me, or perhaps you undercut him with the deal that he wanted to acquire the property of Smallville," Lois replied and Harry smiled.

"Well, it might seem personal but….."

"Hey, if you want to make a Luthor's life a little bit more difficult, far be it for me to complain about it," Lois said waving it off. Anything to take that asshole down a peg or two was good in Lois's book. "It's just that you've come in here and you're not screwing around."

"Well there's really no time to do that, I've always been a person….well most of my life, that I either go in there and take what I want, or someone else takes it," Harry whispered to her and Lois smiled.

"Decisive, there are a lot of business leaders who just tend to hem and haw about what they need to do and eventually they get swallowed by the Luthor monster," Lois remarked and Harry smirked despite himself.

"Well the Luthor monster is all consuming, you know," Harry told her. "But perhaps this will be the shot in the arm that the entire city of Metropolis needs and Smallville is an underdeveloped area."

Lois nodded, making a note of what she said. She had a question that she thought might be obvious. Not that an obvious question stopped her from asking something before.

"Do you think that it's true that Luthor purposely pulled his operations out of Smallville to wreck the small businesses there and then swoop in to buy them back at a larger price?" Lois asked and Harry smiled at her.

"I haven't talked to the man in my life, so I don't really have the slightest idea what could be processing in that mind of his but I'll tell you this, it could be something interesting what he has in his mind," Harry replied and Lois didn't say anything, other than the fact that she smiled and stared at him. "It's a dirty game politics are…..you got to be prepared to play it, play big or go home, that's basically what it all boils down to."

"I see," Lois said and she could also see what Harry had in mind was big. It was bigger than big. Huge even, very huge she reminded herself. She could not even begin to appreciate the different layers of plans that he hand in place. "So tell me a bit about how you came here….."

Harry smiled.

"Long story?"

"Well, let's just say that I was overseas for a while as you might have been able to tell by my accent, I went to a boarding school that has gone out of business since I left it," Harry commented and Lois nodded, eagerly scratching down some notes on the pad of paper that she had in front of her. "It had a great reputation but I really didn't see much of it. After a few years, I finished my schooling, with the highest honors…and I went to Metropolis and got several degrees, set up my business, and the rest is history."

"And you've done this all over the period of five years, it's kind of like magic," Lois said.

"Do you honestly believe in magic?" Harry asked with a knowing smirk that Lois didn't quite catch.

"Doctor Potter, I believe that a woman can fly, therefore magic isn't exactly out of the realm of possibility, you know Kent Nelson…..?"

"Yes, he's done some lectures at Metropolis University about science and the supernatural aspects to it," Harry replied, man seemed to be a bit out to lunch to be honest, but then again Harry wasn't one to complain.

"Well, rumor has it that around the time of the golden age of super heroes back thirty years ago, he was a magic based super hero known as Doctor Fate," Lois commented and Harry smiled. "Then again super heroes kind of went out of style for a while but they're coming back."

Harry wondered when they were coming around to this point.

"The Blur?"

"Yes, along with that nutjob who prowls around in the night in Gotham City," Lois said ticking off her fingers. "And Power Girl and Huntress and…Green Lantern…?"

"Hmm, Green Lantern?" Harry asked with a smile on his face that Lois didn't quite catch.

"Yes, I don't know if you read my exclusive interview with her last year, but…you think Earth has some problems, you should see some of the messed up places in the universe," Lois answered and Harry gave the woman a slight smile.

"I wouldn't really doubt it," Harry said and the two of them made some small talk, with Lois just asking some more questions to clarify certain things about him.

It was then that she looked at her watch, caught off guard by how much time had passed. An apologetic look appeared in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know….I know that you must have things to do and I got to get back, there's a deadline after all," Lois said and Harry smiled.

"I know, we all have our deadlines, both imposed and self-imposed," Harry said and he had some time to kill. "So, if you're not busy next weekend would you like to go out for lunch and perhaps conduct a follow up?"

"That sounds more like a date that an interview follow up, Doctor Potter," Lois said with a smile on her face.

"It's whatever you make of it, Miss Lane," Harry said and Kara smirked, sitting in the corner.

'_Not one word,' _Harry thought to her and Kara looked like a deer that had been trapped in the headlights and she crossed her arms.

'_What, what did I do?' _she asked and Harry smirked at her in response.

'_You know what you did,' _Harry thought, squeezing her thigh which caused her to relax.

With that said, he made arrangements to meet with Lois in the future and they would get to know each other in a more intimate setting.

Lois figured that he left some things out. It was understandable that someone like him, she would barely be able to scratch the surface on the first interview. She had enough with her that would lead to a juicy story, enough to make her lips moisten and to become really excited. And she looked forward for the follow up that they would have later.

* * *

><p>Diana tapped her foot and waited when she stood outside of the restaurant that Harry made them reservations for. It was one of the most exclusive in all of Metropolis, or so she had been told. She believed it with all of the important people lingering around.<p>

The Amazon Princess dressed to kill, with a sleek black dress that modestly covered her but at the same time hugged her curves. It was rare that she got a chance to go out without being a diplomat from Themscrycira.

"You look beautiful Diana."

Diana turned and saw Harry standing there in a very stylish three piece suit and she looked him over.

"So did you and Donna get back okay?" Harry asked and Diana shook herself out of la-la land and responded to him.

"Yes, we're fine….we got back fine," Diana answered and she shook her head to clear the cobwebs once again and Harry offered her hand. "Donna was going to meet with Barbara and Kara, some kind of girls night…..although I questioned the wisdom of allowing the three of them to run unchecked after what happened last time. Although the results ended up being not that bad."

"No, I would have to agree that they were fairly favorable," Harry said and he lead the woman to the back of the establishment to a private booth that they had but they nearly ran into a familiar face.

"Harry….it's been a long time."

An attractive woman in her mid-thirties, although she looked a bit younger because of the shape she kept herself in, approached them. She wore a pair of dress pants that hugged tightly against her hips and a shirt that matched. A pair of glasses rested on the bridge of her nose and she smiled widely when she saw him standing before her.

"Helena, fancy running into you here of all places," Harry said and the woman smiled. "Diana, this is Doctor Helena Sandsmark…..and Helena, this is Diana Prince."

"A pleasure to meet you Doctor Sandsmark, I've learned about your work, it's fairly fascinating," Diana said and Helena smiled knowingly.

"Yes, I'm sure that an amazing young woman such as yourself would be able to appreciate the type of work that I've done," Helena said and she saw Diana standing there with Harry. "I stopped by to talk with a colleague, but he had to leave…Professor William McElroy, you've heard of him…"

"Yes, wasn't he sick a while ago?"

Doctor Sandsmark hesitated for a second. This was a touchy subject with a lot of McElroy's colleagues.

"He had to go away a while for his help, but he came back and he returned to his classes, he's an expert of Egyptology, and he's interested in helping fund one of my digs next summer," Helena informed them.

"Well, what are you hoping to find?"

"Mostly a lot of junk that museums would be willing to pay for to lure unsuspecting customers in, but sometimes you find some real treasures," Doctor Sandsmark said and she checked her watch. "I've got a few things to take care of at the office, before I go home so I'll leave you to your date….it's a real pleasure talking to you, Diana, Harry."

The woman walked off and Harry smiled and lead Diana towards the table that he set up.

"It's nice to have a change of scenery every now and again," Diana said and Harry smiled. "I know that Paradise can be great, but if you grow too accustomed to it, it becomes less so."

"I see your point," Harry fired back at the Amazon Princess and she leaned back into her chair, accepting the drinks. "So, are you here for the long term?"

"I'm considering it, Mother wants to establish a more constant presence in the world and she's thinking about establishing your gateway idea if you want to go for it," Diana said and Harry smiled.

"The goddesses are okay with it?"

"They haven't said anything against it but they seem to be taking a close look at you regardless," Diana said and a suggestive tone seemed to be from this statement and Harry would have been really been dense to miss it.

"Well that could be interesting," Harry said and he thought that would prove to be a useful connection.

The games of higher powers could be tricky though. There might be a reason why they took an interest in Harry.

"I thought that you might have agreed with that," Diana said and she sighed. "Of course that means that I'm going to have to see a lot more of the United Nations than I want to."

Harry felt her pain, he really did.

"I don't envy anyone because of that," Harry said and he honestly said that. "So, how are you enjoying the food? It's not exactly like back home I know."

"No, it's pretty good, you have good taste and the food it tastes good as well," Diana said with a smile and she helped herself to another bite. The Amazon's grin got even wider over her face when she shifted herself on her chair. "Very good in fact"

Diana smiled, she had her eye on Harry for a while, but much to her frustration, Donna beat her to the punch. It was a moment of opportunity where she took in. Diana did teach her sister to seize the opportunity when she could.

She took that opportunity in a way that Diana didn't even think about.

"Sorry, just thinking about how good the food is," Diana said and she looked rather apologetic to him and Harry smiled knowingly.

"Of course," Harry said and it was a nice meal that the two them had together. The conversation was casual and the meal was pretty good.

* * *

><p>Professor William Omaha McElroy returned from his leave of absence and he heard the whispers of the students regarding the reasons that he was gone. The aged professor tried not to let those rumors get to him. Even the ones that were true.<p>

He had taken extremely ill, the pressures of a lot of work, and the pressures of a recent stress, the death of his wife and some financial woes that he went into after that. There were parts of him that had not been completely right ever since twenty years ago when he took his honors class on a field trip and they passed through Smallville went the meteor shower came down.

He was the only survivor of the bus and he had spent seven years after that, in a mental institution. It was after being left on a bus for three days, with nothing to listen to but audio tapes describing the eighteenth dynasty of ancient Egypt.

"Mr. Bernard, help me move that over there, and be careful not to drop it," McElroy said and the student teacher smiled. He was a rather nondescript looking guy with brown hair, and he looked even more so next to the rotund professor.

He waddled over, he had lost a lot of weight in his time off but he still was a couple of shades over three hundred pounds.

"I'm sure that everyone is happy to see you back, sir, where did you….."

"Rest and relaxation, my dear Cleo died, and live has changed," he replied and he closed his eyes. He had to check in with a therapist three times a week to make sure he didn't have a relapse.

He was on medication as well. He stopped taking that a couple of weeks ago. He felt fine, so there was no need for it.

"Careful now, careful," McElroy said and he could hear the sound of the jackhammer outside, they did a lot of construction work outside the city.

"Sir, there's something about this…the wiring is faulty," Mr. Bernard said and he stood on the ladder, with a couple of students who walked by and talked with each other.

"It shouldn't be," McElroy muttered and he walked on in, seeing the wires dangling down and he reached up towards them.

The sparks began to fly and Mr. Bernard lost his balance, falling off of the ladder, the case in his hand flying.

The object knocked McElroy on the top of his head and caused the rotund man to fall down hard. The case cracked open to reveal a glowing staff.

A group of students in the hallway rushed over to check on their dazed teacher.

"Professor McElroy, Professor McElroy…." one of them stated and they roughly nudged him.

"Professor McElroy, who is Professor McElroy?" the professor asked and he saw the object slide out of the box, it was a relic from the 18th dynasty and it all clicked in his mind. "BACK, BACK, BACK YOU PEASANTS! Give your king some space…"

Professor McElroy got to his feet.

"Sir, we should get you some….."

"It's your highness, get it right!" the man bellowed in an overblown demeanor, and he pushed the students away. He looked completely and utterly mad. "Do not disrespect me again, of you won't live long enough to regret it…."

"Just wait….are you….."

"I am King Tutankhamen, Master of Thebes, King of the Nile, and that's just on Mama's side of the family," he said in an overblown manner and a couple of teachers walked over towards him.

"Professor McElroy, you should go to the medical wing, you've not really felt that well….."

"You might not be the ones that are well, with this Professor McElroy nonsense, I am King Tutankhamen, and you will all bow before me!" he said and he waved his hands and caused them bow before his feet. The meteors given him special gifts over the rabble. "That's right my slaves, you know that you're at my mercy, and we will turn this deplorable community into a kingdom more fitting for someone of my stature."

They kept bowing before him, all of them locked into a trance. Tut looked pleased at the devotion shown by his loyal subjects.

"Now, come there are some in this city who have committed a theft against my dynasty and all of Metropolis will learn to bow before the Pharaoh," he whispered dramatically and the students and teachers, all of them seeing the light and under his thrall.

He picked up the staff on the ground, inspiration blew through his mind.

All would bow before the might of Tut!

**To Be Continued on October 10****th**** 2014. **

* * *

><p><strong>Lana finally gets her time with Harry after being cock blocked forever. <strong>

**Lois and Harry interacting on any level has been gold for some time, ever since at least Herald of Death. Which seems like a lifetime ago. **

**And we've got King Tut, 1960s Batman fame, here. With a redone origin, essentially a meteor mutant. And completely unbalanced. **

**An unbalanced man with a staff of mystical properties is always a recipe for disaster.**


	25. Curse of Tut Part One

**Chapter Twenty Five: The Curse of Tut Part One.**

* * *

><p>It was shaping up to be one of those slow days where everyone didn't seem to do anything productive. Everyone was relaxed, and no one really had a care in the world.<p>

Lois Lane thought that this was going to be one of these slow news that. That was just the vibe that she felt. The raven-haired reporter decided to walk across the street, to get herself something to eat, but then she stopped cold.

She opened her mouth to snap at the people that were in her way, but she never found the acidic words on her tongue. Her mouth remained open and she hovered around, it opened and it shut, constantly. She whistled and looked around. Lois saw why people were blocked and she understood now better than anyone else as to why.

Only one word fit this situation and that word was "damn."

There was a giant Sphinx that rested out in the middle of the road, just casually there. Lois wanted to get a view, but the police barricades put up caused her to stall and not move forward.

"This is Cat Grant, and I'm here on the scene at Downtown Metropolis for Metropolis Daily News, where a large Sphinx appeared in the middle of the street, and there seems to be no…..there seems to be no explanation about why it got here, or who commissioned it."

Lois held up her cell phone and got a text message.

_Hey Lois, did you know that there's a giant Sphinx in the middle of Metropolis? Because it's all over the Internet._

Lois paused and she texted her contact back.

_Yeah, Chloe, I know._

Lois's eyes averted up and she thought that she needed to get a closer look, along with pictures. She felt a surprising amount of warmth come off of it and the eyes glowed. Even though her usual photographer was not with her, that did not deter the woman at all.

She stepped forward and she could hear a low, female voice come from the speaker.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please stand by for a royal proclamation from King Tut."

That caused the whispers to intensify as everyone in the crowd wondered what was up. Some of them thought that they were dealing with someone who had a few screws loose.

"King Tut," Lois whispered, and she vaguely remembered him from history class, there might have been a drool spot on her history book that she had in college.

The crowd buzzed and Lois tried to get a picture, but getting a picture through the masses proved to be an extremely laborious process. The determined reporter had to try, her journalistic spirit demanded nothing less.

The dark haired reporter shifted again and she could hear the MCU approach. Dan Turpin lead the way as per usual.

"Alright, alright, everyone back up, give some space, we only have so much room to breathe here," Turpin grunted in his usual gruff manner. He reached forward and knocked on the Sphinx and frowned, there was no response.

Suddenly, a trumpet could be heard and eight royal guards marched across the street.

"This better not be some rich guy pulling a publicity stunt for a new hotel or something," Turpin grumbled, but this was sure to be something, but was it a good thing? He doubted that very much.

A group of men dressed in royal garb stampeded in the next second. One could assume that they were some kind of royal guards or at least they thought that they were.

"Stand back, and show your respect for your king," one of the guards said and Turpin took a step forward, but the Sphinx began to rumble to life.

"Ladies, gentlemen, my subjects, due me a favor, and lend me an ear, for the longest time, you have followed false idols, and leaders, but that changes right here," the man who declared himself to be the ruler of this land said. "But, I, King Tutankhamen, the greatest pharaoh of all of the land, will bring you to a brand new world. This urban wasteland is not to my liking."

"Yeah, well you're not to my liking!" Turpin yelled and one of the guards smashed the staff down across the back of his head.

Turpin fell to his knees hard from the shot. There was a gasp from the crowd and some of them backed off. This guy meant business whoever he was.

"You were warned to fall into line, peasant," one of the guards whispered, a far off look flickering in his eyes.

"My men and a few women, yes I do live in strange times now, have ensured that the unwashed masses understand their place, isn't that right, Constable?" Tut asked in a mocking voice and Turpin gritted his teeth, but he could do barely any more to curse due to the fact that a sharp blade was to his throat. "I am a simple man, with simple pleasures. A palace which gives me plenty of room to stretch my legs out, the finest of foods, the most bountiful of women, and tribute paid by everyone in Metropolis. I believe a standard fee would be sixty five percent of your daily income, to be delivered to your King, I think that seems fair, don't you?"

The grumbles by everyone indicated that they thought that wasn't fair.

"Man between him and the tax man, I don't get shit!" one of them yelled out loud and there were feverish nods of agreement.

Tut wasn't done yet. One might assume that he was, but the might Pharaoh had more words to say.

"You see, I'm not one to be trifled with, especially when Metropolis have held some of my artifacts, collecting dust in some museum, and I'm going to get them back, and anyone who stops me, whether man, woman, or Blur, they are going to suffer the consequences," Tut said and he spoke in a bombastic manner and without taking a breath as well. "You see, if you don't follow my rules, then all will suffer. And this land will be visited upon three plagues….."

"Plagues, wrong guy, jackass….."

The loudmouth heckler in the crowd found a sharp spear at his throat by one of Tut's henchmen and he found his ability to speak less obvious. The King went on as if he didn't hear.

"Three plagues, if Metropolis doesn't give me what I want," Tut whispered and everyone muttered. "You have twelve hours to bring forth my demands, lay them upon the Sphinx, or I will unleash the first of three plagues. For every twelve hours after that, I will unleash another, and by the third, all of the snakes will be run out of Metropolis."

Lois thought that this guy must have gave the same level of interest that she did in her history class, which was pretty much none at all. She sighed and came to the conclusion that it was just going to be one of those days.

_Do I even want to point out what's wrong with that speech?_

_You mean besides all of it?_

_Yeah pretty much._

Lois stopped texting back and the guards walked around, and imposed their will on the crowd. She thought that she recognized one of their faces from Metropolis's top ten most wanted, but she wasn't sure.

In an act of bravery, or maybe stupidity, Lois snapped a picture of the guard and hoped to cross reference it later.

"Alright, I'm going to need some heavy back up," Turpin said, and he winced when his ribs ached. The man could barely breath.

Lois looked up in the sky, almost as if she expected to see a bird or a plane, but she saw absolutely nothing.

'_Why is there never a decent Blur around when you need her?' _Lois thought, and she waited for Chloe to get back to her on that cross-reference for that face.

* * *

><p>"Well, we've got some real fun here, especially given the guy who is under the guise of Tut…well he's kind of messed up to be honest," Barbara said and she trailed off, not knowing what else to say other than that, when two people were on the scene. "I'm sure that you've figured out by now that the Sphinx is just a really elaborate piece of recording equipment."<p>

Barbara and Harry were having a nice little back and forth, trying to find out the nature of what they're dealing with, along with the nature of the one and only King Tut.

"Figured out as much," Harry whispered, it was getting close to night and he wondered if any of the people of Metropolis would take this situation seriously or not. It was a fifty-fifty shot that they would and he was sure that some of it would.

That being said, under the guise of Arcane, Harry tried to figure out the residue that he found. If he could piece that puzzle together, it would bring him one step closer to solving this baffling case.

"Professor William Omaha McElroy had an accident three days ago, he disappeared along with several students and the facility at Met-U, and this wasn't the first time this happened," Barbara explained and she sighed. "He worked at Yale for years, but he was caught in the meteor shower twenty years ago, and he was left on the museum with nothing but audio tapes that talked about the 18th dynasty. He suffered a mental break and believed himself to be King Tut, but his fractured mind also intermingled certain parts of history."

Harry knew that he was dealing with someone who was slightly unhinged. He had no idea though how unhinged the man was. Each piece of information proved to be more unsettling than the last.

"Like the plagues, like the plagues," Harry said and Barbara nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, like the plagues," she confirmed and the redhead shifted her arms together and tapped her foot on the ground. A loud sound caused her ears to perk up and she listened closely. "I'm talking with a few of my sources…..apparently, he was able to compel people to believe the delusion…..and a second break happened years ago when his wife died. He grew mad and warped back into Tut, and tried to steal the organs of several women so he could revive his wife, it was a ghastly process. He must have had a good lawyer and he got the treatment that he needed, and didn't fall off the wagon for the past few years."

Barbara might have rambled but Harry easily reconciled each piece of information.

"So, he had his first break around the time of the meteor shower, a second more prominent break around the time of his wife's breath, and this break which was the worst of all," Harry answered, and he sighed, this was not a common criminal he dealt with. This was a man who had lost all sense between reality and fantasy.

When he was on his medications, McElroy was not a bad person per say, but off them…..the thought mortified Harry. Harry figured, and was likely not wrong, that the man assumed that he didn't need the medications. It was a folly that many made.

"Do you think that he'll follow through on his plans?"

"I think that he intends to, whether tribute is paid to him or not," Harry said and he tried to open the Sphinx without disturbing it. He might be able to find a clue inside as to where Tut was holed up.

'_He's not well, I don't even know why Met-U hired him,' _Karen thought, that was one of their more questionable hiring decisions.

'_The man has the credentials to make people look the other way,' _Helena thought.

Harry looked over his shoulder.

"Is the coast clear?"

"Yes, it is."

Harry waited for his companion to walk out of the shadows and he faced her. She stood before him and her beauty would have stopped traffic at rush out. Gorgeous raven locks curled down her body, and framed a face that looked like it was sculpted by the gods. Bright blue eyes shined with passion and intensity. Many envied her fit body with ample breasts, a flat stomach, long legs, dressed in a one piece red, white, and blue suit that fit around her body, and knee high boots, along with a tiara and bracelets.

"So Wonder Woman, are you ready….."

"Yes," she said, the armor had been a gift from her mother upon her arrival to man's world. She took a step towards Harry and the grin crossed her face at that name.

'_So would that make me Wondergirl?' _Donna asked and she shook her head and smiled. _'Not sure if I like that, because it implies that I'm your side kick and I'm a married woman.'_

'_The term partner appears to be more favorable, then the term sidekick,' _Diana offered her sister with a shrug.

'_I don't know, it's just a way to dress up an unfavorable term, into a favorable one,' _Kara thought, and she smiled. _'Either go broke or don't go at all.'_

'_Any luck?' _Karen asked, swiftly. As much as she was amused by this interaction, there was much to be done.

Harry spoke both mentally to his wives and out loud to Diana. "There is a tiny bit of residue on this Sphinx, makes me think that it was cleaned down, but someone missed a spot."

"Could it be a clue?" Wonder Woman asked and Harry smiled.

"I think that it might be a clue," Harry agreed, and he transmitted the scans to Barbara, so she could look up the chemical compound.

"Okay, we're thirty six minutes and counting to go before Tut unleashes his first plague, I'm surprise he didn't unleash another proclamation to remind people that they're supposed to pay up, or they'll be sorry," Barbara said and there was a second where she paused.

"Stand by for an announcement from your mighty Pharaoh, King Tut."

It was almost like you could set your watch by these proclamations. Wonder Woman and Arcane exchanged a nervous look. Arcane tracked where the radio was in the Sphinx, but he figured that someone else gave the proclamation from an entirely separate area. That was something that he could prove with some form of clarity.

"I hope his majesty is happy about this," a man grumbled when he walked forward, and several others made their way with them.

"I don't know what I'm going to do, does he not realize that we don't get a paycheck every day, what if we don't have any money?" another man grunted.

All he got in response was numerous shrugs and Wonder Woman and Arcane stayed in the shadows. He touched his hand to her arm and she shivered. The tingle she felt was not because of something like that, it was because of the fact that her body shifted into a more invisible status.

"Amazing," she whispered, she felt him make both of them invisible and all it took was a touch of their hand. "Why don't you use this all the time?"

"It drains the battery," Harry said and he paused. "That's why I only use it when necessary."

'_It drains my battery, come to think of it,' _Harry thought, sustained invisibility was a feat of concentration, even with the artifact he merged with.

"Then we better move," Diana said and she sensed a greater urgency than ever before.

"I see many people who have scrounged up the tribute for your king and that is good," Tut said and everyone could sense the 'but" coming. "BUT….I've heard others say that I'm a hoax, a publicity stunt, and everything else. I am displeased with your lack of faith, but not entirely surprised. Some people refuse to have faith, and you shameless harlots, I'm about ready to prove you wrong. Proof will be presented in thirty minutes, unless you have a change of heart. You think that your heroes, your false idols can protect you."

Tut's voice grew more bombastic and dramatic. It was almost like he slipped further into his madness.

"But….I REMIND YOU…..that no man….woman…BLUR…..or BAT will be able to stop me from returning my kingdom to the modern world," Tut continued, and he sounded frantic. "I only do this, not out of malice, but to save the world, to reestablish a dynasty that had been lost to history, but it can be reclaimed again. I will…I will guide you all to another age."

A few caved in, and the Sphinx shot up red hot flames as a warning.

"Yes, put this as a blip on your six o'clock news."

"So, any luck on tracking the signal?" Harry whispered to Barbara and he sensed her smile through the bond network.

"Give me a minute," Barbara said and Diana looked over her shoulder, and the thunderous approach of the royal guard could be heard.

The guards armed themselves to the teeth. It was obvious that now as the time to make themselves known. Harry and Diana turned to face them, being at the business end of several spears.

"Who dares interfere with our king's plans?"

Diana turned around, and she arched an eyebrow, she wondered if they joked. But if they did, she really wasn't laughing now. Especially given how serious the situation had grown into being.

'_I think that they're talking about me, aren't they?' _Arcane asked and Karen and Helena chimed in for agreement.

He would sort out who were the deranged ex-cons, and who were the students and faculty who Tut brainwashed after he knocked them off. Right now, he slipped on a pair of brass knuckles and braced himself for battle. It was going to be a rough one.

"And here I thought tonight would be boring," Diana muttered, and she watched one of them charge her. She caught his spear and hurled him onto the pavement like he was nothing. "I guess I was wrong."

Harry snorted in amusement. He offered one of the hands an offhand backhand punch. After that deed was done, he turned back towards Diana. "Stick around with me long enough, and you'll see just how exciting life could be."

His hands raised into the air before he jabbed it towards his enemy. The cracking of ribs and the pained growl indicated that Harry struck his target flush. One quick jab doubled his enemy over and knocked the wind out of him. Another punch cracked his ribs and he blocked the two spears.

He super charged them with energy from his suit and blew them off of their feet. That allowed Diana to finish them off and swiftly knock them out. She tried not to look too smug because there was much work to do.

* * *

><p>King Tut hunched over the staff that he got his hands on from the University. It proved to be a fairly enlightening study. Just as he suspected, it was from a lesser king than him, but he had to be certain of his abilities, and those abilities would be the ones that would lead him to greater prominence.<p>

"So, is he going to be staring at that all of the time?" one of the henchmen whispered.

"Hey, the man busted us out of prison, are you going to be asking too much questions?" another henchmen asked.

"Yeah…but don't you feel stupid wearing this shit?" he asked and the another goon shrugged.

"Not really, I've worn worse…..looked like something outta Wonderland before," a third goon said and the other two turned to him. There were questioning looks. The goon clammed up. "Don't ask, just don't ask, you're better off not knowing, trust me about that."

"Right," one of them grumbled. "What's with this plague shit…..I mean wasn't it another guy who did the plague shit?"

"I don't know, I don't even know who this Tut cat is, I just jumped on the bandwagon when he released guys with prison," the goon said and the other goons stared at him like he lost his mind.

"You've never heard of King Tut?" the goon asked and the other goon glared at him.

"Nah, I've never heard of him, must have never been important…"

"That just shows that you don't know nothing," the goon replied and he shook his head. "Tut, you know King Tut, born in Arizona, then he moved to Babylonian, or some shit like that."

"I thought that was the guy that owned the palace in Vegas," a fourth goon said, when he returned from guard duty.

"Nah, that's Caesar…I think he died when some guy named Brutus stabbed him in the back."

"Brutus, that sounds like a guy who should be a barber," one of the thugs muttered underneath his breath.

The guards would have continued their banter. More important things demanded their attention when their boss's boisterous voice forced them to snap forward and stand at attention.

"Royal guard, to arms, and to me!" Tut yelled and the four goons stood up and nearly tripped over themselves. Tut groaned and shook his head. "I don't know why I can't find good help these days…..I mean, I never had this problem back home. These scrubs look like they were born on the wrong side of the Nile."

The Royal Guard stumbled over towards the man and Tut swiped his eyes down the row and scowled.

"Now, I've looked over this staff…..it belonged to a lesser king then me…" Tut said and he trailed off. He kept looking over the staff. The faux pharaoh grew rather attached to it."But, something about it….whoever had it, he had power. And lots of it, but the thing is, he didn't know how to use it."

The Royal Guard nodded in response. It was just best that they smile and nod. Agree with everything that he said. Tut looked pleased that he had an audience for his grand speeches so he pressed on.

"But, if he really knew how to use it, then he would be the one that was about ready to bring all of Metropolis to their knees, now wouldn't he?" Tut asked in response and they all shrugged. "For all of you who don't know, that was a rhetorical question…..that is, a question that you don't have to answer, for the answer is so obvious."

He lapsed back into College Professor mode although he came across a bit more of an asshole than McElroy ever was. He snapped back into Tut in a second though.

"That being said, I hold a mighty staff in my hands…..what in the devil is so funny?"

One of the goons could not help to crack up at the term "mighty staff." Tut flew off the handle, his rage boiling over.

"You think it's a joke, you think it's a joke, HE THINKS IT'S A JOKE!" Tut screamed. He should feed this scrub to his crocodiles.

"No, no, boss, I don't think it's a joke, I'm sure that you're all powerful, and all that," the goon said, but Tut raised his eyebrow and the other goons backed off. Despite the fact that he was a rotund pharaoh and they were muscular goons, they still backed off in fear. They saw what he did to the guards at the prison.

"You don't think that I'm a joke, do you?" Tut whispered and his voice grew increasingly deadly when he looked up at the goon. "Well, guess what…."

Tut pulled back and the goon allowed a breath to leave his body. He thought that he was about ready to get it.

"I don't believe you."

The staff plunged into his chest, and caused his body to glow with energy. Before the eyes of each and every one of Tut's henchmen, the goon exploded into a shower of blood and guts.

"And that's why you don't ever question your king," Tut said and the goons muttered and shook their heads, they wouldn't dare, they would never dare. The King smiled and added as an afterthough. "And one of you get a mop and clean this mess up…..I need to give one more proclamation, that is their ten minute warning after all, and we must be fair."

If there was a penny out of place, then all of Metropolis would suffer from the arrogance of a few. This was something that he needed to do to sustain his authority. If he wavered and allowed exceptions, then what kind of King would he be for something like that. He strode forward and took a look at the Sphinx, and decided to check in on his royal guard.

Half of the royal guard was down on the ground, and he saw two figures disappear into the distance. To say Tut's rage boiled would be putting things mildly.

"TREASON, TREASON, TREASON!" he shouted.

The Pharoah held the staff in his hand and it heated up. He calmed himself down before he blew a hole into his palace. He held his breath and counted to ten slowly, slowly, calming himself down. He cooled himself down. His eyes fixed on the staff. It was almost like it questioned why he got so angry.

"No, no, no, I didn't mean to talk so crossly with you, my precious staff," he cooed and he shook his head. "You know….I need to figure out what I need to do to them…..before it's too late."

Tut bounced up to his feet and began to pace around, his eyes flashed with anger when he considered options.

Boiled in oil, that was a good one, or being fed to his pet alligators, he could appreciate either one. They sounded like good fates for those who dare besmirch his kingdom.

"Okay, okay, watch your blood pressure; you've got a proclamation to make and a warning to give to those so called do-gooders."

He checked the time; he needed to make a point. He turned to the remaining goons and he gave one statement.

"RELEASE THE LOCUSTS!"

They paused, despite the time not being up. The glare in their boss's eyes offered no room for response.

"Still think that he's off his rocker."

"Yeah, but you saw what happened to the other guy, are you willing to take your chances?" the goon asked and that question was as the Professor said, rhetorical. The goon shook his head rapidly. "No way pal, absolutely not."

* * *

><p>"So, we're reaching the five minute warning and some of you have yet to pay up your proper tribute to your king."<p>

Harry slammed the stone shield into the face of the last royal guard and knocked him out. They stacked on the ground, completely knocked out for the count. They would have to be sorted out later. It was time to deal with the mighty pharaoh.

"We've taken them all out and there's no sign of Tut."

Diana thought that these attacks would draw the delusional king out, but he played his cards extremely close to his chest. She wondered if there was another round of guards just waiting for him. Exactly how many people he liberated from prison could not be ascertained.

"Ladies and gentlemen, stand by for another message from your almighty Pharaoh."

Diana warily eyed the sphinx. "Guess that I spoke too soon."

Harry nodded in response and he and Barbara about isolated a signal. "Guess you did."

Barbara chimed in with an update on her status for Harry. _'I'm in position right about now, it's one of three locations within Metropolis and once I've gotten this pinpointed, we'll figure out if it's in one of two, hopefully.'_

'_Hopefully,' _Kara said. She crossed her fingers, hoped for the best. This was getting to be an extremely tense situation and the world was watching.

'_Barbara, he's pausing for a second…..something's up,' _Harry thought and his words lingered.

He intensely watched to see what would happen and he heard something angrily buzzing. It was not like bees that buzzed either, it was something else.

And he doubted very much it was the welcome wagon. He pivoted on his feet.

"Is that what nasty plague he had for us, or is that Tut?"

Harry about answered Diana's question, only one problem for that though; he realized that he didn't know. Therefore he kept his mouth shut. He focused with a razor sharp focus one would expect from someone like Harry Potter.

"Going to find out in a moment that I guess."

Karen chimed in through the bond link. _'We have a problem…actually I'll just cut to the chase and not leave you in suspense. Tut managed to get his hands on some locusts…..and he's unleashed them into Metropolis.'_

Harry filtered the information back to Diana. "Locusts, on your right."

"Wonderful," Diana said, and she could see them, along with the panicked population. It was going to be harder to deal with this in a timely manner when people freaked out around them. "Do you have a plan?"

"I always do," Harry muttered, and with one more swoop, he landed down onto the ground. He motioned for Diana to follow him.

She followed him on down, this had not been her first team-up type situation, especially with Harry. This enemy was far more dangerous than the last one.

The screams of the people unnerved the Amazon princess, and she looked up. The locusts on the other hand, they were merely pests to deal with.

The moment of truth was at hand and Harry stood, and waved his hand in a circle. The locusts, which spread out all over Metropolis, decided to avert their attention to him.

The locusts swarmed towards him, and Arcane waved to them. He could feel Wonder Woman's eyes linger on him, and he muttered underneath his breath two simple words. "Almost there."

Karen, Kara, Donna, Barbara, and Helena all were present in the bond link, but they remained silent. Or maybe Harry blocked their chatter off.

He waved his hands and Tut's plague disappeared into a flash of bright light. Everyone looked confused, and Arcane was already gone along with Wonder Woman. They were left speculating on their mysterious saviors and what their intention was.

"Well, that could have gone badly," Wonder Woman said, and Arcane smiled in response. "I guess that I just expected more of a fight than that, the Royal Guard gave us more of a fight than that first plague."

Arcane wished that it was over. He knew better, it was just beginning. "That's the key thing, Diana, it's the first plague, he will save the worst for last, mark my words."

"I've got something," Barbara chimed in and Harry grunted to indicate that he was all ears. "I think that I might have tracked the signal…..and yes you were right."

Karen and Helena chimed in together through the bond link. _'Of course he was.'_

"Of course you're right, why wouldn't you be right?" Barbara asked. "The signal is not coming from inside the Sphinx, it's just a speaker. I may have uncovered Tut's lair."

Harry slowly turned to Diana. "I know that it must be obvious….."

"Never assume the obvious," Diana said and she waited for Harry to tell her what he thought was obvious.

"But we could be walking very much into a trap."

Diana sighed in response and would have to agree. "I guess that was obvious."

Harry awaited for Barbara to give him the location or the general area. He hoped to shut down Tut once and for all, before he could unleash the other two Plagues. That was his intention anyway and he hoped that it was right.

* * *

><p>Wonder Woman and Arcane stopped in front of an Egyptian themed restaurant that decked out to look like a palace. She turned to Arcane and smiled. "I don't suppose you think that this should be the place."<p>

Harry looked up at the place. It resembled a royal palace and therefore it would fit someone like Tut's vanity.

"It just might be, approach carefully," Harry said he stepped up towards the entrance. Barbara found more information through her searching.

"This closed down last year," Barbara whispered to Harry and when she knew that he had his full attention on her she continued. "It belonged to a guy named Morgan Edge, he's a big time businessman."

'_With criminal ties, although that can't be proven,' _Kara chimed in once again, and Barbara was annoyed that she was interrupted. Kara sounded almost apologetic because of this fact. _'Continue, Babs, continue.'_

"It was a money sink before then, some other guy pawned it off on Edge, who I guess got a nice hefty tax break off of it," she continued, not breaking her stride over the communication network.

Harry smiled, and decided to check the lock. Much to his surprise and interest, someone left the door unlocked. He raised his eyebrow and his trap sense continued to heighten a little bit more.

"So, someone's been here recently," Diana suggested to him, and she paused, and went for the other possibility. "Or they want to make us think that they did."

Harry leaned towards the making them think that someone did, because the tables inside clouded with dust. It seemed to indicate that no one was here for an extremely long time. Appearances could lead to deception.

He saw someone in the shadows, and immediately, he rushed forward and slammed the person on the ground.

It was one of Tut's goons, his Tutlings for lack of a better term, and Harry held her in his grip. She looked to be completely and utterly out to lunch mentally speaking.

"You're the one who ceases to stop the master's dynasty," she whispered to him in a cryptic voice.

Harry had no time and even less patience for the vague words of this woman. "Listen, I'm not paying any games…"

Harry was by the far off look in her eye that Tut brainwashed her, and he slackened his grip on her. He bound her, but she was only a danger to herself at this point. She believed her master's every word and would die for them all.

'_Obvious look out is obvious.'_

There was agreement from Donna's proclamation within the bond link and Harry waited to see if any more Tutlings were around. He watched Diana look from one side to the other. She scoped out the entire restaurant with a long sweeping look and her eyes fell back to Harry.

"Nothing," she muttered in disappointment, she prepared herself for the hunt and now the hunt would have to be delayed for a time.

"I'm sure that you're upset, but…."

An answer was lost to time, an explosion followed. Harry's head spun around and he nearly achieved whiplash when he fell over onto the ground. Diana caught him and held him up.

The explosions rattled all of Metropolis, and Harry heard the screams in the distance. He pushed open the doors of the restaurant and spied it.

Roaring water rushed down the streets and was on approach. Diana looked towards Harry and waited for her worst fears to be confirmed. It was perfectly obvious what was happening now.

"The second plague?"

Harry nodded, they could handle themselves well, the citizens of Metropolis were another matter entirely. Some rushed for higher ground, but as the streets got flooded that they were not going to outrun the tide.

"Hera help us," Diana whispered and Harry took her by the hand, he had to find the origins of the leaks.

'_I'd say we get all of the goddesses in on this one,' _Donna thought, perhaps it was just her, but she sensed something in the air.

This Tut was far more than a demented college professor who got bonked on the head. He had really flipped out on the deep end. Something pushed him further than his own regular psychosis.

"I told you, I told you to pay tribute to me, this is what happens when you play games with me, and you become disloyal subjects, and allow interlopers into my kingdom!"

**To Be Continued On October 14****th**** 2014. **

* * *

><p><strong>So Tut might be a few bricks short. But that's to be expected to be honest. <strong>

**Some Diana and Harry moments in this chapter which is always a good thing.**

**Lois being Lois as always and someone makes a cameo via text message before showing up properly later on. **


	26. Curse of Tut Part Two

**Chapter Twenty Six: Curse of Tut Part Two. **

* * *

><p>Metropolis hit a state of panic, when the floods filled the streets, and there was a city wide evacuation. Everyone lost their minds, which was not good, because thousands could drown if they did not get to safety.<p>

'_And Tut went to the throat for that one,' _Karen added. She flew over the city, and used her X-Ray vision to see where the flooding was the most prominent. There she would find the bombs that he planted, she was sure of that.

Kara followed her and searched as well. She sighed and dive bombed and plucked a civilian who dangled from one of the buildings.

She whimpered in fear and Kara managed to bring her halfway across the city.

"You're in safe hands, trust me," Kara said and she smiled and flew off.

'_A lot of people think that they're invincible, and they could ride the worst of it out…..kind of hard to stop a flood if we don't know where it's starting,' _Kara thought. She had another thought. _'You know for a magical plague, this isn't really…..'_

'_It isn't really what?' _Karen asked her curiously.

'_I mean, he planted bombs…'_

'_Despite his delusions, he doesn't have magical powers, not that the real King Tut ever did,' _Harry replied.

Helena piped in. _'Of course the real King Tut died when he was eighteen years old or so.'_

'_Yeah, the guy's nuttier than a fruit loop, therefore historical accuracy isn't really something that we should expect him to strive for,' _Donna thought, and she placed her hand on the side of her face. _'So, what's the deal with you and Diana…..I mean are you getting close to closing in….'_

That question would have to wait to be answered, for right now Kara dove down to the street level and saw the bubbling underneath the ground.

She smiled when she realized what it was. _'Jackpot.'_

Kara held her breath and dove underneath the water. Karen followed her; perhaps it was not the best idea to go into cold water while wearing a tight costume that clung to her body.

Karen shrugged at the thought of it. _'Oh well too late now, guess we're going to…..'_

Kara stopped her thought process cold and dodged her. The younger blonde crooked one finger and a copper manhole cover waited for them.

The blonde dove down to the manhole cover and placed her hands on it. She squinted her eyes and carefully caused the water not to boil them both when she sliced it open. Then she pulled up the manhole cover.

Kara did the job and could see where the water pumped inwards. It was some kind of crude pump like device that sent the water into the city. It rapidly pumped the water in and out and threatened to flood anyone in the city. She analyzed in an attempt to find some kind of defect in the city.

'_Looks like something that someone build in their basement on a slow afternoon,' _Kara said, but she was not one to argue with the results and the results was that it worked. The blonde looked things over, while Karen sealed the opening so no more water could pump out into the city, at least from this vantage point.

Barbara jumped onto the call. _'Be that as it may, do you think that you can shut it down?'_

'_Please, I built something like this before I walked,' _Kara said, and she pried open the piece of technology. It was time for her to get to work and see what she could do with this.

The blonde worked things and the pumping stopped and just in time too. She thought for one wild second that she and Karen could relax now.

"So, can I breathe now?"

Kara laughed at her older counterparts annoyed expression, but she nodded eagerly. She gave Karen a critical look over and liked what she saw. Mostly because of the white costume clinging to every curve her body and adding to transparency.

"Hey, Supergirl, my eyes are up here,' Karen said. She tried to look all serious, but she was failing at that in the most miserable way possible, which caused Kara's mad giggles to explode. She looked rather mad to be honest.

"I know they are….oh the look on your face, that's priceless."

'_Okay ladies, save it for later, you still got two more pumps to disable.'_

So far, so good for both of them, or at least so far no Tutlings down there, but then again, there was the mysterious third plague that Tut wanted to deliver.

'_You've bought Metropolis some relief, but there are two more points at every point during the city, and you may have to vaporize some of it,' _Helena informed them.

Karen nodded, and she and Kara made their way up so they could go back into the city. _'We'll keep that in mind when we get out there.'_

Never one to be ignored, Donna asked the question that the chaos cut her off by earlier. _'So how are you and Diana….'_

'_Following another lead,' _Harry said sharply. Not that he minded talking to his wives, but they needed to find Tut. He was of the highest priority in the here and now. _'I do have a piece of bad news that I'd like to share with you.'_

Karen groaned and she was far from the only one. _'What?'_

'_Tut took a staff that may have mystical properties.'_

Donna jumped in with the obvious statement and cut off Harry before he could finish speaking. _'I thought you said that he didn't have a single drop of magic in his body, didn't you?'_

Karen and Kara closed in on the second pump, but they knew that they would have to listen to that and exactly why Tut having this staff was extremely dangerous.

'_Magical artifacts are a funny and kind of annoying thing,' _Harry explained to all of the girls and they leaned in closely. _'They can empower people really easily that shouldn't be empowered. And it never ends well, period, no matter how much you slice it.'_

Karen found the pump and disabled it while Kara plugged up the leak. _'So you're pretty much saying that the safest person to have a magical artifact, is a magical person.'_

'_That's exactly what I'm saying,' _Harry said, now that he had a good idea what Tut had in his hands, he could hopefully calibrate a working energy signature with his suit and track the man. _'Power is an interesting thing and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That being said, I wouldn't really trust a magical artifact in the hands of a magical either. But yes they're more adept to holding and controlling the power.'_

Kara could not help, but do a triumphant dance. _'Two down, and one to go.'_

Barbara jumped in to amend her with a correct. _'Two down and one to go, as far as you know.'_

Kara crossed her arms and scowled deeply in response. _'Must you try and bring down everything that I do…..I was just…..'_

'_Easy Kara,' _Harry warned the blonde and she blinked and nodded. _'Just focus on the three that we know about, and we'll try and worry about anything else that might come up. The water levels went down, you two girls are doing an excellent job. Keep up the good work.'_

* * *

><p>"And there's a fourth bomb, but it didn't get detonated," Harry said with the report coming in and Diana stood at his shoulder. Not that he complained at all about one of the bombs not getting detonated, but he really wanted to know why that didn't happen.<p>

Diana looked a bit satisfied by that fact, and Harry turned towards her. She threw her hands up into the air.

"I don't suppose you have anything to do with that, do you?"

Diana smiled in response, she figured that since she got caught red handed, she might as well come unclean. "Well…..since we're in Metropolis, I managed to get in touch with a friend of mine to see if we can get some help….."

Almost as on cue, Harry looked up in the sky. He didn't see a bird, he didn't see a plane, rather he saw something streak across the sky at the speed of light. Or perhaps faster than a speeding bullet, Harry wasn't too sure. Regardless Harry was happy to have some help no matter who it was.

"So that's….."

Diana confirmed what he asked with a wide smile and nodded, placing her hand onto his shoulder. "Yes, that's…"

"I figured as much," Harry replied, but a scream reached his ears. The Blur sighting would have to wait, and the cascading waters went down, but they surrounded on particular area of Metropolis.

The girls didn't take care of the last pump just yet, so Harry saw that a few unfortunate people got caught in the middle. Most of them likely with no thought for their own personal safety.

One of them was Lois Lane herself, who dangled from a flagpole, and several people stood around her, and backed off with the water rising from all sides on a low rooftop.

One of the girls screamed and Lois almost let go. Actually scratch that she did let go. The reporter nearly fell down to her doom. Someone caught her before she did.

Lois prepared to face her usual blur like savor, but found that this was something different. There was a young man dressed in a sleek black bodysuit with a hood pulled over his face, obscuring all of his features.

She hated being in a position, especially when she can do something about it, and really she did a lot to discreetly make sure some of these people did not drown themselves because they obviously had no thought for their own well-being.

'_Then again, I don't have any room to talk at all,' _Lois thought and she turned around to take a look at her savor.

Only said savor was gone and she was on dry land. In fact, upon closer look, all of Metropolis was on dry land. It was amazing, almost as if the flood stopped almost as soon as it started.

Lois shook her head, this was one of those nights she had a feeling, and the King of Insanity still had one more plague to unleash.

_Lois, are you there?'_

Lois realized that she had been in the middle of texting information back and forth, as her cousin helped her uncover where Tut was holed up, and she had got swept away, helping these people.

_Here, yes, I nearly drowned, but sometimes that can't be helped._

_Actually, you can help that, you know._

_Didn't want let that particular cat out of the bag._

_Or you were just hoping for another Blur sighting today…..well she is in the area._

_Actually not the Blur, someone else._

Harry and Diana walked away from the scene, glad to be on mostly dry land. Sure there was some wet spots and a lot of water damage that they couldn't undo, but they were glad.

A storm cloud brewed high above their heads that could be a potentially bad open for things to come today.

Diana turned towards Harry once she caught her breath and smiled. "So, you had your first Lois Lane rescue, didn't you?"

"I guess one could say that, although I might have stopped a train that she was on one time from crashing, or maybe that is a plane," Harry said and he smiled. "This one might have been considered more personal. She does have that unfortunate knack of finding trouble, but…..call me crazy….."

"You know there's nothing in this world that I would really call crazy," Diana said, and she saw enough to realize that there was a fair deal of insanity in the world. Things that made a person's skin crawl if they lived a normal life.

Thankfully Diana didn't live anything remotely approaching a normal life. So she would gladly accept what Harry had to say at face value.

"I think that she could save herself at least half of the time, she just chooses not to, because it's the rush that she gets getting in danger," Harry said and he stopped to make sure that his tracker was properly calibrated. When it was, he continued. "Of course, I think that if she was in any real danger….."

"She would save herself," Diana muttered.

Kara chimed in with her two cents. _'You know, that really does make a lot of sense, her getting off on the danger factor.'_

Harry smiled and decided to praise his two lovely wives. _'You did a good job with disabling the bombs….the city is now safe…..at least until Tut decides to strike again.'_

'_Hopefully you can get close to him before he strikes again,' _Barbara said, and she looked through the records. She had a few probable hideouts for Tut, but all of them came up dead ends so far. Helena searched some of them on her own time, while Harry and Diana tracked in their own way. If they met in the middle, the more the merrier because a number of eyes tracking down Tut would lead them to him. _'You don't…..you don't have any idea where he might be holed up, do you? Because I don't have the slightest idea at all, and that worries me.'_

Harry smiled, he didn't have a direct idea where Tut might be holed up. He popped over to try his old office at Yale, but no luck, and a couple of other places that Tut resided in previously. His house that he lived in with his wife was sold about three years back and McElroy lived in a modest apartment in Metropolis.

That apartment was abandoned, with nothing out of place. It looked as if the person who lived there just left for an extremely long trip.

'_You know, we're just going to have to track him, if he uses the staff again, it may create a tracking beacon that leads us right to him.'_

* * *

><p>Tut hoisted a chair over his head and angrily hurled it against the wall. The chair shattered into hundreds of tiny little toothpick like pieces and he breathed in and out, in an attempt to keep himself calm.<p>

Oh he was calm, he was so calm…..calm as could be.

Tut smashed the table that his scrolls sat on and his henchmen backed up against the wall.

"How is it….how is it…HOW IS IT?" he asked and he started breathing in and out and hyperventilating

Tut slumped down on the table and started to sob which really terrified them. He sobbed and started to smash up the table more and more. His sobs got more pronounced the more he smashed up the table. "I try….I try do what's right for this city. I could protect them all, all they could serve me. All I ask for is a little compensation for my time and efforts…."

Tut stood up to his feet and was straight up. His voice sounded raw when he glared at his men.

"But, no that's too much to ask, that's way too much to ask," Tut whispered harshly and he started to pace back and forth in a circle. "Oh, you think that it wouldn't be, but you know that it's way too much to ask…..from all of them…and now they're interfering with my plans. They coddled them from punishment."

Tut's low and normal voice unsettled the criminals, but jarringly and abruptly, it snapped into the crazed tone that they all knew and loved.

"BUT NO!" Tut shouted and they backed off and freaked out something fierce. The king stood up straight and his eyes glared at them piercingly. "You see, they think of me as nothing but the boy king. They think that I died for the sake of tourism!"

Tut stepped over, and picked up the staff. It hummed in his hand and he started to stab his henchmen in the chest.

"Well they're wrong, wrong, wrong, DEAD WRONG!" Tut yelled. The crazed villain emphasized each word with a sharp jab of the staff and suddenly, the men popped again. He paused, and took a look at them, or what was once his men. "Well, that's an interesting little side effect now isn't it?"

Their skin turned sallow and yellow, their teeth looked jagged and their nails looked black.

"Master, master…."

Tut's eyes glared at the staff and he lifted it to his lips and prepared to kiss it.

At the last instant he pulled back and thought better of it. "No, no, I don't think that you all want me to put my lips around a large wooden staff, now do you?"

Tut's eyes followed them greedily, and the possibilities proved to be endless. Zombies, he should have thought about that earlier. Zombies didn't talk back to him, no they respected the authority.

The second plague was a bust, even though it should have worked. But each generation had its own do-gooders, and Tut ran into his.

He pulled over the view screen, dangle fangled piece of technology or not, it had its uses. His beady little eyes fixed on Arcane and his face looked foul. "Oh you think that you're so clever, I bet that he thinks that he's so clever, doesn't he?"

Tut spun to face the zombies. They all nodded slowly.

"Brains?" one of the zombies asked.

"Don't know, we'll see," Tut said and he got down onto his knees and clutched the staff firmly in his hand. His hand stroked it up and down. "You see here, this is power. It's just like my grandfather told me, the man who commands the largest staff…rules the kingdom."

Tut looked up into the sky and praised the gods. The gods should enjoy the taste of the godhood that they had while things last.

"I thought that I had it all figured out a long time ago but wait…there's something that I'm missing," King Tut said and he sprung up to his feet. He moved with surprisingly agility for an overstuffed Pharaoh and he paced back and forth. "Oh, in the name of Osirius, I should have made a list."

Tut paced back and forth, while his recently zombified subjects stared back at him in confusion.

"Oh let's see, let's see….got to think of something, I had it a minute ago," Tut muttered underneath his breath and he continued his pacing back and forth. He shook his head, he was sure that it would come to him. He raised one beady finger and prepared to tick off his list.. "A kingdom to rule…..soon enough, soon enough."

Tut coughed and lifted up another finger when he checked it off in his head.

"A host of loyal subjects…well it took a little tinkering, but I think we can check that one off of the list."

"BRAINS!"

Tut shrugged, more to himself than anyone else "Okay, they're a little flawed, but no one's perfect, are they?

With a wheezy cough Tut stopped and continued to shift through various ideas in his head.

"Let me see, let me see, let me see…um…power source, I got that one….revenge on all of the people that have ever wronged me…"

Tut's eyes averted to the image of one called Arcane and he added in a grumbling voice. "A work in progress."

The crazed king placed his fingers to the top of his head and started to stroke the top of his head, as if that would stimulate the thought process.

He slammed his hand down and hit one of his followers. He knocked his head off, due to the fact that he was a walking body of rotting flesh.

"Oh, well that's unfortunate, guess I better worry about making them zombie of mind and not zombie of body," Tut whispered, but then he snapped up. Inspiration dawned upon the mighty Pharaoh. "Oh, that's it, that's it, oh, that's it, I'VE GOT IT!"

King Tut held the staff in his hand and dropped down to his knees once again. His smile widened again.

"What was a King….without a Queen?' Tut asked and he rocked back and forth, crazed intentions bubbled in his eyes. "I'll answer that question, nothing, less than nothing; he's really and completely….NOTHING!"

Tut laughed like a crazed lunatic that many people would say that they were.

"Oh mighty staff, tell me what you can see, and tell me where the Queen is, that will make you all that I could be," Tut whispered and the staff rattled in his hand and it imparted wisdom upon him.

If Tut already hadn't been a bit out to lunch already, he would have realized that the staff he held slowly cooked his brain cells. The power of this staff brought him into a new level of insanity that was beyond anything that he knew before.

"Well, well, well, I guess that the stars aligned, and brought us together before my subconscious was unlocked in McElroy's brain," Tut said and he turned the staff over in his head. "You have been kind to me, the only thing that I ever loved you know."

Tut cleared his throat, and he looked to the mirror, his eyes looked blood shot and his skin looked a bit dry. In addition to that lanky hair, he looked like a train wreck, but he put it off to the fact that that Arcane and Wonder Woman stopped two of his three well prepared Plagues.

"You know, if you could be my queen, I would marry you, and it would be such a joyous union," Tut whispered and he caressed the staff. He looked at the staff with adoring eyes and cooed when he stroked the large staff in his hand up and down."But unfortunately, I require someone that can present me with future heirs to the throne, and…."

Tut smiled and looked at the staff.

"It isn't you, it's me, I'm a man of certain tastes, but don't worry, we can remain friends and even retain certain benefits,' Tut whispered lovingly to the staff. "And, I'm sure that our relationship will be stronger than ever before."

Tut snapped himself back to reality, or at least as close back to reality as someone like him reached in this day and age.

"Yes, we need to direct the attention of the two do-gooders, whatshisname and whatshername, it doesn't matter, they are mere peasants," Tut whispered and he smiled at his precious magical staff. "But first, mighty staff…lead the way…"

The staff twisted in Tut's hand and caused the zombies to glow. They returned back to perfect health except for the fact that they were under his control.

The last thing Tut wanted to do was clean up rotted skin and worm flesh.

"Now for a little bit of misdirection to really have some fun."

* * *

><p>"Subjects, lend an ear for a message from King Tut…."<p>

'_And here we go again, the royal pain is going to get another proclamation,' _Diana thought, and she approached the Sphinx and ran her hand over it carefully. She was pretty sure that she missed something glaring.

It drove her completely nuts. Diana swore that she missed something vital on this object, in fact she was pretty damn sure of it. The fact that she couldn't figure out exactly what she missed bugged the ever living shit out of her however.

Harry stood by her, and he waited to see what the third plague would be . The locusts were tame, and the floods were a pain. Both of them were something that he could deal with. There was not a shadow of a doubt in his mind that he drove Tut into a fit.

"So, this is it, the end, the final Plague, and yet not all of you will pay," Tut said and he seemed remorseful. "I thought, I hoped, that you would grow to worship me as your king. I mean, you would stand in line, and give your tribute to me. Lie it down on the ground, pay your tribute. Some have, but not all, and I'm disappointed, extremely disappointed."

His voice flattened, and he sounded more like McElroy then Tut.

"BUTTT…..you're not going to get off the hook that easily, you have ten minutes, and counting before I bring down something that not even any of your heroes can stop!" Tut yelled and he was bombastic again. He ran from hot to cold and back to hot at the drop of a hat.

Harry thought it was curious that none of Tut's guard supervised the ground, and some got incensed with what happened.

Harry and Diana moved to a safer location and rocks bounced off the Sphinx when they threw it at them.

"You see….you see…..I don't do this out of hatred, I do this, because I hoped to impart a lesson on you all," Tut whispered again and he sighed. "But I guess that none of you really don't seem to think that you're worthy of learning a lesson…"

'_Getting closer,' _Barbara thought to him and Harry smiled.

'_I am as well, keep me posted,' _Harry thought and he felt a throbbing headache coming on. He could feel the magic in the air and it sickened him. It was way too much for him to absorb power.

Whatever that staff's intended purpose was, it did not seem to be a very friendly one as far as Harry was concerned.

'_Don't worry, I'll keep you posted,' _Barbara thought, and she smiled. _'Let me know if you learn anything.'_

"…..In ten minutes, the skies will open up, and they will not bring down rain, nor snow, but they will bring down meteors…..you see…only the righteous, those who paid tribute to their god will be spared from this horror, and the wicked…..the wicked will be obliterated. There's still time to pay up, and pay up handsomely, but you see…..I don't know how much more I can do, time's running out."

King Tut laughed at this and people felt revolted by how sick this individual was.

Kara pulled a nasty face in particular. After what Harry told her about the staff, she wasn't too certain what to believe anymore. _'Can he do that?'_

'_He believes that he can do that,' _Harry answered her and the blonde's fist curled up.

Karen whistled. _'Pretty big stretch from being a king to a god.'_

'_That's the magic talking,' _Harry thought, wrinkling his nose. He expected a sanity slip. He didn't expect that one this fast.

"And me and my friend will know if you're trying to cheat us out of one cent and…..this goes out to Arcane and Wonder Woman, because I know that you're watching," Tut continued and he laughed. "YOU EVER TRY AND INTERFERE WITH MY PLANS AGAIN, AND I'LL…."

Tut's anger turned into a full blown level of mindless and completely insane swearing. The sound of smashing furniture echoed and everyone listened. The full blown temper tantrum he gave was one for the ages.

He calmed down and started to breath in and out heavily.

"Sorry, my precious, I didn't want you to see that," Tut said lovingly.

'_Is he talking to the fucking staff?' _Karen asked incredulously.

Harry gave a long and prominent sigh to respond to his wife's question. _'Yeah, I'm afraid that he's talking to the fucking staff.'_

'_The guy's went out to lunch, you know that?' _Kara asked, and there was no response to that that was needed.

Other than the one Donna gave and she snickered. _'Wow, Kara, what was your first clue? The mindless swearing, or the fact that he started to treat the magical staff like a beloved sweetheart….yeah I know this is kind of creepy.'_

Harry heard stories of people killing their entire families and then themselves because the magical artifact told them to so. Or so they thought that it did. Even the more mundane ones were asking for trouble, and wands degraded the ability for magical users to think rationally.

Not that all of them were bad, but most of them were. If anything else, all should be used sparingly and with the greatest discretion.

"I guess, what they say is true…you can….you can go home again, and you'd be reunited with the one that you love the most."

'_Is he talking about the bloody staff again?' _Kara asked, and she wondered if Tut should just fuck and get it over with.

The blonde paused at that disturbing thought that entered her head off of that, and she pulled a face in response.

Diana suddenly thought of something, and she turned towards Harry.

"We heard of McElroy…..the day before the accident happened, didn't we?" Diana asked, and things slowly clicked together in her mind.

Harry remembered it right now, and it all went together. He picked up the phone and tried to dial Helena Sandsmark, but the phone was busy.

"We got to get there now, Doctor Sandsmark might be in horrible danger," Harry said and Diana's eyebrow raised an eyebrow and nodded.

'_I'll see if I can beat you there first, or cut them off if they try something,' _Helena said, but she wondered even with her new and improved grapnel, she wondered if she could make it in time.

* * *

><p>"Mom, did you hear what happened?"<p>

Doctor Helena Sandsmark sighed, when her young daughter, Cassie, spoke over the phone to her. Helena was trying to keep her sanity intact.

"Kind of hard not to," Sandsmark said, she graded some papers from the class that she taught. It was only two times a week, and she frowned at the quality of some of the papers that she had in front of her.

Some of them needed a great deal of revision before they could be considered passable.

She thought about Professor McElroy, he wasn't' really a bad guy. He had a lot of misfortunes in his life, and she thought that he deserved a quiet life. The stress of teaching cause what was a third mental break.

The first one was rather minor all things considered. Granted, it wasn't something that she would wish on anyone, but he recovered.

His wife had been his rock and she died. He went on that rampage and kidnapped several young college students and tried to cut them open to take their organs to revive his wife. Thankfully he was stopped before anything fatal could happen to those students.

He got a job at Met-U, and Helena knew that decision was a lot of controversy. Another fluke accident jarred his alternate personality out, and this was the worst of all.

She half looked on the Internet in between grading papers, and he mentioned that one of his colleagues unearthed a staff that was said to have mystical properties. Doctor Sandsmark slowly put two and two together, and found out what she needed to know.

Actually, the staff was said to have driven every holder of it completely mad. You factored that in with a person with questionable sanity to begin with, there were problems.

"So, Mom, when are you coming home?" Cassie asked and she bounced around impatiently.

"In about twenty minutes, honey, I just got to keep grading a few more papers," Helena said and she frowned and marked another paper.

The idea was sound, but the explanation was poorly sounded. She saw that she had a call on the other line. She was so caught up in her work that she allowed herself to wait a moment.

Cassie jabbered on about her day at school and Helena was glad that she had some background noise, because she needed it to distract herself from what happened.

"Don't worry, I'm sure…"

What Helena was sure of was never said, someone thumped angrily on her doors, and she got to her feet, and she peered over the top of her glasses.

"Mom?" Cassie asked and Helena prepared to let her daughter go so she could call the police.

Then she remembered that because of the flood, they might not be able to get over her any time soon. That proved to be a really kick and unfortunate for her.

She never would have had a chance, because one hulking bruiser kicked open the door and two more followed promptly afterwards.

Doctor Sandmark picked up a vase off of her desk and smashed it into the face of one of her would be abductors, but the other two grabbed her and held her down.

"Hold her tight, our king wants her in one piece," one of the grunted, and he showed something that vaguely resembled human thought and emotion.

Doctor Sandsmark tried to struggle her way out of their grip. They held her down tight and one of them applied a firm grip on her neck and caused her slump down to the ground.

Without another word, the large henchmen dragged her from the office and the frantic screams on the other end of the phone echoed from Cassie.

"MOM, MOM, MOM!"

**To Be Continued On October 17****th**** 2014.**

* * *

><p><strong>King TutMagical Staff equals the OTP. **

**Although I figure that a lot of this chapter should be sponsored by Freud.**

**Wondergirl II gets a bit of a cameo in this chapter. **

**And Tut's madness has been a delight to write. **


	27. Curse of Tut Part Three

**Chapter Twenty-Seven: Curse of Tut Part Three. **

* * *

><p>Things grew much too quiet when Helena Wayne made her way up the fire escape of the wing of Met-U. She suspected that things shouldn't really be this quiet, after all, after Tut went off with several students and faculty, there should be been security. Security seemed to be kind of lacking after this point.<p>

She dropped down right across from her office, and the Huntress stood in the shadows. She saw two guards, slumped over in a chair.

The coffee spilled on the ground, and she rushed forward to check them out once again. She located several marks on the back of their neck and there was only one logical conclusion to come through all that.

'_Poison,' _she thought grimly and she saw the sweat faced guard. He still was breathing.

Helena turned over her shoulder, and saw Harry and Diana walk up the stairs. She didn't even wait for any pleasantries, rather she faced them straight away. "I think we might be too late…"

Harry held up his hand and Helena leaned in to see what they had to say. "Her office is over to the right, why don't I head in there and see what I can find out?"

"Right, and I'll take care of them."

The sense of foreboding increased and the moment that they stopped at the office door the story was told. It only took a moment to ascertain what happened.

"Crudely kicked in," Harry whispered to Diana and he saw the signs of the struggle.

The strangled screams of "MOM, MOM, MOM" could be heard and they got even more frantic by each moment. They were the type of panicked words that could make a person's heart ache and Harry stepped in.

He scanned the area with his suit. The struggle was fairly recent and Harry looked over his shoulder. "They might still be on the premises….."

"I'll search," Diana said, and she slipped off and allowed Harry to get his work done when he looked around the office.

Harry prepared to go on the hunt and quite the hunt it might have been as well. He saw the smashed vase and got a grim sort of satisfaction that Doctor Sandsmark didn't go down without a fight.

That being said, he was no closer to finding Tut again. That fact galled Harry. The only acceptable answer was that this overstuffed pharaoh managed to get ahead of him utilizing the staff.

'_So, think about something that he said,' _Barbara thought, and she racked her brain as well.

Kara scoffed angrily and crossed her arms. _'You know, he said a lot of things, and half of them I can't even remember what he said, you know.'_

'_Yeah, I know that,' _Barbara agreed in confirmation. _'But the problem with criminals like that is that no matter what, they always leave some kind of hint to their plans. They can't help it.'_

Helena agreed with a grim nod. _'It's a psychosis that many criminals cannot even help themselves in having. It's a good thing for an investigation purpose, but you know, if they were a little more intelligent…..'_

She trailed off on that thought, and Harry decided to attend the phone.

"Hello?"

"Who are you?" the girl on the other end of the phone said. "I heard my mother scream and you…..you better not have done anything to her, because I swear if you did….."

"Relax, I came up to visit your mother, and I found out she was gone…..her office has been broken into," Harry said, he didn't know how much help he would get from a distressed young girl, but anything was worth a shot at this point.

Harry could almost feel that she scowled at him over the phone. At least that's what Harry assumed, she sat the phone down.

"She shouldn't have stayed out that late," the girl said in distress. "You…..I don't know who you are, but you got to find her, okay."

"We will…..we will, and we'll bring her home safely," Harry replied, and he was now determined to kick Tut's head in for what he did.

Sickness or not, the man had something coming to him. He had gone beyond the bend. Then again, whoever hired him was in equally bad health, and then…..well they had some problems, some really big problems.

'_Nothing on my end, but I called the police, not sure how much help they'll be given the circumstances, but we could use all of the help that we can get,' _Helena confirmed to Harry and Harry smiled. She paused, and then grimaced. _'We actually have a bit of a problem.'_

Karen jumped on that one right away. _'Just a bit of a problem.'_

Harry sighed and continued to investigate, while he was on the phone with Doctor Sandsmark's daughter. _'What kind of problem?'_

'_Well, the MCU is in a fight with a bunch of zombie royal warriors,' _Helena thought, and many sighs went through the bond. _'So…..'_

'_On it,' _Kara chimed in, and Karen and Donna agreed in response.

'_You know, I'd be out there, but….'_

'_Barbara, don't worry about it, mission support is one of the more vital parts of this entire mess,' _Harry thought her, and he turned around.

Diana returned, standing at the door, and her arms folded underneath her chest.

"Any luck?" he asked her and he hoped that she would have some good news for him for a change.

"They must have escaped through the basement, it's completely trashed," Diana said, and she closed her fist in frustration. "Any luck with you?"

Harry shook his head, and he put the phone up to his ear. "You know, we'll find her, so why don't you try and relax…..yes, I know, but your mother wouldn't want you to panic until she gets back safely."

"If you don't find her, I'm going to have to go out and do it myself," the girl steadily replied and Harry sighed.

"Please don't do that."

'_Donna, I'm going to need to ask a favor of you,' _Harry thought to his young wife.

'_You know, babysitting duties…'_

'_Gives you a taste of what your sister had to deal with, regarding you, I'm sure,' _Barbara chimed in and Kara laughed.

Donna on the other hand pouted, despite the fact that one hand reached in and patted her on the back of the head. _'Okay, I'll make sure the little brat stays put.'_

Harry turned back, he really needed to key Diana in, because there were times where she was confused. He'd have to get right on that after this mission. He decided to give her a brief recap of what happened. "I sent your sister off to keep an eye on Doctor Sandsmark's daughter, because we don't want her playing hero."

Diana wondered if it was wise for Donna to be the one that would play the cooler head. She supposed that there was no choice though.

"That's some sound strategy," Diana said, and Harry smiled at her in response.

"Glad you thought of it that way," Harry answered and then it hit him.

'_You can go home again.'_

Harry frowned and he turned to Diana, who looked confused at the look on his face. Harry leaned in and whispered to her. "I think I have a good idea where Tut is."

It hit Diana at the same moment. How could they have been so blind?

* * *

><p>'<em>I swear, if the clue was right underneath our fucking noses this entire time, I am going to scream,' <em> Karen fired back and she almost looked amused, if she wasn't so agitated by the entire mess.

The Sphinx that Tut gave his grand proclamations rested in the middle of the city, and the people waited for the final plague. The meteor shower he declared had been late, and the Pharoah was not one to build up anticipations in the minds of his subjects. So he wondered what was going on now.

Then again, the MCU battled the zombie hordes that Tut sent, which made Harry think that the meteor shower was well beyond Tut's capacities, a well-orchestrated bluff all things considered. He wouldn't put it past the man to try something drastic if he had been backed into the corner, so Harry decided not to take any chances, if at all.

Harry turned his attention back to the bond and smiled. _'Feel free to scream, because it has been underneath our noses this entire fucking time. We must have passed this a dozen times and…..'_

He stopped and searched around, there was some kind of control that was in this Sphinx, he knew that much. That being said, he couldn't even begin to find it.

"I found something!"

Diana's triumphant shout was music to Harry's ears and he followed her yells to see exactly what she found. She placed her hands on the panels of the Sphinx and saw a set of switches on it.

"They're jammed," Diana said, and she tried to access it, but the Sphinx was non-responsive.

Harry smiled and prepared to use his suit to override what Tut used to override the manual controls of the Sphinx.

A loud grunt was heard behind them and Harry frowned. He could see something coming out of the corner of his eye and without missing a beat, he yelled to Diana. "Watch my backside!"

She smiled, and lifted up a sword and a shield, and ambled forward. "With pleasure."

Diana rushed the zombie warriors, and she realized at once that didn't feel any pain. She dodged their attacks, they might have had weapons that had been dropped in the melee, but using them to any kind of success was another matter entirely.

The sword of one of the zombies clung with hers, and Diana kicked him in the midsection and dodged the attack.

Two of the zombies took each other out, and Diana took out a third on the backswing and knocked one out of the park. The Amazon Princess whipped her lasso forward and wrapped it around the waist of the zombie. With another swift motion she pulled it into huge clothesline.

She launched herself underneath the outstretched arms of the attacker. She pounded away at her attacker, and nailed him with a series of rapid fire punches and doubled him over. The woman pushed him down onto the ground.

"Almost there."

"Don't worry, I've got this," Diana said, she felt herself worked out. She just wished these warriors were a bit stronger to be honest. The Amazon Princess shook her head and dodged the swing. She caught a second one, turned around, and jabbed the weapon into the chest of her enemy.

Harry turned his attention away from the sounds of fighting that occurred over his shoulder, he thought that it was all in good hands.

And he clicked into it, and hooked the Sphinx into his suit. The streets were cleared, which allowed him to roll it back.

He saw an entrance underneath the Sphinx, and he smiled.

'_You can go home again,' _Harry thought, and he nailed the last goon in the back of the head and Diana added a little curb stomp to the back of his head with a grin on her face.

"So, that was fun, but we got to keep moving."

Harry allowed Diana to do the honors and she pulled the cover off of the ground. She dropped down and he dropped down right next to her.

"So, this is one of the abandoned tunnels from when the city is first bit," Diana said, and Harry nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, McElroy figured that one of them leads to the university…"

"WAIT, THE UNIVERSITY?" Diana asked, and she realized what happened. She could have lifted up her hand and palmed her face until it was red. "You mean that we were close to him the entire time."

Harry sensed Diana's distress and wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in close.

"No, not the original Met-U, but rather an old abandoned part of the building that was cleaned out last year to be redone, but they never got around to it."

Harry saw a pair of gates that had been locked, and he heard something come down the tunnel.

"So, you better be ready to fight again."

Diana's face fixed with determination and there was no words based on what she found out.

'_My sister likes her work, you got to give her that much,' _Donna thought, and she grinned when she walked it. _'Oh and Sandsmark's daughter, I've got her, and I'm going to try and keep her from freaking out.'_

'_Good, thank you Donna, I owe you big time,' _Harry thought.

The Amazon Princess responded with a bright grin to her husband and she watched him break open the gate and allow himself entrance to Tut's inner chambers. _'You know, I'm going to hold you to that in due time.'_

'_I know honey, and I know that you'll cash on it, with interest,' _Harry thought and he walked inside.

He saw two more guards waiting near the door, and Diana was on his backside. Both locked eyes and agreed.

Harry would take the one to the right and Diana would take the run to the left. They both rushed in.

Diana slammed into the guard with a kick to the back of the head and slammed him into the wall. The second guard turned to see Diana, which was the point.

That allowed Harry to shock him from behind and cause him to slump down onto the ground. His arms and legs started to twitch with each other.

* * *

><p>Helena Sandsmark wondered how she got into the situation that she did. Her struggles and please to be let out fell onto deaf ears. She strained her neck and looked up at Professor McElroy, who paced back and forth. He got even more panic with each pace that he did and that caused her to be a little bit terrified to be honest. She had gone down into temples with traps in them that had not been half as scary as the horror show that she saw.<p>

"Now, now, I've got the Queen but…..closer, they're getting closer," Tut whispered and he looked up to the staff and stared at it. He muttered underneath his breath and rocked back and forth. "Yes, yes, yes, I know, she looks…..but she'll learn to like it, trust me, trust me. Oh yes, honey, I know."

Helena opened her mouth and closed it, she was too terrified to speak at the moment. Tut had a love affair with that staff. The same staff that was believed to be cursed and caused anyone who used it to be driven mad.

"Professor, Professor…."

Tut's eyes flipped around and glared upon Doctor Sandsmark's face and a snarl appeared on his face. "Your majesty will do nicely for me…."

"Well whatever you want to call yourself, you're gone completely and utterly out of your mind," Helena said and Tut stepped towards her. She could see how mad he's gone and his eyes flashed angrily. "Professor, listen, you're a great man….."

"Oh, well thank you, but that little milktoast McElroy, he didn't really get much done. I, on the other hand, am getting a lot done. Metropolis will be my new Thebes, and…..I can see it in your eyes. You're interested, even a little bit excited to see what I have."

Tut's pacing got even more intense and Helena blanched again.

'_Insane, completely insane…..'_

"You're going to be my queen," Tut said and he leaned forward and cupped her chin in her hand. He pushed her eyes up and Tut eyed her. "And you're going to enjoy that, you're going to get on your knees before me, and worship me, worship your king. Do you understand it, my dear? Do you understand what's going on here?"

Tut cleared his throat and looked at her.

"I don't know…"

"Ah, I can see that you're in awe over me, so I'll tell you what's been going on," Tut whispered and he leaned towards her and whispered harshly in her ear. "The world's gone soft and people don't respect the authority over them, their leaders. They refuse to give them the proper amount of respect. Some paid me, but others don't…."

Helena blinked suddenly and he descended into babbling.

Not only did he descend into babbling, but he started talking to the staff once again.

"I'm sorry I was so angry with you earlier, it's just that Arcane, he's…..there's room for only one Alpha Male in this city," Tut whispered and he clutched the staff tightly. "I will never let you go, there's room for the three of us, for the three of us…."

Tut heard a sound of something crashing from the other room. He coughed madly and cleared his throat.

"Don't worry my dear, I'll be back. And then we can prepare for our wedding."

Doctor Helena Sandsmark wanted to throw up in her mouth just a little bit. Tut waddled off to see the source of the disturbance.

Arcane appeared right next to her and the woman's eyes widened when she saw the young man appear next to her.

"Just hang on tight, and I'll get you out of here…"

"Forget it, you're not taking her anywhere!"

Tut rumbled into the room and stared down Harry. His eyes stared down at him.

"So, you're Arcane, the usurper, the one who has caused treason to my throne!" Tut yelled and he waved his staff around. "You know, I'm going to wipe you out and take you down and you will bow before the might of me, you will bow before the might of TUT!"

Tut screamed out loud and rushed him with the staff. Harry jumped over the top of him and spun around. He planted his foot into the gut of Tut, and pulled the staff out of his hand.

"Come to me, my precious!" Tut yelled, and the staff lifted out of Harry's hand and came back into Tut's hand. "HA! That shows my power or…."

"It shows the fact that the staff wants to eat your soul."

Wonder Woman jumped into the battle, but Tut waved the staff in front of her. She dodged the attack. The energy blast blew a hole through the ground from which she once stood.

"We have to break his power with the staff somehow," Harry said, and he could see the energy pulsing from the staff in an indiscrimate manner. He dodged a blast of energy from the staff, and it blew up one of the exhibits that were stored down.

"Stand still you little weasel!" Tut yelled and he swung the staff towards him.

Harry raised his hands and blasted him. The staff formed a shield around Tut and his eyes glowed. He levitated off of the ground.

"Behold, your majesty!" Tut yelled, and Harry shook his head, he did a duck and roll, and shattered the floor beneath Tut.

Tut fell down beneath the basement area all the way to the sewers below.

Harry wiped the sweat from his face, he wished that this was the end, but he heard some sadistic laughter.

"Take Doctor Sandsmark, and get out of here, I'll handle the boy king," Harry said, and he looked towards Diana.

"Are you sure?" Diana asked and Harry smiled at her.

"Positive," Harry said, and Diana freed Helena from her restraints. She happened the shaken woman up to her feet. She was shell shocked and for good reason. "Go, I need to break the power of the staff, and it's going to be an ugly one I have a feeling."

"Got you," Diana said and she leaned in towards Harry and wrapped her arms around her.

It was a surprisingly, but quite welcomed action. Their lips connected with each other in a passionate display, that caused Doctor Sandsmark to stop and stare at them.

"Are you sure this was the time?" Harry asked her and Diana gave him a prominent smile and she looked at him.

"Seize the moment," Diana said and Harry responded with a nod in response, he couldn't really debate that all that much.

Diana scooped up Helena and the two of them left the area and just in time as well.

* * *

><p>Harry felt a villainous breakdown coming, not that Tut didn't have too far to go before he reached a level of insanity that many could never turn back from.<p>

Nostrils flaring, eyes bulging, heavy breathing, yes he was completely and totally out of his mind and getting closer to snapping.

"YOU, YOU, YOU RUINED IT ALL!"

Tut rose up, surrounded by fire, some of it he practically spat at Harry. He waved his staff and he looked like a demonic creature, as opposed to a portly professor cosplaying as an Egyptian. The so called king stepped towards him and continued to walk towards him. Sighing, Harry lifted his hand up in the air and blocked the attack. The fire blast connected with the stone cold shield, and Harry slammed his fist back against him.

"I'll show you, you'll see, you will bow before royalty!" Tut yelled, he strained to breath, but he worked off of pure power.

Harry blasted him with his full power. Which caused his nerve endings to shoot on fire, but desperate times called for desperate actions and things were completely desperate.

"NO!" Tut yelled and the staff vibrated in his hand. He lost control of it. "Please, please, please, stay with me, you know….."

"Magical artifacts are a bitch sometimes, aren't they?" Arcane asked and he threw his hand back. He gained enough momentum and punched Tut into the wall.

The staff rattled on the ground, and Tut threw himself at the weapon. His hands burned underneath the power of the staff.

"You don't get it, it's like a hit that you can't really shake, isn't it?" Harry asked and he kicked the staff from Tut's hand. He gritted down on his teeth in frustrated. "You keep wanting to use the staff on me, but it's not working well for you."

Tut's ranting was beyond all comprehension. "No, no, no, it wants me, it loves me, it just doesn't know how to show it!"

Harry thought that this entire mess would be kind of funny, if it wasn't so sad. He looked at it, like it was a train wreck waiting to happen. The man went from hot to cold, from blubbering sadness to extreme anger at the speed of light.

The power of the staff fueled his psychosis and Harry knew that if he could break the power, he could end this right now.

'_The zombies are disappearing, just like that,' _Kara thought.

Harry thought that was music to his ears. _'Good, that means Tut is losing control, but someone like that who lost control, he still is losing his mind fairly obviously.'_

Tut slammed his hands on the ground and got up to his feet with wobbling legs. He waved the staff and tried to blast Harry at it.

Harry ricocheted the blast back at Tut and it nailed him full on the chest. He lifted up off of the ground and flew across the room. Tut went to a stop and slammed down against the ground. Everyone could have cringed with the sound of every single bone of his body being broken, being harmed by his own precious.

"Seems like you got screwed over by your precious," Harry said, and he ripped the staff from Tut's hand.

He gave a blood curdling scream of agony when his power completely broke with the staff.

"NO, NO, GIVE IT BACK, I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT IT!"

A little unforeseen circumstance was McElroy's body bursting into flames, the bio energy the staff consumed caught him off guard and it caused his body to twist into a heaping pile of ash and nothing else.

Then the imperial balance began to collapse around Harry's head. That was a moderate little inconvenience, but one that Harry had to expect.

Wonder Woman swooped in, and pulled Harry out of harm's way. Harry was glad for the rescue, especially given the fact that the entire place was about ready to come down onto the back of the head. That being said, he couldn't let one fact about what happened pass without any comment.

"You do realized that I could have flown out of here," Harry said and Diana smiled when she lifted Harry and the staff, which now grew oddly cold and lifeless, out of the rubble that smashed down to the ground.

There was a giant burning hole in the center of Metropolis, and Harry shivered when he felt the damage left behind thanks to that staff.

The ending really was extremely explosive and the only thing that was left over from what proved to be an insane and mind gripping adventure.

"So, he's dead, dead for sure?" Diana asked when she finally returned back to some sense of reality and Harry turned towards her and raised an eyebrow.

"Well, yes he's dead, in the sense that his body has been destroyed," Harry said, and he made sure to keep the staff in his hand. The last thing he wanted to do was for this thing to ruin someone else. Given his instincts, Harry was certain that it ruined the lives of more than a few people.

He was extremely curious where it came from, because it didn't seem to be of Earthly origin. That was something else that he would have to study when the time came right, right now it was time for him to go home.

* * *

><p>Doctor Helena Sandsmark returned home and an intense sigh escaped her lips. She spent some time speaking briefly with the MCU. Many students and teachers underneath Professor McElroy's thrall returned back to normal. They might need some consoling for their ordeal but they would be as okay as they would be normally.<p>

And as for Professor McElroy himself that was a good question as to what happened to him. Helena had some theories herself that she didn't want to shove underneath the rug just yet. One idea that she had was that the staff engulfed him with so much power that it caused him to explode just like that.

It was a nasty end and Doctor Sandsmark felt sorry for the guy, but she really held the people who decided that it was a good idea to give him a job responsible. The good thing was that other than this one incident, he was normal ever since his therapy after the incident after the death of his wife. The bad thing was that one little accident pushed him over the edge.

The exposure to the staff didn't work, never the less, she made her way to the door and knocked on it. She was sure that her daughter was worried sick, especially after how Helena left her over the phone.

A dark haired girl that looked familiar answered the door. Helena thought at first that it was Diana, but she looked a little bit shorter.

"Doctor Sandsmark, Diana called me and let you know that you were coming home after the MCU talked to you," the girl said and she reached forward to shake Doctor Sandsmark's hand in an excited manner. "I'm Donna, Diana's sister…..and I've been here to keep an eye on your daughter to make sure….well….."

Helena smiled in response and looked at Donna. "To make sure that my daughter doesn't do anything that she might end up regretting later like going to play the hero."

Donna laughed, that was at least Harry's exact words, or close enough.

"I'm going to have to thank you and your sister, and Harry as well for all you've done tonight," Helena said and Donna looked at her. She leaned in closer to the young Amazon Princess and whispered in her ear. "Yes, I know, but don't worry, your secret is safe with me."

Donna relaxed a little bit, she should have figured it out.

'_Well, she is a smart woman, so obviously she did,' _Harry said and Donna smiled.

"MOM!"

Cassie bounded down the hallway. The blonde wore a white tank top and a pair of blue jeans, and she had a sheepish grin on her face.

"Donna said that she was going to tie me up if I didn't behave," Cassie said and she pulled a face.

"Well, you should have known that you can't go out like that…"

Cassie folded her arms. "Come on, Wonder Woman doesn't get lectured like this by her mother."

'_Actually she does,' _Donna thought, but she didn't want to spill the beans to the young girl, she might burst in overexcitement. _'Speaking of which, I was honestly surprised my sister wasn't on the bond yet.'_

'_Good things come to those who wait,' _Harry said and he returned back to the lab to take a look at the staff, with Helena and Karen joining him. _'Thanks Donna, I appreciate that, and I do owe you.'_

'_Well, I'll cash in later, but not tonight, she wore me out,' _Donna said.

Kara jumped in with a few amused words of her own. _'I don't know how a ten year old can wear you out, you must be slacking…..'_

'_You watch her next time, and you'll see, Supergirl,' _Donna thought and she smiled. _'I wonder if this is some kind of demented and twisted form of karma from when I was that age.'_

That being said, Donna turned to Doctor Sandsmark. "I can stick around if you want me to….to make sure that everything's okay for the night."

Doctor Sandsmark was about to tell her it was okay, but then she stopped when she realized something. Shaking her head, she smiled. "You know, it really wouldn't be the worst idea to have a super powered bodyguard spend the night here and keep me in trouble."

She said this low enough to where her daughter did not hear this, because Helena thought that she might burst with excitement if she knew that there was a real life superhero.

"Mom, they said that on the news that you got saved by Wonder Woman and that shadow guy…I don't remember what his name is…"

"Arcane," Donna said and Cassie bubbled in excitement. Donna shook her head.

'_She'll be one to watch in a few years,' _Kara said with a wicked smile.

'_Hey, I saw her first,' _Donna said, shaking her head.

"Was the Blur there too?" Cassie asked and her mother turned towards her.

"Cassie, it's getting late, and you should go to bed, it is a school night after all….."

"But Mom!"

Helena's stern gaze focused on her daughter and she closed her eyes.

"Fine, and oh, and I so beat Donna's butt in Go Fish," Cassie said with a smirk on her face.

Donna placed her hands on her hips and glared back at Cassie. "I so let you win."

She scoffed in response. "Sure, that's what the adults always say."

One final "Mom Look" from Helena Sandsmark caused Cassie to bolt up the stairs, pretty fast, although she had questions about what happened to her mother.

"Sorry about my daughter."

"I think that I'm getting a bit of an interesting perspective about how Diana thought of me when I was that age," Donna said and she settled down in the living room. "I'm sure Harry and Diana will be by tomorrow to check in on you but…"

"I think that I need a good hot meal, a nice long shower, and a good night's sleep," Helena told her. "So, do you cook?"

"Depends, do you like your kitchen?" Donna asked casually.

Helena laughed and she got the message loud and clear. With a long sigh that escaped her mouth she inclined her head and murmured underneath her breath. "I guess that we're going for takeout."

"Smart choice," Donna said, not that she minded.

* * *

><p>Harry bent over the staff and it was hard to believe that something that caused so much trouble and misery a short time ago grew completely cold and lifeless underneath his touch. His green eyes fixated on what rested in front of him.<p>

He frowned, pretty sure that he had a good idea what was going on, or maybe. There was something outwardly about this staff, but there had been nothing other than rumors and urban legends. Both could serve to be an interesting story.

Harry wanted more than interesting stories, he wanted the facts and nothing but the facts.

Karen stood herself at his shoulder and placed her hands on the top of his shoulders and smiled. "You know, I don't think that it's going to come to you."

Harry agreed with her. That being said, that didn't stop him from trying to obsess over that staff and where it came from.

He stopped and realized what he was doing.

"You see what it's doing to you, although in a more subdue way, don't you?" Karen asked and she spun Harry around in the chair so he could face her and Helena.

Harry nodded, he had to admit that staff was extremely tricky with the damage that it caused. He would never guessed what it was capable of because it's unassuming look. Without the knowledge that it was capable of some really rotten things.

"The staff causes a person's obsession with it's capabilities to increase, and then absorbs the life force that was in a person," Harry said, and he sighed. "And even the strong willed might be able to get a taste of it."

Harry picked up the staff and rapped it twice on the table. He looked at it appraisingly and carefully got up. He walked it all the way across the room towards the nearest vault.

He shuddered, thinking of the possibilities that the staff could bring, even to a mind that he assumed was well organized and his mind was well organized.

He slid the staff into a top security vault. It blocked any magical energy signatures. Besides he got enough of the data off of the staff so he could plug it into a computer and allow it to work its magic.

"Long day?" Lana asked when she showed up after a second.

Harry swept her into a nice and long hug, and leaned forward. Their lips met in a kiss, and their hands briefly explored each other's bodies.

"As much as I'd like to continue this, I think that there's someone else who wants this even more," Lana said, and she played with Harry's hair briefly. When she was done doing that, she added. "Diana is downstairs in the conference room, she wants to talk to you….."

"That's a lady that I don't think that we should keep waiting," Harry said and he made his way over to the elevator, taking a moment in turn to say goodbye to Helena and Diana.

The journey was short all things considered, he was down in the conference room with moments to spare.

Diana waited for him and she wore a tight white top and a pair of jean shorts. She kicked off her shoes and Harry saw her sophisticated arches, along with her beautiful toes right before him.

"Hi, Harry," Diana said and she offered Harry a chair.

"I should be offering you a chair after all that happened," Harry said and he sat down in front of Diana.

Diana grinned despite herself. "Well I'm sure that there are going to be a few more challenges…..today was quite the day."

"Donna tells me that Helena Sandsmark is doing fine all things considered," Harry informed Diana and Diana smiled, when she rested one of her feet close to Harry's inner thigh.

"That's good, I really hoped that nothing bad would happen to her," Diana said and Harry smiled, with her leg shifting really close to him.

Harry closed his eyes and felt her ease a little bit closer to him, but if this was the game she wanted to play, then so be it.

"We've ran into each other a few times, and I think that it's time to take things to the next level," Diana said and she brushed her foot against the crotch of his pants. Harry caught her foot and started to run his thumb down the bottom her sole. That caused Diana to shiver, but she remained stern and fixated. "I want you, Harry, and I know that there isn't anyone else man or woman who could quite match up with you….."

Diana took her other foot and started to run it down the inner part of Harry's thighs.

"Besides, I can feel my body call out for you, the fact that you're a strong Alpha, and I need someone as strong as you in my life," Diana whispered to him and her hair hung alluringly down from her hair.

She used her big toe to slowly remove Harry's pants and pull the zipper down to expose a little bit more of him. The Amazon Princess smiled when she felt Harry become undone a little bit more at each time. She brimmed with excitement with what was about to happen next.

Harry grew in his pants and he held Diana's feet.

"Perfect," Harry said and he smiled when she pushed his pants down with her feet, showing great skill and determination.

"I know, I know that you think that I am and thank you," Diana answered for him and she slowly prepared to go in for the kill.

She knew that during this trip to Man's World she would have Harry in the palm of her hand and bonded with him. And now it was time to go in for some long overdue fun.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued On October 21<strong>**th**** 2014. **

**Wrapping this up arc with a bang. And Tut really hoisted himself up and hung himself out to dry on that one. **

**We see a bit of interaction between the two Wondergirls, more of that down the line, especially when Cassie gets older. **

**Diana and Harry I'm sure many people were waiting for. **


	28. Not So Lazy, Lazy Day

**Chapter Twenty-Eight: Not So Lazy, Lazy Day. **

* * *

><p>Harry didn't think that he was going to ever forget that last adventure any time soon and he meant that. Neither would the city that experienced it. Metropolis still recovered from it in the days that were to come much later. It was going to be an extremely long and bittering harsh road to recovery when it was all said and done.<p>

"Oh come on, I almost got it done!"

Alexandra tried to transfigure a pot into a pillow, but the problem was that she couldn't quite get the shape right.

Transfiguration was not one of Harry's favorite branches of magic, at least on a conceptual level. There was a lot of the class that was useless until they got to the interesting stuff. The problem was that a lot of people complicated the easy stuff, so it was hard for anyone to accomplish anything. Therefore, the interesting stuff was something that was delayed.

That being said, transfiguration had other uses, other the obvious transfiguration of objects. It allowed a person mental focus to do other forms of magic. Some might argue that it could be useful in combat granted, but Harry thought that by the time that a bit of transfiguration was done, you'd achieve far more satisfying results when you punched a guy in the face.

That was just Harry thought.

"Come on, this is…" Alex said and she curled her fists up, when she tried the exercise. She got so close that she could feel it.

Harry raised an eyebrow and lean in close to her. "You know, you should take a deep breath, because you're not going to accomplish anything magic wise if you ever freak out."

Alex curled her arms up over her chest and gave a scowl.

'_That's precious,' _Donna thought.

Diana, enjoying her newly acquired bond privileges, jumped in the conversation. _'You know, you're equally as upset when you can't accomplish something like that.'_

Donna folded her arms. It was nice having some privacy from her sister while it lasted. Not that she complained about it, because it was only inevitable that she joined the group wit Harry.

"Okay, you need to really take a deep breath," Harry said and he placed his hand on Alex's shoulder. The girl blinked suddenly and nodded. "Magic is a tricky thing, you can manipulate it, or it can manipulate you. The choice is really yours."

Alex scowled deeper if that was even possible. Magic did a wonderful job in manipulating her something fierce.

"Okay, focus on the end result you want, and block out any obstacles," Harry said, and he waved his hand to demonstrate to his younger self how to do this.

"You make it look so easy," Alex said, but she shook her head. "Okay focus on the end result, and block out any obstacles."

Alex screwed her eyes shut in deep concentration, and Harry patted her on the shoulder. She felt that she would get it eventually.

Harry afforded the best magical tutors that money could buy. There were bits of magic that would be a stumbling block for anyone. Books and tutors could only get a person so far, before they stumbled and bumbled. Alex struck one of these stumbling blocks head on.

The most interesting thing for Harry was that she almost tripped over something that shouldn't trip her up. He was pretty sure when she figured it out, it would be off and ready at the races.

"I think that I got it," Alex said, and she paused when she looked at the pillow that was once a pot. She tapped on it, it was still kind of hard and jagged. "Okay, at least I got the shape right."

Harry leaned in to give her some advice. "The shape is the first aspect, but it's just an illusion if you only get the shape. A partial transfiguration I guess that would be the best way to go about it."

Alex nodded and soaked up the knowledge. The pot was out in front of her. She bit on her lip, trying to do so again.

"Sorry I'm late."

Harry turned around and saw a dark haired woman standing in the doorway. She wore a black shirt, jeans, and had an extremely fit body all the way around. She walked forward towards Harry with a smile on her face.

"No, Zee, you're actually a bit early, we just wanted to get a jump start on the lessons."

Zatanna Zatara smiled at him. "Oh…..well I suppose that's a good idea. I think my father would have had a heart attack if I ever got a jump start on my lessons. Then again, I would had to get up pretty early to be him for starting."

Harry laughed and the woman smiled at him.

"So, I think that you can go right now, I'll take it from here," Zatanna said to him and she added hastily. "Not that I want to get rid of you or anything, it's just that…."

Her words got lost. Harry closed in the gap between the two of them.

"Trust me, I know and I understand," Harry said with a smile towards her and he stepped a bit closer towards her. "If you need anything, you know how to find me."

"I do," Zatanna said a bit boldly, and she decided to jump on the opportunity while the iron was hot. "Actually I have something to tell you, privately, away from Alex."

Harry considered that fact a little bit, and then he moved to lean in towards his cousin. "Keep practicing."

With those words, Zatanna and Harry left the room and the dark haired magical user looked rather nervous.

Harry could tell that she was nervous. He was a patient man. He had to be because otherwise he would have been driven mad a long time ago.

"So, I was wondering, if you're not busy or something…" Zatanna started and she looked at him with a smile on her face. "Do you want to go and get something to eat?"

Harry smiled, he wondered when this was coming. He looked forward to meeting his daughter's mentor better.

"I do owe you a dinner from all the help that you've done."

Zatanna shook her head. "All of what you're paying me is more than enough, it's too much in fact…"

"Standard magical tutor fees believe it or not," Harry responded to her and Zatanna believed it. She settled a hand on her hip. "I know, they might seem overpaid, but I think that you're worth it."

Zatanna couldn't help herself after that, she grinned. Leaning in close to Harry, she whispered in his ear.

"Don't worry, I'm glad that you think that I'm worth it," the woman answered and she pulled back just in time to look in Harry's dazzling green eyes. They were something that knocked the socks off most women who had taken a look at them. It was really hard for her to keep her inhibitions in check. "So, are you are…."

"Let me know what's good for you," Harry said and Zatanna smiled.

"Anytime is good for me, but I know that you're busy, with everything that's been happening," Zatanna told him and Harry smiled.

"Very busy," Harry agreed with her and the two of them stared each other down for a few seconds.

"I GOT IT!"

That little moment was broken up and Zatanna managed to come to her senses. "Well, I'll see you later…"

"I better get going," Harry said and he grabbed her hand and placed his lips onto it.

Zatanna really wished for more, but she supposed that could have waited until later. She had a bit of a crush on Harry ever since that he hired her for that job, but she wrestled with herself. It might be considered to be a bit unprofessional.

Her head shook in frustration, screw being unprofessional, she wanted to do what she wanted for once in her life.

She did have a job to do and she returned to see what Alex did. Amusement filled her eyes when the girl looked impatient at not having her accomplishment properly acknowledged.

* * *

><p>Donna and Diana walked around in the Potter Estate, well one of them anyway. The younger Amazon princess just got back after leaving the Sandsmark residence. She needed a vacation, especially when she let it slip to Cassie that she was Wonder Woman's sister.<p>

That was the worst mistake Donna ever did in her life and that was saying a lot. That being said, she couldn't focus on that, rather she needed to focus on giving her sister a tour of the mansion.

"Have you ever been here?" Donna asked, and Diana smiled and answered in affirmation.

"Once," Diana admitted and Donna turned to her sister and placed her hands upon her hips before she asked the obvious question.

"And how were you not on the bond before me?"

Diana waved her hand. "That was all on me, I wanted to make sure everything was okay. But the problem was facing my mother and to a lesser extent the goddesses, you know how they are about giving permission, don't you?"

"Yes, I do," Donna answered shaking her head and smiling at her older sister. "But, you know, they were okay with the Harry thing…"

"That surprised me, I don't want to even know what my mother said to them," Diana said, and that was something she envisioned. Hippolyta implied what she said, but implying something and saying something were two different things entirely. "My mother hasn't had the best luck with men before…well you've heard the stories."

"Many of them were from I'm born, so I don't know how true that they are…."

"Well, let's just say that Harry was the first man who came to the island and didn't immediately enslave all of the Amazons or try to at least," Diana replied darkly. Donna whistled delicately. "It isn't the fault of men in general, it's just the ones who have a reason to seek us out normally…"

"Have less than savory intentions, I know."

Donna again heard the stories, but she added with a saucy grin.

"With Harry, I don't think that there's no trickery needed."

"Yes, some of them looked willing to throw themselves at Harry, consequences be damned," Diana said and they walked down the long and winding hallway. Harry would join them a moment later. "Of course, we got there first, so they're just going to deal with that, aren't they?"

Donna cleared her throat in response. "I believe that I was the one that got there first."

"Don't split hairs Donna," Diana said firmly to her sister, and Donna shook her head.

"Okay fine, we were discussing my mother and the bad luck that she had with men…."

"Yes, we were," Diana said and she gave her sister a calculating smile. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Donna laughed with an amused grin on her face. "You know, I was just thinking the same thing, that we should get our mother laid and laid hard by a real young stud. And we just happen to have one available."

Diana frowned, not exactly the verbiage she was going for, but she took it all the same. She did foresee a problem which she relayed to Donna.

"You know how mother is, she'll see any kind of ruse to manipulate her into Harry's bed coming a mile away," Diana warned Donna.

Donna's shoulders popped up into a nice little shrug. "Hey, give me some credit, you know that there's no manipulation at all needed, especially with a handsome young man like Harry."

Diana sighed, she wondered what exactly her sister was planning, but at the same time, she kind of was terrifying. Donna was not known for her tact.

"So, it was as great as you imagined it," Donna said.

She caught Diana off guard with this jarring change of tracts. That being said, she nodded with a grin on her face. "It was like a dream come true."

"It was pretty hot," Donna shtrrf and Diana raised her eyebrow. "And you know it's every guy's fantasy to have a mother and her two daughters at the same time. And considering our mother needs a big injection of Vitamin D….."

"Donna!" Diana yelled, sounding scandalized.

"Sorry, Kara taught me that one," Donna said and she looked sheepish.

The girl in question bounced onto the network to defend herself. _'Oh sure, blame me for your deviance, Donna Troy. Diana, I'd highly recommend spanking her for that one.'_

'_I'd pay to see that,' _Karen inputted.

'_You know, don't say that I haven't thought about it,' _Diana said.

Donna got all huffy about the suggestion. She couldn't really say anything, the door popped open.

Harry walked inside, he was going to meet with the two sisters to see how Diana came along in finding her new room at the Manor. What he found was both girls hunched together and discussing something with each other.

They intensely plotted something, which Harry corked an eyebrow at. That rarely turned out to be favorable for anyone, any kind of intense plotting.

"And what are you two ladies up to now?" Harry asked and both girls spun around to face Harry.

Donna thought about a million good excuses that she could give Harry with what they were up to, but sure enough she found none.

She decided to do the thing that was most obvious. The Amazon Princess leaned forward and pushed Harry against the wall. Her legs snaked around his waist with one fluid motion, and she pushed her lips onto him.

That wasn't the answer that Harry wanted, but that was the answer that he would take. Donna's tongue pushed deep into his mouth and he returned fire.

His hands roamed underneath her top and she squealed into his mouth.

Diana smiled, her eyebrow raised at this sudden intrusion by her sister into Harry's mouth, but she shrugged her shoulders.

'_When in Rome….'_

* * *

><p>"So, I've studied some of the readings from the staff that you've found," Karen replied.<p>

In response to these words, Harry turned towards her, half of an eyebrow raised and he wondered what she had to say about it.

There were a multitude of projects that they had on the table right now. The cave that they found in Smallville was one, the origins of the staff were the other, and exactly when, not where but when, was Patricia Swann. So needless to say, they had a lot of their work cut out for them in the not so distant future.

That being said, Harry was intrigued with what Karen uncovered, if she uncovered anything at all.

"And…"

"That's just it, I'm studying the staff, but for the most part, it's a work in progress," Karen said and she placed her hand on Harry's shoulder. "Helena and I are still working on the other project…..you know which one."

Harry smiled, he knew what one, and he knew why this bothered Helena and Karen in such a way. The two of them could not find their lost friend, and hell it bothered Harry. She was right behind him, likely less than a second margin of error.

Then again, sometimes that was just all that it took for something to happen. As much as Harry hated to admit it, that was the case, plain and simple, bottom line, no question about it.

"So…?"

"No luck yet, if you must know," Karen said and there was a thinly veiled sigh that escaped from her lips. She thought that every time she came closer to something, the rug got pulled out from underneath her.

Then almost as if on cue, something occurred that caught their collective attention again, and Harry leaned in to see what was going on. A frown appeared on his face.

"Another detected Cosmic radiation?" Harry asked.

"This one was the strongest one yet," Karen said and she punched up the most likely coordinates where it would originate. "I think this might actually tie into our other problem."

Helena decided to inject her own level of optimism into the situation. "Well, it's likely to be that way, isn't it?"

There was something about her tone that Harry figured was off, but he couldn't really place it off hand. Then he realized that she wanted to get no one's hopes up, especially her own. Harry leaned in and placed his arm around her shoulder and smiled.

"We'll see what it's all about, it could be something big happening," Harry said and to be honest, right now, they were kind of at a little bit of a lull. There was a sense that the calm existed right before the storm

Karen sighed, she hated to agree with her husband, especially when he was right.

"So, what's the latest on the gang war in Gotham City?" Karen asked, she decided to deflect subjects into something else.

Helena answered and this was an answer that surprised all of them. "Amazingly, it's all been quiet."

"Really?" Harry asked her and Helena nodded in agreement.

'_It's more of a cold war right now, where all sides are arming each other,' _Barbara thought, and she didn't tap into the computers of all sides. Of course some of the criminal outfits were so old school, they didn't make the transition all that well into the computer age. _'The same is mostly true in Metropolis, although Intergang always rears its ugly head.'_

'_The problem is I think that it's broken into so many factions, it's hard to really get a fix on any of them,' _Lana thought, and she shook her head in response. She finally got used to the bond traffic, at least where she got comfortable enough to be able to hop onto the call and interact with her fellow sister-wives. _'You know, Morgan Edge is running the things, he aspires to be the next Lionel Luthor.'_

'_Extremely scary thought is scary,' _Karen thought, the real Luthors were bad enough, they didn't need wannabes out there.

To be fair, the elder Luthor played a far more cerebral game than his son did in her world. At least he was less antagonist and seemed to regard any capes with amusement at best.

Then again, all he did was some extremely shady business practices, not something that was in their jurisdiction to bust down the door about. They worked on building their business.

'_So, are we still on?' _Kara asked and she could barely hold her excitement back, because it reached a fever pitch.

She honestly was glad that she got some alone time with Harry. Not that she minded sharing him with the other girls, far from it. To have as many girls as possible was a sigh of strength, when many men could barely even handle one.

'_Don't worry Kara, we're still on, I wouldn't miss it for the world,' _Harry answered and his wife was on cloud nine.

'_Oh that's good,' _Kara said and she bounced up and down. An action that did some extremely wonderful and alluring things to her breasts when she bounced up and down casually and calmly.

'_I think she's excited,' _Karen chimed in and everyone laughed at her utterly blasé, but entirely accurate statement.

Harry decided to take one more look at the data from the cosmic powered radiation that pumped in and then he was off to be on an extremely important date.

* * *

><p>Kara wore a red shirt along with a flowing blue mini-skirt that extended down past her knees, when she walked out from the movie theater with Harry. The blonde smiled at the look on Harry's face. She knew what he was thinking.<p>

"Okay, the movie was pretty tacky…."

"Alien invasion movies often are pretty tacky," Harry said and Kara shrugged, and laughed.

"Hollywood, they really have no idea what real aliens look like, do they? I mean most of them look pretty human to begin with, although our skin tone might be slightly different. But none of them look quite like that. Why does everything have to be so grey?"

"You know, why don't you ask Hollywood why they do the things that they do?" Harry asked and Kara smiled, when she snuggled into his arm. The blonde hovered halfway off of the ground and then stopped at Harry's look. "Besides it wasn't really the movie that mattered, it was the company that we had when we saw the movie."

Kara grinned, and rested her head down onto Harry's shoulder. That was so true.

A Metropolis sunset really was extremely beautiful; Kara felt her breath be taken completely away when she saw it. She shifted up against Harry when he held her tight towards her.

"Just basking in the moment that I'm sharing," Kara said, and Harry smiled. "I guess that seems like a line out of one of those tacky love movies or something."

Harry cupped her face and pulled her in close to him. Kara lazily rested in his hands and the two of them exchanged a kiss with each other. The blonde's eyes widened and she didn't care who knew it, she wanted to make sure the kiss was extremely heated.

Kara leaned into him, and Harry's hand slowly ran down her back. She closed her eyes. His firm hand caressed the bare flesh on her back and it caused a heat to rise between her legs.

Harry indulged himself in her for a brief time longer, his hand caressed the heated area between her legs and he pulled back up. He looked back up at her.

"Sometimes, the tackiest lines work, depending on the circumstances."

Kara didn't necessarily disagree with that, at least not completely. That being said, she wanted to fly to the nearest bed and take Harry right now.

Unfortunately, that would have to wait as her eagle eared hearing heard an alarm.

'_Ugh, why at all of the criminals in this city fucking cock-blocks?' _Kara asked and she grabbed onto the wall. She retracted her hand when she realized that she crushed it.

Karen raised her eyebrow and commented in the most casual voice that she could manage. _'You don't say?'_

Kara shook her head; she could hear a high amount of sympathy in her older sister's voice, along with a complete lack of sympathy as well. So to say that it was a paradox to be honest.

"Speaking of Intergang," Harry whispered, and they saw the armored thugs make their way into the bank.

Harry caught a brief glimpse of them through the window, and Kara stared through the window, using her X-Ray vision to see what was inside.

"Of course," Kara said and she could see that these were two of the same idiots that she beat up last week. Punch clock goons, not really worth more of her time, and they just robbed banks, likely to get funds from the Kingpin of Metropolis known as Morgan Edge.

Kara dove through the ground and decided to surprise them by one side.

Harry chuckled, amused at his wife's ability to jump head long into things. Once the chuckle faded from him, he faded into the distance.

"Alright, we got to get out of here…..this thing is so quick that it can out run the Blur," one of the goons said, but he didn't seem so confident.

"Well, if it can outrun the Blur, then why are we rushing?"

"Because, there's a chance that Ugly is full of shit, and this thing gets popped before we can get out of the vault," the member of Intergang said, when he piled the money into the back of their little transport vehicle.

"I don't know why the boss has us robbing banks, I mean…..isn't he worth millions?"

"You're an idiot who really needs to keep up with what's happening around you," one of the men grunted, and he slammed a drill down onto the ground. "You should know by now that the boss is worth billions…"

"And you know, you guys aren't really worth that much to him."

A blonde flash popped from underneath the ground and punched the nearest thug. She sent him careening into the wall.

"It's the Blur!" one of the thugs shouted, losing his head and he tripped over his fallen comrade. That did a wonderful job of knocking him out.

'_A real winner that one,' _Kara thought, and she smiled when she watched one of them yanked into the shadows and beaten down by Harry. She winced at the brutal beating that her husband laid on them.

One of the goons tried to nail her with the drill, but she dodged it. Turning around, she blistered him with a kick to the face.

"You know, these guys are kind of sad," Kara said, she almost felt sorry for them, except for the fact that she didn't feel sorry for them at all.

Harry tied them up and they struggled and spat and cursed at them.

"Yeah, I know, you're going to make me pay," Harry said and he stared down what appeared to be the leader of the pack. At least he was the one that looked the least dumb out of them. Perhaps one who had a few brain cells that worked together in a somewhat functioning way. Especially when compared to the other goons. "I've heard this before, over and over again, to the point of repetition. I really wish that you would get a new line, because it's getting extremely old."

Harry cupped the man roughly by the face and pushed it up so he could look in his eyes.

"I'm going to ask you once, but not again," Harry whispered in his ear. "Tell me what you're doing here, and what you know about the partnership between Morgan Edge and the Penguin?"

The goon stumbled and stammered over his words, but he knew that he might not wake up in a hospital; he might wake up in a morgue if he didn't choose his words extremely carefully.

* * *

><p>"Okay, I've got a couple of ideas about the staff," Karen said and she smiled, before she brought one point to light for all of them to think about. "And it's as I suspected…"<p>

"What did you expect?" Harry asked her.

Karen jumped in with some interesting news. "The staff, a part of at least, is made out of Nth metal. Not that much, maybe just a small bit of the handle, but that's extremely curious."

'_Given that how rare Nth metal is, it is,' _Kara answered. _'Thanagar…that's where the biggest pocket of it, isn't it?'_

'_The Thanagarians use it for their weapons, and they're…..well they're a spirited bunch,' _Karen thought and she laughed.

Helena responded in a dry manner. _'You mean that they're the type to shoot first, and ask questions only if they feel like it, don't you?'_

'_Exactly, although I think that most of them either died out or moved on to other parts of the universe,' _Kara explained to them. _'There were a lot of wars that happened, where a lot of alien races didn't make it. Krypton tried to isolate themselves from most of that, but we had our other problems. A civil war at home that caused the planet's core to become unstable. And we thought that we were safe on Argo…..'_

'_Has your cousin been ducking me?' _Harry asked after a second and that abrupt line of questioning caught Kara off guard.

'_You know, I don't know, mostly because I didn't ask,' _Kara delicately replied.

Harry let the subject go at that and then they went back to the staff. They didn't have it out obviously.

"And it's made of other components that are not known to this Earth," Karen added and Harry frowned, extremely thoughtful before he brought up a point that he wished to consider.

"What I want to know is what the Core is made out of?" Harry asked and both of the girls turned towards him. "An extremely powerful magical object is going to have a Core of some sort, the little sticks that the people back home have, have them."

"I don't suppose we could find that out short of busting the staff open," Karen suggested.

Harry scoffed. "Lots of luck with that, because I think that it has some extremely powerful magical enchantments."

"We should talk to Doctor Sandsmark," Helena said, and both her spouses turned towards her. "She was studying the staff. She could have some valuable information to help us."

"With Tut's spirit currently trapped inside the staff, she would be the only one that would be able to know which temple it got unearthed from in the first place," Harry answered and the two girls looked at him.

"I've got something to take care of so….."

'_Don't worry, Karen, Harry, and I can handle it,' _Diana thought, she wanted an opportunity to check in personally to see how Doctor Sandsmark was doing, so this was just as well.

'_Thank you, I appreciate that,' _Helena thought, she made the trips back and forth from Gotham City for a specialized purpose. Also, there were business reasons, if they ever wanted to establish an RAO base there.

Donna could not help, but be amused by something. In fact, she looked extremely amused and that caused Diana to be extremely confused.

'_What exactly are you laughing about?' _Diana asked.

Donna could barely keep the grin off of her face. _'Well one young Miss Sandsmark sees you, she's going to freak out….'_

'_I think that Doctor Sandsmark might be equally interested in seeing you,' _Harry added in response.

Diana blinked for a second and added with a smile. _'You know, I think that she might be equally interested in seeing you…'_

Karen and Harry left the office that they were using. No sooner did they take five steps out of the office, Diana waited for them.

"So are you ready?" Diana asked and Harry responded with one of those smiles."

"Let's do it."

* * *

><p>Helena Sandsmark leaned back on the couch, bored out of her mind. She could have gone back to work. After she was kidnapped by one of her former colleagues, the university decided to give her time off. And paid double, likely because they didn't want a liability suit to come back and bite them in the ass.<p>

Technically, it was their fault that Professor McElroy was exposed to the staff in the first place that knocked him back into his alter ego.

She heard her doorbell ring and she jumped off on seat. Helena nearly caused herself to take a tumble on the rug, but she avoided that embarrassing little pratful.

"Doctor Sandsmark?"

She realized that she tripped the moment and landed in the arms of Harry Potter. Which was an envious place to be, but Helena wanted to crawl into a hole and stay there for some time, out of the embarrassment that happened.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked her and Helena cleared her throat and stood up to a standing position.

'_Smooth,' _Karen said, and she folded her arms underneath her chest and smiled.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Diana….it's good to see you again, and…"

"This is Karen, she's one of the founders of RAO along with me," Harry said.

Doctor Sandsmark leaned forward to shake Karen's hand to greet her. Perhaps it was just her imagination, but Harry seemed to be rather closely pressed between both of the girls. Then again, her imagination ran wild at the thought of her being closely pressed between Harry and Diana.

That being said, she doubted that they visited her to be bombarded by the sexual fantasies of a sex starved single mother, so she vowed to remain professional as she could be.

"So, what can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if you had any information about where the staff got unearthed from," Harry said to her.

Helena frowned. "You mean the staff that blew up with Professor McElroy, when we couldn't find it or his remains."

It was obvious that she knew Diana and Harry left with the staff, along with their costumed identities. She wasn't going to rat them out to the police. It was a lot safer in their extremely able hands anyway.

"Yes, that staff."

She had the material right there that she looked up, all of the records. She looked over it earlier.

"Here's a copy of everything that I have on it," she told them, and Harry smiled.

"Thank you, you're too kind, we appreciate it."

It was in the middle of a desolate part of Egypt, his favorite type of place to go all things considered. His sigh became extremely lengthy when he looked over the piece of paper he held in his hand.

"I'd ask the three of you in for lunch, but I'm sure that you're on a deadline," Helena said.

Harry smiled at her. "Another time, maybe?"

"Yes, maybe," she agreed, again she wanted not to come off as too desperate. After Cassie's father dumped and ran, without even a note, she was a bit gun shy about relationships. She did show interest in Harry.

"Mom, who were you talking to?"

Helena turned around and smiled at her daughter who perched herself on the center step of the stage. "Some visitors, you just missed them though."

It struck Cassie who they were and it disappointed her that she missed them.

"Why don't you wash up for lunch?"

Cassie was too disappointed at herself to do anything, but agree.

**To Be Continued On October 24****th****, 2014. **

* * *

><p><strong>So bit of a transition chapter, although some quality character interaction exists here. <strong>


	29. Ancient Answers Part One

**Chapter 29: Ancient Answers Part One. **

* * *

><p>The deserts of Egypt were a hostile location for anyone. This was for many reasons. The most prominent reason that there were a few magical artifacts that the kings and queens of the long distant passed buried in the temples. Prime targets for tomb raiders and tomb robbers. Some of those tomb raiders and tomb robbers entered the desert. They never left the desert however.<p>

Harry stepped off of the private jet that arrived first and he looked over his shoulder. Helena followed him next, her business in Gotham City concluded just in time for this trip. Then Karen followed close behind, and Diana. The four of them dressed for the desert weather, but they prepared for something else at a moment's notice.

"Now, keep on your toes, I know that I don't have to tell you, but at the same time, I feel like…."

"Don't worry, we know more than anyone else," Diana commented with her most firm tone of voice. After the episode with the staff, she wasn't really taking any chances. She was being extremely careful.

For an entire life time, she trained in the Amazon fighting style. Against some of the toughest women warriors on the island and if Diana could admit it, in those early years, she spent more time on her ass, then on her feet. Her mother was the prime person that caused her to take that position.

"So, Doctor Sandsmark said that the temple would be around here somewhere?" Helena asked and Harry nodded in confirmation.

"That's what she said," Harry said and Helena raised her eyebrow and nodded. "But…..you know there is a possibility that the temple could move itself."

It was the mark how much weird shit that all of them had been through that they didn't even bother to ask how a temple could move itself.

"Actually, it hasn't strayed much further than you would think," Karen said and she pointed at the entrance.

The entrance partially remained open and Harry wondered if someone beat them to the punch. That being said, there was only one way to find out and that was to take the plunge.

He dropped feet first down onto the ground, where he landed. The ground was fairly soft, not abrasive, not really.

"Okay, the rest of you can come down now, it's fine," Harry called back to them.

Helena was the next one who dropped her way down to the ground and she shook her head with a long sigh.

"He's right," Helena said and Karen and Diana dropped down a bit more gracefully then she did. She rummaged through her belt for a flashlight.

The torches on the walls magically lit up and illuminated the tunnel for them. Helena's lips curled into a grimace when she looked over her shoulder, and then back at the tunnel in front of her. "Does it help to say that I really don't like the looks of this?"

"You and I both," Harry replied and he placed his hand on her shoulders.

The further they walked down the tunnel, there was a lot more not to like the looks of at all. His green eyes viewed forward, and saw them lying on the ground.

"Oh, that's really….ugh," Karen groaned and she saw the skeletal remains of several tomb raiders on the ground.

Karen saw that a few people went down in the temple and they raised the ire of something down there or someone. She wasn't really completely sure exactly what.

"So, I'm guessing that we should touch nothing," Diana said and she saw Harry look over his shoulder and cast her one of those looks. "Yeah, I about figured as much."

Harry ran a scan on the markings of the walls. If Doctor Sandsmark was correct, the chamber that the staff had been found was closer. It was just a matter of unearthing it and finding what he needed to find.

It went without saying that Harry got the foreboding sense that they weren't supposed to be there and there was something deep within the temple that knew it. More bones, human bones, laid on the ground. That added to the grim atmosphere that was.

The glow that came further from the temple enticed all of them. The quartet stopped and stared and regained their bearings.

"There's something behind this door," Karen whispered and she paused and added the obvious statement. "Or someone."

No sooner did Karen say this something happened that caused them all to become a bit tenser. The doors swung open almost on their own accord and Helena remained rigid. She was ready to attack first and ask questions only when she felt like it.

"Not foreboding at all, isn't it?' Karen asked.

'_I feel like I should be playing some creepy music when you go down that tunnel,' _Barbara thought. She tried to look up more information about the temple, but she hit a road block. She slammed her hand on the desk angrily in her own frustration. _'In case you couldn't tell, that was me being disappointed about my failure about how I couldn't find a damn bit of information.'_

"Well we found something," Harry said, he wasn't sure if he should be excited by this or more suspicious about this.

He went down a fifty-fifty path towards this.

"We found something alright," Karen said and this grew baffling by each moment.

Harry recalled the facts in his mind. "And this vessel…..it appears to be some weird mixture or sorcery and alien technology and….."

An image painted on the wall of the chamber, of redhead female with green eyes who was surrounded by a cosmic entity. Said cosmic entity resembled the Phoenix and Harry looked over drawings. Best he could tell by putting context clues together was that it spoke of a great and terrifying power.

"That time of power…..beautiful but scary," Karen whispered and she vaguely remembered a legend.

She couldn't wrap her brain around what that legend was. Kara fortunately was able to jump in and tell her.

'_It resembles the Flamebird entity…only…it's different,' _Kara replied, her eyes transfixed along with the rest of them. She couldn't believe that she saw such a thing before her.

Helena's ears perked up, someone was coming. And down in a temple, someone coming was coming. It certainly wasn't going to be the welcome wagon.

Harry turned around, he expected zombie warriors or statues that come to life, or just something to attack him. He had bad luck with Ancient Runes. They always caused something to come to life to try and end his life.

That being said, it was neither. A woman appeared at the edge of the temple. Her red hair tied back in a ponytail and she wore a pair of sunglasses that perched on the tip of her nose, along with green eyes. She wore a long and bulky looking overcoat, which contrasted with the rest of her gear, a form fitting black half shirt, and a pair of tight black pants that fit against her body. She looked at them with a surprised look on her face, especially when she recognized one of them off hand.

"What are you doing down here?" she asked and she looked towards them.

"You know, I could have to ask the same about you," Karen said and the woman looked back at her.

'_Oh this is going to be when stubborn forces collide, isn't it?' _Kara asked and she could barely hold back her glee. If she was inclined to do so, she would have rubbed her hands together.

"We're investigating the temple, someone took a staff from here, and went on a murderous rampage due to it," Harry said, but he was intrigued by how absolutely casual she seemed by this news.

It was almost like she knew what happened.

"I know," she replied to him and looked determined when she looked at him. "I heard, but that's just the tip of the iceberg…I'm not sure how much I believe in curses. There's something in this temple that's caused most of anyone who has accessed any of the objects inside to go completely insane."

Harry just gave one of those looks. "And you're trying to figure out what…..and why?"

"I'm someone who is interested in unraveling the mysteries from the past," she commented when she stared down at Harry. "I'm Shayera Hall…..and I know who you are Doctor Potter. I should have known that tomb exploring was right down your alleyway."

"Yes, I'm sure that you would have thought so," Harry said and there was something extremely curious about this new arrival.

Not nearly as curious as the temple looked. The temper was had a distinct Kryptonian influence. There were also a few other influences added to the temple. He was almost certain that this was an abandoned alien spaceship that a King refitted for his own purpose, not quite certain what he had.

* * *

><p>"There is a lot of mystery and intrigue surround this temple," Shayera said, when they explored the insides hours later. "Many have tried to break in to steal the artifacts inside but…."<p>

"And many haven't been successful," Harry said and he wondered how much of this temple/ship was missed. Few of these details were in the notes that Doctor Sandsmark gave to them.

There were many details that had been yet to be unearthed. Harry hoped to overturn some things during his time down here.

"But a couple have been too successful, and that leads us to the fact that some people left their lives behind and joined them," Shayera said.

Helena, being the detective, jumped onto this straight away. "Joined who?"

"The cult, they want to bring back the old order from Egypt's past to the modern world, and they don't care who they have to sacrifice to do so," Shayera said. She shuddered at the thought of those monsters. "I know, they sound like real winners, but they're gaining a movement by each passing day. Their members are more fanatic, either you're with them, or against them."

"No respect for neutrality," Harry said to her.

"None, they've killed people who have entered this temple," Shayera said grimly.

Harry could tell that there was some kind of dangerous and charismatic leader at large immediately. It was always like that in this situation.

"So, the remains aren't from this mysterious temple, rather they're from….the cultists?" Karen asked, and she tried to wrap her mind around that thought.

"Yes, in part, but I'm sure that some of them are from messing around artifacts that were far beyond their comprehension," Shayera said and she placed her hand down onto the wall. It was more of an absent minded action than anything. The woman hoped not to activate it. "This temple…it was almost like someone rammed several pieces of ancient alien technology together…."

"Yeah, I got that impression as well," Karen said, whistling when she looked over the technology of the temple.

"Do you know anything about this?" Harry asked. He thought that there was something off about Shayera, but he didn't know what.

'_What are you thinking?' _Diana asked to Harry.

'_I'll know in a minute, when she confirms it,' _Harry said, there was something about wearing a bulky overcoat in the desert that seemed odd.

"Parts of this ship is from a race known as the Kryptonians, not much is known of them, although there were rumors that their planet was destroyed," Shayera said.

Karen frowned, perhaps it was just her imagination, but they were not the only ones who fished for information. At least from what Shayera was saying. She might have spent too much time around Helena and Harry. It made her properly paranoid.

"And parts of this ship are from a race known as Thanagarians, some of whom who are reborn every generation, after dying, in increasingly brutal and violent ways," Shayera added. "The metal in this temple is the hardest metal in the universe…"

"Nth metal…"

"Yes, it can repel magic, or enhance it depending on how you engineer it," Shayera said. "Of course, given the natural properties, tinkering with it to enhance magic takes an extremely skilled hand. It has a very strong likelihood to blow up in a person's face."

"I see," Harry said. "And the staff…would the metal increase the metal degradation?"

"Yes," Shayera said without skipping a beat. "Sorcery is not something that should be fooled around with, and when mixed with technology, there is an even more dangerous fact to think about."

Harry agreed with that, he did think about that.

"At least someone has their head on straight because of things like that," Harry said. If more people would have learned this lesson, he wouldn't have had half of the headaches he did.

"There's just something about you four…..you're not from around here…."

"We're not natives of Egypt," Helena said. The bluntness of her statement was almost comical.

Shayera waved off her words. "That's not what I meant…but I guess there's just something different about you, I can't put my finger on it…"

Was it something alien? She couldn't really tell. Then again, she had room to talk given what she was. She hoped to find answers that would end the endless cycle that she had been trapped in for a thousand years, death and destruction.

Others managed to break the cycle, her mate for several cycles finally found peace, but Shayera did not. That fact alone made her think that her mission was not done yet. Each life ended, but this one was the first that she woke up in a new life alone and truly the last of her kind.

Meanwhile, Harry gazed upon the temple and frowned when he looked over it. There was something that he couldn't pinpoint about what was happening. Perhaps he overlooked some vital piece of information that would blow the lid off of his past. What exactly happened when he was sent through the veil. Those strange feelings of Deja-Vu he felt when he met up with Karen.

Was it possible that he got reincarnated somehow from another life? That would explain a lot.

Before he could think too clearly about this, something rumbled to life over his shoulder. The young man stood still and heard something.

They didn't know what that is, but it wasn't good.

* * *

><p>"So this is what you talked about earlier, wasn't it?" Diana asked and her eyes looked over the statues which slowly came to life.<p>

Harry groaned, he should have seen this one coming. He did see this one coming.

Their meeting got cut short and there was a loud rumble around them. Shayera turned towards them and she was at a loss to what could have activated them. Unless there was more than these five roaming around the temple, which was an extremely possible thing.

The redhead arched her neck forward and looked up high. She leaned herself back and gave a pressing sigh in response.

"They're not too friendly," Karen said and without another word, she reared her arm back and plastered one of the statues.

The pieces of debris flew when the blonde's fist cracked into the statue. The blonde stepped back and viewed the fruits of her labor. She couldn't be too pleased with herself, there was a lot to do.

"Yes, that's what I talked about earlier," Harry said, and he dodged the large iron mace that one of the statues swung. He used his knowledge of the Quidditch field, where he manipulated many of stupid adversaries against each other. They smashed the iron maces into each other and they crumbled down to the ground. "You know, I have this rather abusive relationship with Ancient Runes, I don't know why…..I don't know how…"

Shayera ripped one of the maces from the hand of one of the stone creatures and smashed it into the chest of him.

"But they just activate when I'm around," Harry said, half watching Diana take them out one at a time. Their only purpose seemed to be for destructive strategy, they didn't seem to have any capability for any strategy, which was just as well. "I have no idea why…"

"Well, gives us a work out," Karen said and she speared one of them into the wall.

"You know, I'm beginning to think that magic just has it out for me, just by living, but maybe I'm imagining things," Harry said, seeing a bolt of light shoot at him.

Harry dodged it, perhaps he wasn't imagining. He pulled himself up and slammed his fist down onto the back of the head of his enemy.

"For fuck's sake," Karen grumbled and she was beginning to get annoyed by these things on sheer principle.

"My thoughts exactly," Shayera said and she yanked the mace away from one of the warriors. She swung it with expert ability and knocked the statues over like they were nothing. They toppled down onto the ground like toppled bowling pins.

"Not too bad," Harry cheered and Shayera could not help, but flash him a smile in response. She wound up for the pitch and slammed one out of the park.

"Thanks, not too bad yourself," Shayera said.

The two of them fought side by side. The numbers dwindled down.

"They seem to have it out for you," Shayera commented.

"You know, I'm pretty sure that magic hates me," Harry said and he blew up the statues so they didn't reform. He scattered the dust particles to further make sure. "But you know what; I'm not having a very good relationship with it right about now either, so it's just as well."

Harry blew them up something really nice and everything settled back to a crawl. He bent down onto one knee.

"Well on the bright side, I didn't suffer any horrific injuries like the last time statues came to life and tried to kill me," Harry said and Karen and Helena leaned down to hold him up. He smiled in response when he looked over his shoulder at them. "Thank you, but I'm okay, really I'm okay."

"Are you really okay?" Karen asked and she could see Harry's penetrating gaze fire onto her body. "Okay, you're fine."

Harry only had one word to respond. "Exactly."

"Okay, that was an eventful part of my day, but…..that raises more questions than answers," Shayera said and Karen whistled and shook her head.

"Maybe, maybe not, statues like that would have to be programmed, because look," Karen said and she saw bits of the electrical components frazzle to a crisp.

"I see," Shayera said, and she looked over the technology. Someone had been in this temple and redecorated a little bit over the years.

Harry was in one of those moods. It was simply because really the more that he knew, the less that he understood. And the less he understood, the more frustrated the he got. This combination of science and sorcery gave him a splitting headache.

"Yes, but how do you explain that?" Harry asked and he turned over towards a wall, with a glowing symbol on it. "Help me find a direct power source if you can?"

Karen's eyes traveled over the wall and scanned for any power source that she could find. She saw nothing, not even a microchip. This entire mission went to finding answers about the staff, but it moved into something else entirely.

'_I think that we found some answers,' _Karen replied smoothly and swiftly. Her chest inhaled and exhaled. _'It just isn't the ones that we wanted.'_

Shayera frowned when she looked at all of them. She hadn't had a good battle like this in a long time and she knew that they would ask questions later about how well she fought. The redhead already came up with a cover story in her mind to work around that. She just wasn't really sure if any of this group would buy it.

"There's something extremely fishy going on around here," Harry said and he placed his hand onto the wall.

Diana let in a breath. "Are you sure that's the best idea?"

"No," Harry bluntly told her, but at this point, they needed answers more than they needed to worry about safety.

His eyes focused on the temple. He would find out these answers no matter what the risk was.

And he knew that one person in their party knew a few more answers than she was telling. It was time to bring things around.

* * *

><p>A loud humming could be heard with a group of individuals walked around in a random and extremely creepy manner and circled each other. They stood by each other and locked hands with each other.<p>

They surrounded a flaming platform and looked on forward. The flames shot up and they looked transfixed, to the fact that they worshipped it. There was an extremely long pause, before a figure stepped out.

This figure wore a dark black robe that extended past the ground. The only thing that was visible was his eyes that showed milk white slits. He passed the men and two others dragged a woman who was tied up next to them on the platform. She squirmed and begged for mercy. There was no mercy for the treason that she's caused the rest of the cult.

"No, please don't, no, I believe, I believe!" she yelled with horror dancing through her voice.

No one dared to help her, because anyone who may have dared to help her would have shared her fate. The horror that went through the woman's eyes boiled was an emotion that chilled hardened men to the bone. That being said, they dragged her like she was a piece of garbage and threw her in the center of the circle.

The cult members closed ranks around her, and the leader stepped forward, and climbed up next to the flaming platform.

"All bow before the might of our savior, who is coming," the cult leader said and he raised his arms into the air. "They will all cleanse the world of the wicked nature of modern civilization."

A crack of thunder almost punctuated his words on cue and terror filled the face of the young woman. She curled up on the ground and shook like a leaf in a tree. She wasn't about to free herself from this predicament that she was in.

"There before us lies a sinner!"

The woman shrieked and tried to get up, but two of the large men who dragged her in pushed her down onto the ground. They pulled her limbs back like she was nothing and held her down into place.

"This sinner refused to follow the light, and as a result, she will be cast into the darkness," one of them whispered and another thunder crack rose up from the sky.

"Feel the power that we hold and tremble before us," the man whispered and he dropped down to the ground. The woman's head lifted up and she shook her head completely in defiance.

"Please, note, you're killing people, this isn't right…"

"I only do what is necessary for our savior, and we pay tribute to her, the mighty Phoenix," the cult leader said and he pulled a large knife from his cloak. He waved it in front of the woman's face who trembled and about threw herself into a fit of some sort.

"Please no, please no, please no, please no," she begged and she was scared to death.

"Your children already were punished for your defiance, and now it was your turn," the cult leader whispered and he drew the blade of the knife across his own finger and dropped it into the fire.

The flames flashed up and the cultists clapped in response.

"Do you swear undying loyalty to the Phoenix?" the man whispered and he bent down and clutched her around the face.

"I can't…my children…."

"Your children were unneeded, they were a distraction," the cult leader said without any remorse in his voice.

The woman looked at him, with fury in her eyes. "YOU BASTARD!"

He slapped her hard down to the ground.

"Be silent," the man whispered, wrapping his hand around her throat when he forced her onto the ground."You don't dare call me. I am the messenger of a god. Therefore I own your soul, do you hear me?"

"The Phoenix never chose you, you took her name in vain," the woman whispered and she felt blood trickle down her mouth. The warm taste of it flowing from her mouth nearly gagged her.

"Lies, I won't accept them, not in my world," the cult leader whispered and he let her go, for a moment.

She would appreciate oxygen long enough before they killed her.

"I will lead them to a promise land, the world has gone soft, and the people in this world along with it," the cult leader said and he leaned down and scratched her face. "And you're one of them who has grown the softest of them all, haven't you?"

"No, I believe in the Phoenix, it's just that I don't believe that some mass murderer has chosen her…."the woman whispered, her dark hair framing her face, with the trickles of blood splashing from her mouth.

"Useless harlot," the leader said coldly as he slammed his fist down on her back and forced her down onto her face. "I'm not amused by your tongue, especially when it could be better served for other things."

The man lifted her up with surprising strength and threatened to drop her down to the pit of jagged rocks below the platform.

He turned and made an about face. Holding her by the back of her head, he marched her over to the burning platform.

The cultists watched as their leader rubbed the betrayers face into the burning hot embers. Her screams unsettled a few of them, but none were willing to speak up, because they didn't want to share their fate.

"The winged demon approaches," the cult leader whispered and he waved his hand. "You cannot be saved forever…."

The woman fell backwards onto the ground and screamed, her face severely burned from what happened. The cult leader walked into the night, with his followers.

The man in the hooded robes watched, he had been after this one for quite some time. Each life of hers, it was destined to end by his hand. One cheated him out of his victory by breaking the cycle, but this meant that he would have to continue the cycle by killing her more brutally this round.

This Phoenix Force they worshipped, he wished to obtain her remarkable power. That's why he usurped their cult and only imprisoned their previous leader so they could get knowledge of what power he could hold. There would need to be a sacrifice at the proper time, and he would obtain ultimate power.

He would not die in this cycle along with the hawks, his life would be eternal, and he would live forever. The world would tremble before his might.

* * *

><p>Shayera's rage boiled over when he came across a woman being tortured by the cult, who narrowly escaped her wrath once again. She realized who stirred up these fanatics even more, and knew that time was of the essence to put a stop to them.<p>

The same thing happened for as long as she could remember, again and again. The man was driven insane by the cycle in his own right, in his own way. Only he was already bent when the cycle started and Shayera thought about that when he held the woman in her arms, her tearful eyes streaming again.

She'd like to say that this was going to be alright, but Shayera couldn't bring it to herself to comfort the woman with empty words. Her face was severely burned, but that was minored compared to what he wanted to do to her. The cultists followed him.

She really wished to say that some did it completely out of fear, but others they did it out of devotion. They believed that he could take them to the promise land and get them what they wanted, get them what they desired.

Not realizing for the simple fact that he wasn't going to do anything that didn't benefit himself. Shayera learned that numerous lifetimes ago.

"Just lie still," she said, she kept her voice oddly calm and tranquil even though her hands shook. She held them down on the top of the woman's face.

The woman closed her eyes and shuddered when Shayera checked over her burns. The damage was quite extensive.

"What the hell happened?"

Harry showed up and Shayera nearly turned around and took his head off with the mace. He caught it in his hands before she hit him. That was fairly impressive in its own right.

"Easy now, I'm on your side," Harry said, making sure to hold the mace steadily. When he was sure that Shayera wouldn't knock his head back across the Atlantic, he released his grip on the mace.

She took her breath.

"Yes, I can see that," Shayera said calmly. She was on a hair trigger temper. "Sorry about that, it's just the cult…..the cult happened."

Shayera ran her fingers down the face of the woman and tried to apply cream to heal her burns. She would need to get out of the country and into medical care fast.

'_I found something…..' _Helena said and stopped.

'_Helena we need your help, we've got an injury,' _Harry thought. Whatever Helena found, it would have to wait until later, much later. This was a matter that approached great and present urgency.

Harry looked at the woman who painfully rested on the cot. She looked stricken beyond all terror and her face burned.

"My babies, my babies," she whispered underneath her breath and Shayera's eyes darkened several shades. Harry wasn't much better in keeping his anger in check, there was only one reason for these words and they all knew it.

Moments later, Helena turned up and saw the woman lying on the cot that Shayera set up in her tent outside.

'_Just to let you know, there were some creepy looking people lurking around on the outside of the tent,' _Karen thought.

"There's some…..the cultists, they might be lurking around outside the tent," Harry informed Shayera, the thought of this appeared as if it alarmed her.

She hoped that they didn't find her base of operations, but if they did, well she would take care of it sometime.

"So, how did you find her…..and bring her back this quickly?" Harry asked and Shayera stepped back to allow Helena to do her work.

An awkward moment of silence presented itself.

"I guess that I better come clean, even though you've already figured out what happened, didn't you?" Shayera asked and Harry nodded in response. "I'm Shayera Hol of Thanagar, at least I am in this life."

"So, you've been through things like this before," Harry said and Shayera nodded.

"I'll stay with her, the two of you go out and see if there's any smoke to what Karen saw….."

A loud explosion resounded around them and Shayera rushed from the temple suddenly, where she joined Diana and Karen. Harry brought up the rear.

"You have something that belongs to me, hawk," the hooded cult leader whispered, his voice silk and sickly. "And I want her returned….."

"What, so you could sacrifice her in your never ending quest to break the cycle?" Shayera asked and her hands clutched the mace. So tightly, that it was obvious that she imagined them around the cult leaders throat. "Yes, Hath-Set I know that it's you…..but this is a new low…."

"I should have clipped your rights a long time ago," he whispered harshly and he turned and waved his finger over his shoulder. "Now, you're going to suffer the consequences."

Harry wasn't too keen on hearing another villain monologue, so he pulled a throwing dagger out of the sleeve of his costume and flung it at his enemy.

One of the cultists dove behind their leader and took the blow, blunt in the face. Harry thought that they were the definition of fanatical to begin with and this proved it.

"They'll spill my blood for me, and they'll spill your blood for me," he whispered and he pointed to the cultists, who had high tech alien weapons. Three simple words punctuated his next statement. "Eradicate them all."

"You know, for people who want to bring the world to more simpler times, you seem to have no problem using weapons straight out of Star Wars," Karen said, hands clasped firmly on her hips. "But I suppose like most cult leaders, you're nothing but a big flaming hypocrite."

Karen ,Diana, Harry, and Shayera prepared themselves to fight Hath-Set and his cult followers, who raided the various tombs and hit the jackpot thanks to their weapons.

Now it was time to cash in.

**To Be Continued On October 28****th**** 2014.**

* * *

><p><strong>Hawkgirl makes her grand debut in this arc and we're getting all the pieces in place. <strong>

**Yes, Karen, you are growing more paranoid because of your wife and husband. **


	30. Ancient Answers Part Two

**Chapter Thirty: Ancient Answers Part Two. **

* * *

><p>Arcane braced himself for a fight. He didn't see these guys as being too skilled, but fanatics had the ability to surprise you. So he knew what he was going up against and he tried to get a good view at everyone. He saw a few of them hiding in the shadows, about ready to spring out and attack him straight away.<p>

He was dressed and ready for attack. The young man prepared to fight them off one at a time.

"Destroy them all."

Power Girl knocked one of them into the middle of next week with a huge kick to the head. Two charged at her, with daggers extended, but she caught them and bent them in her hands. They crushed like tin cans. "Oh, right, like that's going to work, I mean come on now."

She hoisted herself up into the air. When she came back down, both fists extended and drilled them down onto the back of their heads.

The cultists fell to the ground, the wind knocked out of them.

Shayera saw two of the larger members rush at her out of the corner of her eye.

"Really, you've gone from true believers to mindless sheep," Shayera said and she swung her mace forward. One of them took a huge shot directly to the face and this attack doubled him over.

She felt Hath-Set rush up behind her, but she grabbed him by the throat.

"I didn't expect you to be the kind of person to attack a person from the front," Shayera said and she squeezed the man's neck.

"I wonder if you kill me, do you go with me ,and the cycle continues again?"

"You know, I'm willing to test that theory," Shayera said through gritted teeth and Hath-Set left her open from an attack from behind.

One of the cultists charged forward and tried to slam the knife right into the wings of the enemy.

Wonder Woman jumped in and blocked the blade with her bracelets. She grabbed the cultist's arm and cracked him about the shoulder. She brought him down to a standing position and stood on top of him like he was nothing. She stomped his chest a couple more times and knocked the wind firmly out of him.

She flipped him over and yanked his head back. Slamming him onto the ground, she felt satisfaction with what happened.

"They're all willing to die for me," Hath-Set whispered and the goons circled around them.

Shayera swung her mace and knocked them onto their backs.

"That's their stupidity," Shayera said and she raised the mace, she had waited a long time for this.

One of the cultists dodged in front of her and took the full force hint. The man himself kept running fast as he could.

"He's getting away," Power Girl said, and she used her heat vision to heat up the spear in the hand of her enemy. The burning ashes caused him to yelp, and she flew forward.

Arcane watched his wife knock her enemy flush on his backside with a huge punch. It rattled him, but Arcane's eyes were on a medallion that one of the cultists dropped. It had the insignia of the Phoenix on it. It had a glowing allure that caught his attention.

"I know he's getting away," Hawkgirl said, and one of the cultists jumped at her. She dodged his attack carefully and spun around. She slammed her mace down onto his chest and dropped him to a kneeling position. With another movement, she kicked him hard in the face. This attack slammed him down on the ground and hard. "He's been getting away for years, and I can't do anything about it."

"Don't worry, we'll get him," Harry said in encouragement and he lifted his hands into the air.

He confused the cultists. They were fanatical, but their intelligence was something that was up for a lot of debate. He jumped up high into the air, and then dropped down on either side of them.

Several miniature silver balls fired out of his costume and impacted his enemies. It rattled them and nearly knocked them off of his feet. They screamed in abject horror when they dropped onto their back.

"There's a gas inside them that resets their nervous system, they'll wake up in twelve hours, more than plenty of time to sort out who was with him on their own volition and who had been brain washed."

"Nice," Shayera said and she meant that from the bottom of her heart. She raised the mace up over the top of her head and slammed it directly onto the top of the head of her enemy. It resounded down onto her enemy with a solid clang.

The clang echoed even more when she grabbed the man around the shoulder and pinned him back. This guy looked important, at least he had one of those medallions that signified that he was special, or at least he thought that he was.

"Winged, demon, harlot," he whispered and blood spurted from his mouth. Shayera's grip formed a huge squeeze around his shoulder and the bones slightly cracked.

"Your boss has abandoned you…"

"All of us will willingly die, for the Phoenix signifies a rebirth if we truly believe," the man said. He looked completely and utterly beyond all reason.

"Then, you won't willingly die, because you know that you'll come back to life," Harry said and he hovered up next to Shayera and stared the man down that she dangled from her grip. "And you know that Hath won't share the Phoenix Force. He wants the power for himself."

"He's not afraid to let you die," Shayera said and she rocked her enemy back and forth. "But he is willing sacrifice you so he could live. You are a disgrace."

"No, you don't believe, therefore you'll perish, that's the law of the Phoenix," the cultist whispered and her nails dug firmly into his shoulder when she held him up and looked him into the eyes.

Harry didn't know what to believe. He translated enough of the enscryption to guess that this Phoenix Force might in fact exist, but the fact was that he doubted very much that it would do a bunch of murdering cultists anything.

"He's useless, he doesn't even know what's happening," Harry said and he ripped the medallion off of the neck of the cultist.

The cultist shook when he had the medallion ripped from his neck. It was almost like his identity ripped away from him. He screamed in anguish.

"Drama much," Karen muttered underneath her breath.

"No," Harry said. "Fanaticism and loads of it."

* * *

><p>"So, what do you make of these markings on the medallion?" Diana asked Harry after they interrogated three more cultists that had been left behind.<p>

None of them were willing to talk. Hath-Set either did an extremely good job on wiping their memories from their past life or they really believed in everything that he shoved down their throat. Either way, they weren't going to tell anything.

"I think that the Phoenix exists."

Karen turned to Harry for a second and her mouth opened and shut. "But I'm sensing that there is something else to this entire situation."

"This entire ship, it's a combination of Kryptonian and Thanagarian technology, right?" Harry asked and he turned to both Karen and Shayera who confirmed it was. Harry pinched the bridge of his nose and pushed forward with the next question. "But there are also some bits of technology that you can't really figure out what it is. So there's something extremely odd going on here."

The medallion in his hand pulsed with a similar aura that the staff Tut used had. So he was pretty sure that it came from the same place. It did a good job in making the people manic.

"Whether or not the Phoenix is real or not, that doesn't matter, does it?" Shayera asked and she sighed long and hard. "The fact of the matter is that he's out there and he believes that he could get unlimited power…..ultimate power, from the Phoenix Force. Even if he doesn't…"

Harry snapped his fingers and he got it.

"He believes that there is a ritual of some sort where he can acquire that kind of power," Harry answered and his sigh escalated even more. "And you know how much magical rituals can go wrong."

"I might have a slight idea," Shayera said darkly. She didn't have too much direct experience, but there were more than enough horror stories out there. Her skin crawled even more.

"He disappeared into the night, he disappeared into the desert, there must be another temple out there other than the one that we're in."

Karen shook her head, she spat at that statement at such a rapid fire fury that she felt nearly overwhelmed. That being said, she threw her head back and added in a calm voice. "The question is, where?"

"This medallion might be a good start," Harry mused when he looked over it. "But by the time we figure it out, it might be too late."

"Of course, I've never tried it before, but it could work," Diana said and she removed the Lasso from her belt. It glowed.

Shayera raised her eyebrow and she looked at Diana in surprise. "What is that, some kind of Lasso of Truth?"

"Actually, yes," Diana said and she walked towards the cultist, who was down for the count. The fog that was in his mind slowly returned. "If it works as intended, and if he knows anything about Hath-Set, will be able to squeeze the truth out of him."

Diana hauled the ragged cultist up to his feet and she placed the Lasso around him. Karen, Shayera, and Harry all exchanged a look and they all thought about the same thing. Whatever was happening, it worked like a charm.

"What's Hath-Set's plan?"

"It's going to happen at midnight," the cultist whispered and he seemed to be struggling. He thrashed about, as if he was trying to hurt himself.

It was obvious that the condition was strong, but Diana's lasso overrode any conditioning that he had. Therefore despite his best efforts, he was not able to break free from the Lasso's immense pull.

"What's going to happen at midnight?" Harry asked her.

"It's going to happen, the arising, the coming of the Phoenix, and you can't stop it," the cultist whispered and his body shuddered. "We must all die to trigger the rebirth. Finally the world will be cleansed, and finally…..finally everything that will be perfect."

"Why did Hath-Set try and kill that woman?" Karen demanded and he laughed.

"She was a non-believer, she strayed from the cause, despite the fact that all must perish to unleash the Phoenix, all men, women, and children," the cultist whispered harshly and his throat got completely raw. "All of them who hesitate in fact suffer, all who choose to go with us shall be rewarded. We got her children to comply her. They distracted her from her faith."

Harry felt sickened and revolted and he turned to look at Diana.

"Nothing can be lip service when the Lasso is around him," Diana said and she fought her desire to hurt this man. That wouldn't help anything. Already a mother lost her children and how many more members had been lost to this crazed cult.

"You say that it's going to happen at midnight, where he's going to sacrifice his own followers to summon the Phoenix," Harry whispered.

"Yes, I've said that," the man responded in a raspy tone, his throat sounding very raw. It was almost like the Lasso forced the words from his throat.

"But he isn't going down with them, is he?" Shayera asked and Karen placed her hand on Shayera's shoulder.

"One must live so the Phoenix can find him," the cultist whispered harshly and Diana twisted the lasso around him.

"So in other words, he's willing to kill dozens upon the hundreds that he already killed, just to sate him with a little bit of power," Shayera said and she looked at the cultist. "And he really did a job for you…"

"The shackles are removed from us, we'll finally be free," the goon whispered and Diana struggled not to slam him down to the ground.

It was Harry's firm hand on her shoulder that stopped her from doing so. She steadied underneath his firm grip. "Remember, we got to get the directions for when he's planning this sacrifice to be made."

Diana nodded, that part couldn't be forgotten.

* * *

><p>Hath-Set stood around and finished drawing the circle on the platform. His cultists stood around him, holding a goblet in one hand and a dagger in the other hand.<p>

"So, it approaches the midnight hour, and with it, we'll summon the Phoenix," Hath-Set said and he stepped forth. "I thank all of you for your support, for you are true believers. While we did not finish the job on the usurper, or the winged vermin, we have other plans that moved forward. The blood of those pure to the support of the Phoenix will be spilled upon this circle tonight."

Hath-Set got to one knee and looked up into the sky. The embers from the flame that he set fire into the pillar shot up into the sky. It kept burning underneath his gaze and destructive danger danced through his eyes.

"I believe all of you know what is to come next, feel the power rush through your veins, and feel it when it comes to you," Hath-Set whispered. "In moments, all of you will leave this plane, to pave the way for the arrival of the Phoenix. Once the power has been transferred, I will bring you all back, and we will cleanse the world of the non-believers."

He lifted up a goblet of his own and raised it to the sky. His hand waved from one side to the other and he let out of his mouth in a whisper.

"All hail the Phoenix."

There was a loud round of cheers as they responded much of the same, to all hail of the Phoenix.

A loud rumble could be heard and a storm brewed. That proved to be useful, for the energies around them were aligned.

"You, start the process, and then I will end it," Hath-Set whispered, and the man at the furthest end of the circle turned around.

"Do you receive this blessing to unleash the power of the Phoenix?" the man whispered when he raised the dagger and prepared to plunge it straight through the chest of his enemy.

"Yes, I receive this blessing to release the power of the Phoenix," the man agreed, absolutely giddy with excitement at being stabbed to death, all in the name of raising the Phoenix.

The man lifted the dagger high over his head and prepared to do the dastardly deed to him, but all of the daggers plucked out of their hands and the goblets exploded.

"No, there's no way they could have found out about this ritual," Hath-Set said. When he found out who betrayed him, he would cut off the skin of his enemy and use it as a suit.

Shayera dove at her enemy, a single minded, and obsessed focus directed at her most dangerous enemy. She waited a long time for this moment.

The cultists dove onto the platform and one of them tried to stab her into the thigh. She dodged the attack, and swung around and knocked him off onto the other cultists.

"After the fact that he'd kill you to receive ultimate power, you'd still protect him," Shayera said and she slammed him down onto the ground.

Hathset picked up a large iron bar, with fire sitting from it, and he charged at her, about ready to slice her wings to ribbons.

Arcane appeared in front of him and blocked the attack. Hath-Set grimaced, when saw him.

"YOU!" he shouted and he swung the iron bar up over his head.

"Have we met?" Harry asked, completely baffled at the fact the he seemed to have a mad-on with him. Granted, he didn't meet him before today, but maybe he did.

The flaming iron bar knocked out of Hath-Set's hand and sent him flying backwards where he landed down the steps with a solid crack.

"No, I won't kneel before you ever again," Hath-Set said and he reached into his clock. He armed himself with an overly large knife and rushed at him.

Harry nailed him right in the air and broken his shoulder, and caused him to stagger backwards.

The flames shot into the air and little did Harry know then when his back was turned, they shot up and formed the shape of the mythological creature known as the Phoenix. He shuddered when he his back to it.

He felt some kind of power glow up, and he saw Wonder Woman, Power Girl, Huntress, and Shayera fight the cultists below.

"I have the power now, and you don't!" Hath-Set yelled, but Harry zipped out of the way.

His cords shot from his armor and wrapped around Hath-Set's ankles. He fell to the ground and now he was over him. Throwing dagger armed in his hand and ready to pounce.

One of the cultists scrambled up, but Shayera nailed him in the back of the leg with the mace to prevent him from protecting Hath-Set.

"No, I'm not done yet," Hath-Set said, and he blocked the throwing dagger with his bare hand. He screamed from the energy that burned his hand. His pain sensors exploded from when the dagger connected it.

That was either the gutsiest move over or the most bullheaded. That being said, he stood around, and leaned forward and panted.

Shayera grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him up. He turned him around and snapped his shoulder hard.

"Are you going to kill me?" Hath-Set asked, blood spilling from his mouth. He saw his followers down in a pile on the ground, very much alive. "You see, I'll see you in the next life if you do, because I'm bound to die, just like you are going to die. And we'll continue this dance all again, no matter how many times you kill me."

Shayera pinned him onto the pillar and raised the mace over the top of the head.

"You don't know what happens when you kill me, and not vice-versa, will that screw up the cycle?" Hath-Set asked. "Maybe in the next life, you'll be the villain, wouldn't that be something? Then again, good and evil…..it really is a matter of perspective…"

Harry and Shayera turned around and engaged the cultists in battle once again. There was a thunderous attack of fists and feet. The two warriors fought them off with reckless abandon.

Hath-Set couldn't even hold himself up and he picked up one of the dagger. The power approached close, the window of opportunity was almost shut.

"You're not going to kill me, because I'm eternal now."

He sliced his throat open and splashed blood onto the flaming pedestal. It glowed with energy as Hath-Set's tainted blood. Harry couldn't even stop the blood from spilling on the pedestal even if he wanted to. Even if he had more than a few seconds that was, he couldn't stop it. He waited for something to happen.

Shayera felt a bittersweet victory at Hath-Set being dead, but suddenly the pedestal which his slain body laid across glowed to light. It illuminated and shot something off into space.

'_Harry, what the hell just happened?' _Barbara asked and she could feel something rush through her body from the bond. And then every electronic in the building that she was, blacked completely out.

'_It's not just in here Barbara, everything in the city is blacked out,' _Kara said and she stuck her head outside of the window and hovered over the city streets of Metropolis. _'And now it's coming all back on just as fast as it went off.'_

'_That was weird,' _Barbara thought.

'_Hath-Set sliced his own throat over a podium and shot something into space that sent a beacon of some sort,' _Harry thought to them.

Karen frowned in response; she racked her brain with numerous possibilities, none of them really good. _'Could any of them be the Phoenix Force?'_

Harry's shoulders dropped down as he thought it. The medallion he borrowed from one of the cultists rested in his hand. It was oddly cool, oddly calm, and it also was a different color than he remembered.

He turned over the medallion and there was a new inscription on it of a garbled writing that he would have to translate later.

'_It could be this Phoenix Force, or it could be something else,' _Harry thought.

Shayera shook her head when she stepped forward. "Do you think that it's the Phoenix Force or something else?"

Harry still mulled it over for a few moments. Or what seemed like a few moments rather, it was only about seconds. It puzzled him as he tried to wrap his mind around the bells and whistles of what proved to be an extremely intense and mind numbing situation.

"The only thing that we know is that Hath-Set sent something up into space, and it was some kind of beacon."

"As for who the beacon was?" Shayera asked and Harry shook his head. "You really don't know, do you?"

"No, but I can find out."

'_On it,' _Barbara thought. It was just as well because her morbid curiosity wanted to find out where that beacon was coming from. Call her crazy, but something like that demanded an investigation.

Donna and Kara laughed in response. The younger Amazon Princess piped on in the bond link with her honest commentary on the matter. _'Well, she moves pretty fast.'_

* * *

><p>Barbara Gordon was someone who thought that she could do anything if she put her mind to it. She got into college at a young age, and got her first degree in short order. She also hacked into computer systems that most adults would have had trouble trying to get into. This entire mess caused her to become completely and utterly baffled. No matter how much she enjoyed a challenge, she just had to shake her head.<p>

"I don't even know where to begin," she grumbled to herself and she saw down in front of the extraordinary computer that she was afforded in RAO tower. She ran her finger over the report that she had once again.

Kara's hands rested on the back of the chairs, as she watched Barbara do what she did. The redhead turned around and glared at her blonde sister-wife. "Could you please back off a little bit, you make me feel like that I'm back in school?"

Kara took half of a step back and threw her hands up into the air. "Sorry."

Barbara smiled and chewed down on her tongue. She knew that Harry would need some kind of answer sooner rather than later. She kept searching for any information about the black out. All she could find out was that it was a worldwide thing.

Whatever Hath-Set did, it really caused a boatload of problems. Barbara placed her hands underneath her chin and sighed. Then she picked her work back up.

She couldn't find anything, and if she was honest, she took that as an honest insult to her abilities. Not to mention the fact she let Harry down really irritated her to no end. The redhead tugged on her hair.

"No luck I take it," Lana said and she walked inside and handed Barbara the print outs that she asked for.

"Not one clue," Barbara said and she isolated the general area using the satellites that RAO put into the air.

'_Barbara, if you can't find it, don't worry about it, we'll deal with it,' _Harry thought to her.

'_No, no, no, I'll find it,' _Barbara thought back and she was kind of annoyed that she couldn't find it. She viewed this inability to find what they needed to know as a personal failure on her behalf.

Could hack into the Pentagon at the age of eight, but she couldn't track one simple beacon. That was about right. Why was it the signal wasn't strong enough? She felt the burst of magical power from where she stood. All of them did, but there was nothing.

"Barbara, you're just going to worry yourself into a fit," Kara said and Barbara turned around and gave her that look. "And don't give me that look; it doesn't really work on me."

"Fine, I won't give you that look again," Barbara answered crossly and she retraced her steps.

Kara casually yanked the mug off of the desk, before Barbara could pick it up and hurl it across the room in frustration.

"Just as a precaution, that's all," Kara said quietly and Barbara bit down on her lip.

"Okay, I see the beacon where it fired off, but it hit beyond the scope of the satellites," Barbara said.

"Good, it hit a big pile of nothing, and we don't have to worry about it," Lana said and Barbara slowly turned and faced the other redhead. "Too much to hope for?"

Barbara gave a long sigh and wordlessly took the coffee cup that Kara swiped from her. Then she refilled it with a long and prominent sigh. "Yeah, it's just a little bit too much to hope for."

She hoped that Lana was right, but then again, she knew completely better with what was going on.

That being said, there was one more search that she could do and hopefully she would be able to determine where that would have went.

'_No signs of life out there, either intelligent or otherwise,' _Barbara thought and she sipped the cup of coffee. Her nerves grew completely calm when she drank her poison of choice. _'Okay, that's something…..'_

'_What's something?' _Helena asked her. While she knew that Barbara was more than likely just thinking out loud, her detective senses picked up pretty much anything that she could find.

'_There's a chance that it landed somewhere beyond Mars and then opened up a portal from there,' _Barbara thought and she couldn't make heads or tails otherwise.

'_Oh, shit, portal, you're kidding me right,' _Harry thought and there was a loud groan that came from him.

Barbara didn't want to smile at any person's misfortune, but that being said, she came out with something. _'So, I'm guessing that a portal is bad, isn't it?'_

'_A portal opening under any circumstances is the worst thing that could happen,' _Harry thought and he went from trying to brush this off, to being concerned. Anything could have come through a hole in the fabric of space and time.

And the chances that it would be anything good were second to none. Call him crazy, but that was just what he thought about the matter.

'_So do you want me to keep searching and try to figure this one out?' _Barbara asked.

'_Yes, find what you can find, and when I get back, I'll see if I can catch anything that you miss,' _Harry thought to her.

Barbara raised her hand over her head and gave a momentary mock salute. She couldn't really keep the grin off of her face when she talked. _'Alright, I will do.'_

Kara sat herself down and placed her hand on her chin and thought about something. "You know, there used to be life on mars, a long time ago."

"There really was, wasn't there?" Barbara asked.

"Yeah, but there was a big war between the Green Martians and the White Martians that lead to both races being wiped out," Kara remembered. "It's just….sad that a civilization like that got wiped out. My mother got the message that they were dying, but by the time she got it, it was much too late, and we had our own problems."

"Sorry to hear about that," Barbara said and she raised her eyebrow. "So, if Harry gets the other one out of stasis, he'll be able to help your mother…"

Kara looked hopeful, but she knew that a couple other projects pushed this one to the backburner. Besides as long as her mother was safe at the Fortress, there was no rush. She would have liked to talk to her again about various ideas. It was a shame that her mother's vast amount of knowledge was wasted.

* * *

><p>Shayera sat outside of the temple that was silent right now. The Cultists were all rounded up. It would be down to the authorities to figure out what to do with them with here. It was going to be a mess to figure out how was really going along with Hath-Set and who just was going along out of fear.<p>

Their faith for the Phoenix was strong and Hath-Set did in fact manipulate it, that much was for sure. He twisted some of them around the bend with promises of power that he no intention of following up on.

Shayera heard the footsteps and Harry approached behind her. "So, how are you feeling."

That was actually a good question, how was she feeling? She racked her mind for the best way to describe her thoughts and her emotions. A long sigh escaped her lips and she said it. "Bittersweet to be honest."

"That's the best way to determine it," Harry replied to her and she nudged over so he would have some room to sit down next to her. "I think that in some degrees, we've all done this before, no matter what."

"Not like this," Shayera muttered, but never the less, she kept her head high into the air, she really did have to. If she didn't, she would lose her mind and that would not be for the best.

"You know, I think that you might be right, but…..there's just some feelings that I lived a past life that I couldn't really shake sometimes," Harry said when he leaned forward.

"Well maybe that's not too far off, given how Hath-Set reacted to you," Shayera said. "Not quite sure that I ran into you, you'd be someone that I'd remember."

"Unless you erased your memories of me to preserve your sanity," Harry said and Shayera leaned forward.

"Well, maybe you were the one that erased your memories of a past life to preserve your sanity?" Shayera.

"Oh, I think that we're well past the point of preserving my sanity, thank you very much."

Shayera smiled. Now that the long overcoat was shed, her wings got room to stretch. She dressed in a tight white tank top that stretched over her ample frame, along with a pair of tight white pants that fit firmly around her body. No shoes on at the moment, but she found the scorching heat underneath her feet to be oddly relaxing.

"You know, after the last few lives, I think that I've passed that point myself as well," Shayera said with a long sigh. "You know, that beacon…..it could have been mistaken for a declaration of war."

'_Didn't think of that,' _Barbara thought and another layer of urgency hit her when she continued to search things through.

'_I don't think any of us really thought of it off hand,' _Karen thought and she sighed and shifted her body. Her legs and arms folded together when she relaxed and just savored the thoughts that she had.

"That's actually likely, I'm not even sure if he knew what he was dealing with," Harry said with a smile on his face.

"Well, if anything comes, they're going to have to deal with me," Shayera said and her green eyes met Harry's. They were a different shade than what Harry's was. "I think that we're getting to the point where Earth needs people to protect it."

"You know, there are a few people who are willing to step up and protect it no, matter what," Harry told her and Shayera responded with a smile when she looked at him. "I may be establishing something soon…..just got to talk with a few more people, and send a few more feelers out there if necessary."

"Right, I'll be sure to keep that in mind," Shayera said and she extended her arm out for Harry to shake her hand. "And…I'll be in town in Metropolis in a few weeks, so if you want to get together….."

"You mean in a situation where we're not about to get killed?" Harry asked her and Shayera looked back at him in amusement.

"Yes, something like that," she muttered underneath her breath and she looked him over. He was sure something, but exactly what, she would figure out soon. Plus he could hold his own fairly well, without powers.

Actually more than hold his own, he could kick some ass without relying on his powers, and that trait was interesting to say the very least.

"I don't think that there are any more pockets of the cult lurking around here," Shayera said and she couldn't believe how many lives were ruined. "I just hope that she's okay after all that happened."

"Physically, her wounds are going to heal," Harry said, but there was something else that needed to be said.

Physical wounds healed over time, emotional wounds, they took a long time to heal. And the fact that this woman's children were murdered in a way to get her to comply pushed her towards a difficult time.

"Perhaps in time," Shayera said and Harry sighed.

"We hope in time," Harry agreed.

This situation took a turn for the depression, but the man in question sought power. He committed suicide rather than face justice.

"So, I've got to check up on something, so I'll see you around."

"Yeah, I'll see you around," Shayera said softly and she waited for Harry to leave.

She watched him leave, a number of thoughts that went through her mind regarding what happened. The excitement of the fight finally came down and the residual aches and pains that followed came back with them.

'_I think that I've worried about what happened in my past life for too long,' _Shayera thought to herself and she made her way to the tent. The woman she saved slept on. She didn't even know her name. _'Then again, I'm not sure if she knows who she is anymore. It was only her children that snapped her back into reality.'_

Perhaps there was a reason why she reborn on this place. Things came full circle and perhaps the cycle would have a happy ending for her.

Shayera certainly hoped that it would be the case. She was about due for one.

* * *

><p>Helena knew that she could find this place again, and she lead Karen and Harry back down the tunnel.<p>

"When I found out the technological was Kryptonian, that raised a red flag in my mind," Helena whispered to both of them. She turned around and then addressed Karen in particular with her next statement. "And when I started to look around, I was almost convinced of what happened here….this ship must have been down here a long time."

Karen ran her hand over the wall and looked around at. She tried to rack her brain for the knowledge of the architecture.

"It's an ancient architecture," she told them both and they both nodded. "Might have crashed here in Egypt after the dinosaurs were extinct, but it's at least thousands of years old."

The blonde's hand ran over the edge of the architecture.

"You didn't want to show us architecture, did you?" Karen asked and Helena shook her head in response.

The door cracked open and Harry took the step forward inside the inner chambers. It gave him a strange sense of Deja-Vu with the area that was underneath the cave.

That being said, he did know one thing and that was architecture didn't really vary all that much. Many of the crystals here were bulkier than what he found in the cave and most of them looked to be burned out.

His finger tapped hard against side of the wall and something was on the other side, he could feel it.

"Karen, help me with this door."

Karen grabbed one end of the door and Harry grabbed the other end of the door. Both of them wrenched it open and caused light to flow out from it. Both of them stepped back and were transfixed.

Kara piped on in through the bond. _'You know, one could think that you're collecting us, aren't you?'_

Harry stepped forward and saw a blonde submerged in a stasis tube. She looked like she could be Karen's twin sister, only she had longer hair on the other end. She dressed in robes that resembled royalty.

"She's a Kandorian royal," Karen whispered, she recognized the robes immediately.

"So, is she some kind of descendant or some kind of alternate version of you?" Harry asked her and Karen shrugged.

"Kryptonian's a bit ancient and worn, we altered our language several times over the years," Karen said and she sighed. "For all I know, she could have been around before Kandor got blown up the first time."

'_The first time?' _Donna asked.

Kara chimed in, nonplussed at this. _'Yeah, Kandor has gotten destroyed and rebuilt several times until it disappeared about three years before the Planet blow up. At least twenty, but I'll be honest, historical records might have been lost when they were destroyed with the city.'_

There was one thing that was sure. Harry had a new guest to his ever growing population of captive female Kryptonians. Okay there were only two, three if you counted Alura who was in the Fortress, but that counted.

Now, he had more problems to worry about other than this impressive discovery.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on October 31<strong>**st****, 2014. **

**It's Kara #3. **

**This is the chapter where I pretty much spell out how the end of the first trilogy ties into this story(even though it's stand alone), without really spelling it out. **

**The Phoenix is coming. Get excited. **


	31. One on One

**Chapter Thirty One: One On One. **

* * *

><p>The group returned back to Egypt a number of days ago. They weren't sitting there with their thumbs up their ass. Instead the entire group decided that they would go straight to work. Given that they had a lot of work done, there wasn't that much to do. There was a contingency plan or two in place. That was the way that Harry liked it and that's the way he thrived about it.<p>

That being said, he didn't blame Barbara for the fact that she was unable to locate the beacon that flashed over them. When he rewound the satellites, he found something interesting. There was nothing. A half a second of a beacon at the very most flashed over their heads. That was it. No more than that. It was very annoying because something that short was difficult to trace.

At least that's what Harry saw from first view. He refused to give up in finding anything. He pushed down a few keys on the keyboard. A flash of light erupted around him.

Karen touched her hands down onto the back of Harry's chair. She frowned. "Did you find something?"

"I wish I did," Harry said and he tapped another key. He saw the full scope that the RAO satellites could have.

That being said, the full scope only extended around the area of Mars. Harry frowned. There was a lot of activity for a place that was extinct. He would have to deal with that in due time.

Mars also left an area of untapped potential he could jump onto. SLO wanted to create a moon base in the old world. Harry wondered if some kind of base on Mars would be feasible. That would be something that he would think about.

He considered the possibility of that. Right now he kept punching away and brought some images up.

"This is the most obvious images from earlier," Harry said. "Do you see anything?"

Karen frowned as she studied the images. "Absolutely nothing."

Helena didn't notice anything straight away as well. She felt an insult that her own observational abilities fail and fail big time. She clutched the back of Harry's chair.

Barbara chimed in with a sigh. _'Same image that I saw and studied until my eyeballs almost bled. I can't really believe it, there's nothing there, nothing at all.'_

Kara shook her head. _'Okay, Barbara, calm down. It's not your fault. Not everyone can pinpoint anything…..and yes I know someone with your hacking skills means that you're not everyone. You're someone extraordinary.'_

Barbara didn't say anything. She was stricken speechless. That was a rare occasion for the lovely Miss Gordon. That being said, it diverted her from the fact that her failure occurred. Not to mention it pumped up her ego. So she felt extremely well to herself and could focus on what Harry could do as opposed what she couldn't do.

Harry smiled. "The RAO computers are the most sophisticated system on the planet. If there is something out there, we can find it."

He saw the images, clusters of space debris circled around them. He stopped and pinpointed something.

Harry leaned in closely and studied it. He saw markings in the air and something flash around them. His jaw dropped.

"It's the Phoenix, again," Harry whispered.

Helena's eyes snapped around and she stared at it. It was a brief second where she saw it in a cluster.

"Wait a minute," Karen snapped and she closed her eyes. It took a few seconds for her brain to completely reboot when she processed this information. She returned with a vengeance when she did. "You're trying to tell me that Hath-Set was actually successful in some twisted way in releasing the Phoenix Force."

Harry frowned. He doubted very much that was the case. Something told him that there was something else going on. He didn't really know what. His certainty was rewarded when he popped something up.

"Look at that."

Karen and Helena looked at that. Helena frowned and looked at the image in the light. "Is it a scouting ship or something?"

"Yes, or something," Karen said and she frowned. Her eyes narrowed. "I don't know what it is about it but there's something about it that seems familiar. The make of the ship looks familiar. I don't know if it's a coincidence or a counterfeit. Something is going on there, and…..we should keep an eye on the ship. That's all I'm saying."

Harry went to work, his hands whirling up against the keyboard and he brought it over. He frowned. "You know, I'll bring it on in and track it."

He locked onto the link of the scouting ship. They wanted to track him. He returned with his own tracking implement. It was just at the edge of the scope. Any further away, and he would have to send something up there. His wrists cracked together and he leaned back.

"Okay, we'll see if that works out well," Harry said and he check his watch quickly and returned to both of the girls. "I trust that both of you are going to keep an eye on that when I'm gone."

"Oh, that's right, your meeting with Lois is in a little bit," Karen brightly chimed in. "You don't want to be late for that."

Harry agreed that he didn't want to late for something like that. Especially given that Lois edged closer to him during their meetings, and he knew that it was only a matter of time before she joined up with the group. No question about it, the reporter would be a good addition to the group. She would be an extremely valuable asset.

"We'll keep an eye on it and let you know," Helena said and she watched the ship. So far it hadn't even moved since the second that they tagged it.

"Thanks," Harry said and he swept Helena into a hug. Gratitude swam through his eyes. "I appreciate it."

His lips found hers into a searing kiss and the dark haired girl melted into his embrace. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she pulled him in. Her tongue pushed deep into his mouth and he returned fire.

Helena felt herself lifted off of the ground and she dropped down.

Karen folded her arms, a pout appearing on her face. "You know, I feel left out."

Helena grinned at her. "Sorry."

Helena pulled Karen into an embrace. Her larger breasts pressed against Helena's sizeable breasts and the two girls kissed each other.

Lana showed up outside of the door and watched the fun that happened. Harry smiled and walked over towards her.

She recovered quickly, and handed Harry a set of notes that they collected about the weird cosmic activity that had been happening over the past three years.

Harry looked over the notes and frowned. "That's interesting."

"I thought as much too," Lana agreed and she placed her hand on her hips. "So…"

"The three of you can hash this out and I'll be back later."

* * *

><p>Lois Lane thought that she would miss this date. She nearly tripped over the rug where she skidded out of the Daily Planet. Briskly she grabbed onto the wall and held herself up. Her breath knocked out of her body. Shaking her head, the dark haired reporter brought herself back up to a state of insanity.<p>

'_Okay, okay, Lane, you got to get it together. You've been all over the board mentally lately. No one said the job was going to be easy. Even if it was, that never stopped you before. Just get it fucking together and focus. Just go out and do it.'_

Lois shook her head with frustration blinking through her eyes and she breathed in and out. She jumped halfway up into the air when she nearly tripped over something.

A pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist and caught her. "You know Lois, you need to quit being so jumpy. You almost hurt yourself. It would be a shame if anything happened to you."

Lois blinked and she saw the strong arms of Harry Potter wrapped around her. "You know, that wasn't really funny."

The real hilarious part about this was Harry's eyes locked onto hers. She breathed in and out. It annoyed her by the fact that he didn't have a smile on her face. It might have been less galling if he laughed about this. He held her up and Lois slowly pulled herself up.

"I wasn't trying to be funny," Harry said and he held Lois up. "I'd ask how you were doing, but that might be a stupid question."

Lois frowned and crossed her arms. "Yeah, it just might be a stupid question.

"So, are you ready for lunch?" Harry asked her.

"Yes, I'm ready," Lois said, she needed food in her belly because she slowly became delirious.

After the entire Plague mess, things had been extremely quiet. Lois didn't like the quiet. Mostly because she learned enough during her time to know that periods of extreme quiet set up something really bad.

It was something that was bound to put the entire world in peril. Lois's hands touched her hips when she thought about it. Even with the growing number of heroes in the world, there were times in the recent past where things got put in peril. Those thoughts flashed through the dark haired reporter's mind.

That being said those thoughts distracted her and the two of them made their way into an upscale restaurant. Lois looked around; she never thought that she would be in that place.

"Speechless?" Harry asked her.

Lois shrugged in agreement. "Kind of."

She turned her head around and peered forward. There was something about this place that intimidated her.

The two of them sat down and prepared to eat their food. Lois stared across from Harry with a smile on her face.

"So, how have you been lately?" Lois asked and Harry turned towards her. "I mean, you asked me how I've been doing. I didn't ask you how you had been doing. That really seems to be rude of me, isn't it?"

Harry waited for the food selects that they ordered. "You know, I've been really fine."

"Have you really been fine?" Lois asked and Harry raised an eyebrow. The brunette amended things carefully. "Not that I don't agree, it's just yet…you were kind of in the middle of that entire Plague mess. And that Tut guy, he was a few screws short of…..well something that needs a lot of screws."

Lois wasn't completely sure where that she was going with that. Other than she went completely off of the rails with that one.

"And he tried to capture Doctor Sandsmark," Lois said and her voice softened slightly. "I know the two of you…..well you know what people say. I mean, they say the same thing about us. You have a few lunches with a person and suddenly, you're doing the horizontal mambo. I mean can you believe some people?"

"No, get out of here," Harry said with a smile and he saw Lois look completely flustered.

"Yes, I mean, who has the time in the day to make some of these rumors?" Lois asked. She got the wine. Normally Lois and wine wasn't a good combination. Desperate times called for desperation actions. "I mean, you'd think that they would have better things to do with their time, you know that?"

"One would think."

Harry watched and Lois took a drink of wine.

"The expensive shit, I see," Lois said and Harry smiled. "I'd be happy with anything, don't get me wrong, it's just….."

"You could develop a taste for some of the finer things of life if you're not careful," Harry told her and Lois may have missed the obvious innuendo. Perhaps she was too busy with trying to deal with the stress of the day.

"Yeah, you could," Lois agreed and she brushed her foot against his thigh. She retracted herself from being so forward. "Then again, you've had a lot of extra-cirricular activities as of late."

Harry wondered what she could be referring to. He had his ideas never the less.

Kara, not one to be quiet, jumped on in through the bond link. _'You know, I wonder what she could really be talking about.'_

'_Any number of things, and get your mind out of the gutter,' _Donna thought with a long enough sigh.

Diana chimed in on top of her sister. _'Is that because it's crowded enough with your mind already?'_

Lois looked at Harry with interest. She could tell that there was much more going on with Harry than met the eye. There was even much more to her than met the eye as well as she reminded herself constantly. The dark haired reporter shifted her legs over the top of each other.

She stared into his eyes, violet eyes met green eyes. She shuddered at the thought of how much passion these eyes held.

'_Get it together, Lane, are you Lois Fucking Lane, or are you some little schoolgirl with a crush?' _Lois thought when she leaned against the chair.

She enjoyed the meal that had been brought before them. That gave her plenty of time to think and mull something over in her mind.

After she finished her meal, she made one conclusion. "I really think that there's a lot more going on your mind than you want people to think there is."

"Oh?" Harry asked her with a smile on his face.

"Yes, oh," Lois agreed and she leaned back. The button of her blouse came down during the course of the meal. It wasn't intentional even. She figured that more than a little skin was needed to get the answers from Harry Potter.

Harry grinned back at her and called her bluff. "Miss Lane, I think that you're hiding just as many secrets as I am. If not more."

Lois's eyebrow arched. Could he have found out? She didn't know how he could have. She dove down to get a fork. This bought her some necessary time where she was able to come back up with a straight face.

"Oh, you think so, don't you?" Lois challenged and she stared Harry in the eye.

It was his play and she wondered if he was going to hit it right now.

"Perhaps we should return to the Penthouse, and we can discuss things."

Now he wanted her on his turf. All of Metropolis might as well have been his turf. Lois reminded herself of this fact. She adjusted her blouse and decided to turn the invite back around on him. Maybe she could go to some place where she would have more of a home field advantage.

"Oh, you want to go back to your Penthouse?" Lois asked brightly. "Not that I have a problem with that but…..I was hoping that we can go back to my apartment…."

"Oh, do you?"

"Yes, I do," Lois fired back and she held onto the side of the table. She rose herself to her full height.

Harry smiled, she played this game quite nicely. There was one unfortunate thing that Lois Lane forgot. She forgot who she dealt with. The reporter forgot to do her homework, something that might cost her.

"I think that I should drive us there then," Harry told Lois.

Lois was about to argue that she could drive. Her inability to balance greatly disagreed with her.

* * *

><p>"Okay, I have to warn you. This place is a mess. I didn't necessarily plan this out. Kind of a spur of the moment thing, you know."<p>

Lois walked into the darkened hallway. The landlord decided not to replace the light just yet. She would be having some words with him or perhaps moving out to a new apartment when she had the funds to do so.

'_At least she's honest,' _Kara thought.

Donna chimed in and corrected her. _'Bluntly honest.'_

Lana's voice filled with mirth when she jumped in with her two cents. _'She wouldn't be Lois Lane if she wasn't bluntly honest you know.'_

Harry barely kept a chuckle down. The only reason that he didn't was because of self-control. Lois pushed over the apartment and to be honest, it wasn't too bad. It wasn't something that was spic and span.

"My roommate is hardly around these days, so it's just me for now," Lois said with a smile.

Harry knew who Lois's roommate was, and the reasons why she wasn't here.

"My cousin comes up every now and again, but she's busy with her information technology job," Lois added, almost as if an afterthought. "Anyway, can I get you anything?"

"Sit down, we do have things to talk about."

Lois figured that there was no avoiding this. They both danced around this topic of conversation with the ability of a couple of well-practiced politicians. Lois would know, thanks to her father, she exposed herself to them.

"You arrived here pretty much out of nowhere, and you got to work pretty quickly," Lois said and she sat down next to Harry. "Someone has to have an angle. It just took me ages to figure out yours."

Harry had an idea what she found out. "So, what did you find out exactly?"

Lois groaned, he was really going to make her explain this theory. What if she was wrong?

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I want to see the fruits of your labor," Harry said and Lois blinked at him. She obviously wasn't taking this the wrong way. "If you're right, you're right."

"And if I'm wrong, I'll just crawl in a hole and die," Lois said briskly.

Harry reached in and squeezed Lois's hand. There was something about his grip that relaxed her.

"No, Lois, you won't need to do anything that drastic," Harry whispered to her. The dark haired woman closed her eyes. "But, I need to know. Needless to say, I've found out a few things about you."

Lois figured out that was the case. "Really, like what?"

"You go first, and I'll figure that out."

Lois now felt the ball knocked into her court. "I guess that it all clicked together during the entire Tut caper. As you might have guessed, I have this knack of getting myself into trouble."

'_No, get out of town,' _Kara thought and her fellow bond mates resounded with resounding laughter.

Respectfully, Harry didn't say anything. He prompted Lois to continue and so she did.

"When I was trying to get a closer look, I got swept away, and then someone saved me," Lois said and she smiled. "I guess I'd be a pretty shit reporter unless I didn't have certain observational skills, you know."

"A pretty shit one, yes," Harry said.

'_Her observational skills are normally pretty spot on,' _Kara thought and she added almost as an afterthought. _'You know, unless a person is wearing a pair of glasses.'_

Lana laughed in response. _'I know, you should really tell me about that one.'_

Harry frowned and said nothing. "So, you've figured out my secret, haven't you?"

Lois nodded swiftly. "Yes, I figured out your secret, and you figured out mine, didn't you?"

"Pretty much, yes," Harry agreed.

Lois laughed in amusement. "I mean, it was obvious who you were. It didn't click with me until later and I kind of kicked myself when I didn't figure it out"

"So, I'm Arcane….."

"Oh, that's what they're calling you?" Lois piped in response and Harry turned towards her, raising his eyebrow. "Sorry, I didn't….."

"They call me by me by many names," Harry said and he pulled his arm around her on the couch. Lois didn't retract from him.

Lois laughed in response. "I'm sure that some of them I can't really print in public, can you?"

"Absolutely not," Harry fired back. In all honestly, he preferred not to have a codename mostly because it drove certain people nuts that he didn't. "But, you were chosen, the latest choice for them."

"I don't know what that ring was thinking sometimes," Lois said and she got herself comfortable against him.

She had to admit, this really felt right. To the point where anything else would really feel wrong. At first, Lois questioned if she even wanted to pursue a relationship. With another guy that was but she decided that she would only go down that road if something worthwhile came on.

Much to her pleasure something did and she remained in silence. She wondered what Harry had to say about her extra-curricular activities.

"The ring chose you because you were worthy of holding it," Harry said and he held Lois in tight. "I think that we can trust a powerful piece of technology."

"They grinded me into the ground until my nose was raw," Lois said. She smiled at the thought. "I mean seriously, they rode me so hard, even the General would have told them to knock it off after a while."

"That bad?"

"Pretty bad," Lois confirmed with a sigh on her face. "But it did give me a new brand of appreciation of my father's love. Even though he didn't know how to show it half of the time. Especially after mother died….are the stories true, by the way?"

Harry lost himself in the moment for so long. He worked on Lois for a long time, to get her to ease into his web. The fruits of his labor looked to be extremely close to playing off.

"About what?"

Lois confirmed with a nod. "About your parents dying when you were young."

"Yes," Harry said and Lois draped herself over him. "You know, it's something that I want to put behind me. Besides, I think that they're proud of me."

A firm look appeared in Lois's eyes. "Yes, they should be."

Time passed where Harry and Lois relaxed against each other. The rest of the world went to a stop, null against each other. Neither of them wanted to be the one that would break up this moment. Even though they knew that no matter what all good things would rapidly approach an end.

Lois decided to be the one to break up this charming little moment. "You better hope that my cousin never meets you."

Harry was perplexed by this suddenly and quite brazen statement that Lois gave him. "Oh?"

"She has a shrine devoted to Arcane," Lois told him with a whisper and she smiled.

Lois found herself almost on top of him. She straddled his lap and she thought about it.

Perhaps they didn't date for long enough? Perhaps she should follow some mythical rules of dating not to rush into thing.

Such things shouldn't have a guideline though, Lois reminded herself. If it just felt right, she should just go for it. What was the worst that could happen anyway? Lois didn't know and honestly at this point, she didn't really care. All she knew was that she was in the clutches of Harry Potter and she vowed to enjoy what he could do for him.

Her hot lips met his in a passionate fury. Lois almost pulled away. She was glad that she didn't.

Pleasurable heat filled her body and Harry's hands slowly roamed over her body. The two of them kissed furiously with each other.

Her legs snaked around his waist and she leaned back.

"So, if you're going to go all the way, do it," Lois said, lust burning in her eyes.

Harry turned their position around when Lois pressed down on the couch. He undid her blouse the rest of the way and revealed a lacy black bra that contained her generous melons. They strained against the fabric.

His able hands pulled her skirt down and unveiled a pair of lacy thong panties. Harry smiled as he pressed his finger down on her heated mound. She was wet, she was ready.

Harry didn't think that there was any point in wasting any time with this. She wanted him and he wanted her.

Lois felt dazed especially when his lips started at the tip of her ear. Then he kissed all the way down her face and then touched her neck. He lingered on her neck for a few seconds and started to suck her pulse point.

Before she could really register that attack, Harry pressed on down. He attacked her collarbone and briefly touched her breasts. Then her taut tummy was the next venue for his exploration.

Lois nearly lost it when Harry's tongue buried deep into her belly button. She knew that he was a little bit closer to going down. He could go a little bit closer.

It was time for Harry to reach that final front frontier.

* * *

><p>Harry Potter returned back home after he inducted Lois Lane into the family. He parked himself in front of the computer and got to work.<p>

His attention returned to something that he and Karen first noticed three years ago. There was hope that Patricia would be found but that hope got misplaced the longer that they were. Every time they happened upon something they hoped. The trail was faint.

Ever since the beacon fired off though, the cosmic activity increased and that caused Harry to be concerned.

"Nothing?" Barbara asked out of the blue.

She showed up behind Harry at the computer. She finally got some sleep at the insistence of Donna and Kara. They pretty much forced her into bed and they offered an extremely compelling argument for her to stay that.

She was back and not really all that surprised to see Harry camped out in front of the computer hard at work.

"No alien invasion yet, if that's what you're wondering," Harry said.

Barbara noticed him hard at work. When his focus was on something, there were only a handful of people who could match it. Helena was the obvious one. Then Batman was the master of not letting anything deter him at all, no matter what.

"But there could be something here, and something that has been of interest for us for a long time," Harry said.

He could hear a faint whisper in his ear. His ears perked up.

"Do you hear that?" Harry whispered to Barbara. He tried to present the words with greater clarity.

"I can't hear anything," Barbara said frowning. She strained her ears but absolutely nothing came out because of that point.

There had to be something there a clue for the invasion. The scouting ship Harry tagged still hadn't moved. It made him wonder if it was sent there and they lost contact with it.

'_If that was the case, why didn't they send anyone to retrieve it,' _Harry thought. Like with most things, the more that he thought about this, the less he understood.

Harry cranked up the volume in an attempt to listen in for that voice in the shadows. He knew for a fact that there was something to this.

"Prepare."

Harry heard that word. He also heard the doors bust open on cue.

Barbara turned to notice Karen and Kara walk through the doors. "Okay, where's the fire?"

"Did you hear that?" Karen asked with a frown.

"Yes, we heard that," Kara chimed in.

Barbara was turned to and she had a look that she thought all of them were nuts. It was only seconds later that sudden realization dawned on her.

"So, you can hear it," Barbara muttered. "But no one else can."

"Yes, that seems to be the case," Karen agreed. "So what do you think it means?"

Kara shrugged, she hoped that Karen and Harry knew more than she did. She racked her brain. The entity spoke for only a few seconds.

"Those cosmic flares," Karen said and she was caught with sudden realization. "Do you think that it was…..something trying to escape?"

Harry didn't say anything off hand. He didn't want to get anyone's hopes up, his wife's especially. It would be extremely bad to get their hopes up after everything.

His hands reached forward and he started to radio in.

"Let's see if we can reach out and touch someone," Harry said. He hoped that he could increase the frequency of the satellites.

It was a power drain on the building which was why he was reluctant to even try this. He dialed things up and waited.

He waited and watched anxiously. "Hello, is anyone there?"

The strangled voice responded with the same word that he heard previously. "Prepare."

"Prepare, prepare for what?" Kara asked. The lack of answers unnerved her.

"The invasion is coming, there's no two ways about it," Harry said and he slapped his hand down on it.

"It's her, it's the Phoenix Force," Barbara whispered.

"Maybe," Kara said in a skeptical voice.

The thing about cosmic entities was that they never truly were what they seemed to be. This could be the Phoenix Force. Or it could be any number of sister entities. The Flamebird Entity of Krypton was the most obvious one that she recalled.

"Just maybe," Harry whispered and Kara nodded in response. "I don't know, but I agree with you. Don't ask me why."

No one did, no one dared to ask. Harry got himself into one of those moods.

For the better part of the next hour, Harry tried in vain to communicate with the cosmic entity that sent him one simple message.

He came out short. The one word haunted him like a ghostly entity.

"Prepare."

* * *

><p>Harry Potter burned the midnight oils at a level that many people would be terrified of. The problem was he took the cryptic and strangled warning seriously. Perhaps it was a bit too seriously but it was better to prepare for an alien invasion that wasn't going to happen.<p>

Better than to do that than to be caught off guard by an alien invasion that wasn't going to happen.

He also was making some steady progress with his frozen guest. He would be able to bring her and the one that he found in the caves out of stasis shortly. After that they would need the proper medical attention.

As promised, Shayera came into town. She leaned into the door frame and looked back at Harry. "I don't think that he realized what damage he caused."

"They rarely do."

Shayera didn't know anyone to be so intense and serious about the matter. That was at least until she met Harry Potter. The winged warrior woman shook her head and came back to one conclusion.

She should really take a lot more time looking in the mirror at herself. Then she might come up with a revelation.

"I've got a better idea of where the beacon went."

"That's good," Shayera said in surprise. "Exactly where?"

Harry made sure that he wasn't seeing anything before he pushed on.

"There's some kind of barrier there," Harry pointed out. She leaned in and nodded. "The beacon shot through the barrier. They sent the scouting ship there and it hasn't done anything…and I've figure out why."

Harry calibrated the satellite and hoped that this would be enough to catch the invaders before they got through. Until then, they dealt with the unknown.

"It's an overinflated video camera that's sending footage back to them," Harry informed Shayera and she raised her eyebrow. "I'm going to take it right now."

"No offense, but isn't that like poking a sleeping dragon?"

Harry laughed even though Shayera didn't quite figure out why he laughed. "Shayera, trust me when I say this. I've done a lot of things far less dangerous than poking a sleeping dragon. This is one of them."

"What an interesting life you live."

Harry smiled in response. "You have no idea."

He was pretty sure the beacon acted like a declaration of war already. He just expedited the process. He wanted to draw this one to a conclusion and didn't want to drag this out any longer than he needed to.

"Okay, let's see what…..well that's something."

"What's something?"

Harry smiled. "That's something."

The invasion was closer at hand than they thought. Just as Harry thought, the scouting was almost done. He calibrated one final thing and twisted a knob.

It was time to add some teeth to his defenses before it was too late. The most annoying sound in the world went off, Harry's early defense warning system.

'_It's time,' _Harry thought to all of the relevant parties on the bond link.

He would have to make a few more calls to people to give them the heads up. The Invasion of Earth was at hand and they knew one thing.

This would prove to be extremely interesting one way or another.

**To Be Continued On November 4****th****, 2014. **

* * *

><p><strong>We brace for the final arc of this first set of 35 chapters. Then we're going dark on this one until January. I wonder if people will binge read the first 35 chapters. <strong>

**Lois/Harry is inevitable and obvious. **


	32. From the Ashes

**Chapter Thirty Two: From the Ashes.**

* * *

><p>The most annoying sound in the world continued to flare up. Harry rushed over to get a look at it. He was pretty sure that this was exactly what he thought that it was. He shook his head and placed his hand on the control console. Shayera walked over, and she wasn't the only one. Kara and Karen entered the room.<p>

Karen moved forward, brushing everyone out of the way. She could see Harry's focus went to the screen instantly. "What's happening?"

Harry frowned when he looked at the approaching growth that went to Earth at the speed of light. "The Invasion is happening, at least one of them."

This statement didn't go unnoticed by Kara. "What do you mean, one of them?"

"I mean one of them," Harry answered. His voice sound very grim. In response, he grabbed the blonde tightly around the hand and pulled her into him. The entire group crowded around each other. "Apparently the beacon got the attention of someone and another person is following the invaders."

"So, we're going to be sucked into some kind of alien civil war," Karen said darkly. This news got better and better by each moment.

Harry's eyes flashed over the console and he shook his head. He honestly didn't really know and given that he was someone who had to be in control, he needed to figure these things out. He would find out. The energy readings went completely off of the chart and he felt something tingle through his spine.

'_Closer.'_

Harry pushed himself high up and looked at the screen. The energy that exploded forth around the world caused him to tingle. It would be foolish to miss one important thing. Harry focused on the power that flashed to life. Something was happening. Something big?

"Harry?" Kara asked. She took his other arm. Harry cleared his throat and that caused the young blonde to fall back into line.

The lights in the building flickered and the power grew. His hand rose. Slowly, he leaned back and the humming rose through his ears.

No one wanted to make that next move. All of them were pretty much scared to death. They could feel it although not with the same clarity that Harry did.

Karen could see her husband go in a trance. "What is it?"

The fact that Harry was in such a trance, it slowly started to freak her out. Karen lifted her hand in the air and waved it front of Harry's face. She cleared her throat. Finally, she saw some signs of life coming from him. This did the trick of making Harry turn around to face her.

The rumbling echoed outside them and Harry sighed. "We've got a storm coming."

"Maybe it will pass us over, "Kara said. The next cross look caused her to back off. "Yeah, I know."

Kara slumped herself up against the wall and she stretched her legs against it. "I don't even know where to begin here."

"Well the beginning works well," Barbara said. She frowned, adopting a pose where she considered something. She checked the network, the wireless one anyway. "They're spikes like this happening all over the world. People are going nuts, the power is going on and off."

"We have our own power source that's separate for everything else," Harry informed her.

Barbara whistled in response. She figured Harry would be prepared. "Oh, I bet that cost a pretty penny to get together."

"Pretty much, yes," Harry said and he checked to make sure it was stable. It started to blink on and off. "Of course, even the best investment can even fail."

Harry walked over to the master computer and punched a few commands down. The satellites interlinked together and formed a barrier.

"Will that even work?" Shayera asked.

"It should work long enough to stop them," Harry said, distracted. He punched in a few commands. He needed to check something. "Temporality at least, I've got a couple more commands that I can punch in."

Harry did as he said and punched in several commands. The gates fortified and a scan popped up on it. He was able to see things around the Earth more clearly.

"We're going to scan their ships and find a weakness," Karen explained. So far she found absolutely nothing which frustrated her.

"Very nice," Kara said. She placed her hands on Harry's chair gently and watched him to get to work.

A chair pushed over underneath her and she sank down onto it. Kara bolted up straight up the moment that she sat down. Something blew over her spine and she could have almost screamed to be honest.

She wasn't the only one who could have almost screamed. Something blasted through one of the barriers and ripped them apart.

"That's impossible!" Karen yelled. She blinked several times.

"It is impossible," Kara whispered. She couldn't believe it either.

Harry's expression looked rather grim and he nodded. "Yes, it should be impossible."

The problem was that it was foolish to brand anything as impossible. Impossible should be a word that was removed from his vocabulary after all that he saw. There was very little that surprised him. This on the other hand surprised him.

Harry frowned; he was dealing with something that was extremely powerful. The more powerful that something was, the more dangerous that it was.

Then he was surprised about something else. This barrier remained mostly intact despite the fact that someone broke through it. That really didn't make things better, it made things worse. Someone who could slip through the barrier without destroying had more power than someone who burst through the barrier.

"Damn," Karen whispered.

Helena popped her way up the stairs and joined the group that crowded around. She saw Harry tap his way through the data and frowned.

"Nothing this powerful should exist, but it matches the cosmic readings that we got all of those months ago," Harry replied. He leaned in towards the screen. He heard footsteps behind him but he was in the zone.

Helena closed the gap and hang out next to Karen "Are you sure?"

The more questions they asked the fewer answers they got. None of it really made any sense to be honest. The power that flowed through this part caused him to stand up on edge. He sensed that there was something sentient that rested in the middle of the cosmic power.

"Positive," Harry replied, frowning deeply.

He tried to put two and two together. He was getting something extremely weird based off of the data.

All Harry had to do was to follow the trajectory and he would find where it would arrive.

"It's going to touch out in the middle of Metropolis," Harry said, slipping his way towards the nearest exit.

"Wait, you're going to meet it, aren't you?" Shayera asked and Harry responded with a nod. "Isn't that really dangerous?"

"Isn't anything that we could do dangerous?" Harry replied.

'_Yeah, that really was a great argument,' _Donna thought. Like the rest of the world she watched from her vantage point on pins and needles. A storm was beginning to roll out over Metropolis. Exactly how dangerous that storm was, she didn't know.

Diana sighed and smiled. She braced herself for battle. _'Well, it's true. Anything is a risk.'_

'_I didn't do this because it was easy,' _Harry thought. The doors blew open when he pushed them open. The doors cracked open from his burst of adrenaline.

Karen and Kara already suited up in their respective outfits. Helena followed them a few moments later. The heroes made their way out to the city streets of Metropolis and skidded to a stop, their mouths hanging open.

"Whoa," Karen whispered.

Something flashed high above their head and they didn't know what it was. They would find out soon.

* * *

><p>The Daily Planet was the usual stream of never ended chaos. One reporter in particular paced up and down the hallway. She looked around and waited for the go ahead to go outside and take a closer look.<p>

Lois really never needed the go ahead from anyone. She always stepped out and did what she needed to do. Her eyes followed the progress of the lights of the building and they flickered in and out. There was a loud humming of the building and suddenly it blacked out completely.

Seconds later the power popped back on and Lois walked over to her computer. She tried to activate it but it kept hanging up on her.

"Come on, you piece of junk," Lois whispered and she wanted to ram her head onto the computer. "WORK DAMN IT. WORK DAMN YOU!"

"There must have been a lot of static energy," one of the tech geeks said.

Lois reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone. Thankfully it still worked. Of course since it was a Red Sun, it would work. She dialed up a number and waited impatiently.

The screams of people outside of the building caused Lois to stand up. She held her cell phone up to her ear, and she looked outside.

"Power's going out all over the world, isn't it?" Lois asked. She waited for her contact on the other end of the phone to confirm something for her. "Yeah, the EMP pulse knocked out the computers and there's something…..what do you mean things heated up a lot?"

Lois paused and she leaned back against the wall.

"Yeah, I see, I see, I see, I see," Lois said in rapid fire fury and she nodded up and down.

Lois raised her eyebrow and sighed. Her arms folded over her chest and waited for more news. It hit her straight on and there was a minor power outage a few nights before. She wondered, could it be possible? Could that power outage have been a predecessor to this one? Lois didn't really know and she hoped to find out.

"See if you can get any more information, I've got a few people to call," Lois said. She sighed, slowly hanging up her phone.

The Daily Planet offices buzzed with energy and Lois had to dodge into a side office to prevent herself from getting run over. Just because she put herself in danger did not mean that she was a glutton for punishment.

"Where's the fire Cat?"

"I got to get out there and cover this, there's something going on," Cat Grant said. She was in a hurry, nearly sliding over the rug. The blonde held onto the wall and panted. She was pretty out of it. "Something is about ready to touch down in the middle of Metropolis."

"You're kidding me?" Lois asked, she couldn't believe it what's going to happen.

Cat shook her head. Lois was the newspaper reporter and Cat was the television reporter, so there wasn't that big of a professional rivalry between the two of them. That being said there was a bit of friction between the two of them.

"I need to get out of there," Cat muttered underneath her breath. She swung her arms and nearly fell over flat on her face.

Lois frowned, she was partially amused by the insane spectacle of what was happening. "Just be careful out there, it's dangerous."

"You have room to talk," Cat said. She gave Lois a knowing smile. "If it wasn't for your mysterious savior, the next article that hand your name on it would be your obituary."

Lois thought that was a nice thought even though she thought that it could be completely true. No sooner did those thoughts go through her head, she watched Cat leave, and allow her to go out into the city. The brunette reporter held the phone in her hand and prepared to dial the phone.

"Okay, you need to pick up, I need answers," Lois said. The busy signal on the other end of the phone taunted her. "Oh, you son of a…"

Lois raised her hand into the air and she turned around to see someone behind her desk. The reporter walked over the slightly unruly desk with the name tag "C. Kent" etched on it.

'_Oh, Smallville, you always leave me hanging, without even telling me what you're up to,' _Lois said. Her curiosity got the better of her when she took a look at her co-workers desk.

The brunette reporter sat herself down on the desk chair and rummaged through the papers on the desk. She thought that she would find something.

"Your computer works at least," Lois said. She cracked her knuckles and got to work. She raised her eyebrow at the carelessness of her co-worker. "And you left it open…..I swear sometimes your carelessness will get you in trouble."

Lois nearly fell back in her chair at the sound of a rumbling. She held onto the desk and spun around. A light show outside of the window drew her temporarily away from the computer.

"Whoa," Lois whispered. She clutched onto the drapes and nearly was awestruck. She leaned in for a better look outside the window.

There was a large flash of light in the sky and the reporter's eyes followed the progress of what was happening.

"Great Caesar's Ghost!"

Lois would have to agree with that declaration, and perhaps a few other great ghosts to go along with it. Not sure if she was going to get answers by digging around, Lois followed Cat's lead and threw herself out to the greatest danger.

She reached over to her desk and she picked up the bag. Slinging it over her shoulder, Lois darted towards the door.

One of the interns knocked to the ground. Not that she spent much time worrying about that.

She took the stairs, with the adrenaline pumping through her veins. She would worry about her own safety later.

Lois looked up and saw the shimmering lights. The sky looked like a multi-colored show and there was something glowing. It was a beautiful and extremely enticing sight. The reporter rummaged through her bag.

The bag dropped onto the ground and Lois picked it up.

'_What is it?' _Lois thought to herself. She looked awestruck at what she saw around her.

The image was so hot that it scorched the lens of her camera. She held it tightly into her hands and she frowned. It was so hot that it hurt when she held it in her hand.

"What the hell is going on?" Lois muttered to herself. The camera was destroyed beyond all repair.

Never one to be defeated by common sense, Lois approached closely and she stopped. The military swarmed on as they would.

* * *

><p>Harry approached at the location where the tracking signal led him. The signal led him to the middle of nowhere. It was really surprising to be honest. He would have thought that someone like that would have touched down by now. Yet, she didn't touch down as of yet.<p>

'_I know that you seem insistent that it's a she,' _Karen thought.

Kara jumped into the bond link. _'Why are you against it being a she?'_

'_I'm not,' _Karen protested.

Harry decided to answer the question for both of his wives. _'It's just one of those things that I know that something is happening. I feel it getting closer.'_

'_She's not the only thing that's getting closer,' _Helena thought. She frowned. They all had this feeling, the same feeling.

Their feelings paled in comparison to the real life interference that showed up. The military moved on in and a rather hard faced general stepped in. He was your typical stereotypical military guy. He was the epitome of drill sergeant nasty.

"All right, clear out of here," the general said in a grumpy voice. He made sure everyone knew what he was saying. The military moved in and pushed the civilians out of there. "There's nothing to see here. Military business, nothing that the average person needs to know."

Some of the civilians rushed in and tried to argue that was something that each and every one of them needed to know and soon. The General was not one to be deterred however. He stared them down and cleared his throat.

"And that means the press too," the General whispered in his most nasty voice. This caused Lois to frown and she tried to protest.

"My father is General Sam Lane and…"

"I don't care if your Daddy's the President of this country, I have my orders, and everyone needs to be cleared out of this area," The General snapped.

Shayera watched and frowned. She was no stranger to military brutality from back home. This guy's attitude was riding on her last nerve. Her temper already was one that was high. Her mace wrapped around the handle of the mace that she wielded. Harry gave her one of those looks in response and she fell back into line.

"Not yet, not yet."

She wondered when the moment would be. Harry's hand opened and closed and he tried to get in close.

He stood behind the military leaders, cloaked.

"Make sure we intercept anything that gets here," the gruff old man said. "Anything should be the property of Cadmus."

'_Cadmus?' _Harry asked. That sounded foreboding but there was no time to worry about that now.

Harry heard something approaching and the hair stood up on the edge of his neck. The Military men stepped in and pointed their weapons forward.

The loud crack echoed and the sky got brighter around them.

'_They are coming.'_

Harry was pretty sure that he was the only one that heard it. His eyes glowed in the darkness and he had to close them. He wasn't sure if this power interfered with his cloaking technology but at the same time, he wasn't going to take that many chances if he could take it.

A bright burning light filled the city and the blinding force backed the military off.

"Find whatever these ETs are using, and shut that down!" the general shouted.

Meanwhile, Lois stepped back and nearly fell over an overturned bench. She stopped herself from hitting to the ground. Her mouth hung open in abject shock.

The bright orb dropped down in the middle of the city and there was a blinding light. The military guards tried to attack the orb.

Karen and Kara exchanged an exasperated look with each other. They didn't know if they were monumentally brave or exceedingly stupid. It might have been some kind of combination of both. The attack worked as well as it expected and they bounced off like ping pong balls onto the ground with a thud.

"**THEY ARE COMING!"**

That thunderous declaration echoed from the mysterious force that dropped down onto the ground. Light flashed in their line of sight and rocked them all. Everyone who witnessed this one moment in time were blown completely away.

"What in the name of Sam Hill!" the General shouted. He looked completely flabbergasted and out of his element. That's where he should have been.

The entity's voice exploded.

"**You are pathetic if you think that you can stop me, especially when I'm not your enemy," **the powerful female voice yelled. **"I'd tell you not to make it that way."**

The tanks the military rolled into, burned to dust. The men driving them reappeared, scared out of their minds. Even if they were hardened military men, they thought that they died. It was because they did for a few seconds.

"**They believe that it's on Earth!" **the force yelled at the top of your lungs. **"Even if it isn't, they will not hesitate to rip you asunder to get it. The crystal was hidden somewhere on Earth, that's what they think they know!"**

'_What is she talking about, what crystal?' _Barbara thought.

Karen sighed. _'Oh there could be many crystals, powerful throughout the universe. Or they believed to have power, even though they didn't. But people believe they do. Or something.'_

Harry walked over the glowing figure and the Phoenix Force stared out from him.

"It's you," The Phoenix whispered when she stared him down. The glow disappeared. "You are the ruler of this planet."

"Not exactly," Harry said. The young sorcerer held his hand up in a peaceful gesture. "I don't wish to harm you."

"I know," she replied. Her smile brightened. "You will never harm me….."

"Get him out of the way and fire!"

The military tried to attack Harry, but before they could do so, the Phoenix immobilized them. They vanished into a blink of light.

"So what did you do to them?" Harry asked.

"Even if they tried to harm me, I decided to go easy on them," the Phoenix whispered. She sound more exasperated than anything. "I transported them on a report island. They should learn a lesson about manners."

* * *

><p>The dust settled and she slowly appeared in a more human form in the light. Even with the more powerful form, her power could not be understated.<p>

She appeared in the darkness. Her crimson red hair dropped down to her shoulders. Her lips looked soft and juicy and her green eyes glowed with intensity. She wore a set of white robes with a silver Phoenix emblem etched onto it. The power of her beauty caught everyone off guard.

"I am the living embodiment of the Phoenix Force," she told them. With that statement, she stepped to Harry, and her eyes swept over Karen and Helena. "You and your mates, your arrival was something that stirred me awake. I sensed something but I could not break completely free from my restraints."

"Your restraints?" Harry asked. "Someone trapped you?"

Karen decided to jump in with a statement of your own. "How did you get free?"

"His attention is rather…..scatter-brained," the Phoenix commented crisply. She wasn't completely herself yet but she was getting there. "I'm not sure exactly when I broke free."

"We saw the signs of you getting free, but there is something else…."

"You were looking for the other, weren't you?" The Phoenix asked. This caused Harry and the girls to jump in surprise.

"Patricia, you know about Patricia?" Karen asked. She was distracted by everything else.

"I sense that there is another presence out there, caught in flux," the Phoenix said. There was no way she could make sense out of all of this. This world had so many emotions that it overwhelmed her and it caused her great concern. "But that's not the problem, the problem is D'Ken and he is coming."

"D'Ken, surely not?" Kara asked. She knew the name and frown.

"He leads the Shi'Ar and they're after the crystal…"

Kara felt confusion and she needed something clarified for her. "Wait, wait, wait, just clear something up for me for a second. I thought that he was outsted from the throne for misconduct and war crimes."

"Before Krypton blew up, yes," the Phoenix said, sensing the thoughts form the girls mind. She decided to set the record straight. "He still had his supporters though. The planet was distracted by another conflict and then…"

"That bastard returned to power," Kara said. Her teeth gritted in anger when she said that. She couldn't believe this.

His attack wasn't the driving force for Krypton's destruction. The man's attack however chipped away at some of the natural resistance of the planet. The Council released him into the custody of his people instead of placing him inside the Phantom Zone, where someone like him deserved to rot. It was a fate worse than death if she was honest.

"He did return to power and he returned to his old obsessions," the Phoenix clarified grimly. She drew in the power. "Your barrier will be able to stall him but eventually, he will break through. The planet will be reduced to cinders."

"You can stop him, though," Kara said. Her gaze was adoring when it was locked onto the Phoenix's. "I mean, you're the personification of ultimate power, aren't you?"

"I'll do the best that I can to help," the Phoenix said. Her somber voice indicated that she wished she could have more than that.

Her power might have seemed cosmic on an Earth level. She sensed that these people were very primitive. Being very new among the races of the universe, they would be razzled-dazzled by numerous tricks and things. Against some of the more dangerous forces out there, her power could take them down.

She was only at a small fraction of it. The power did grow the longer that she stood on Earth.

"If D'Ken gets on Earth, he won't take no for an answer," Kara informed them.

"Got that message loud and clear," Harry said. He checked both the beacon point that shot behind Mars and also the scouting ship that still hovered there. It remained immobile at least for a second.

The scouting ship he should note that was on the move again. Harry walked into the middle of the city and nearly bumped into Lois.

"That's….that's…" Lois said and Harry smiled at her.

"The biggest story that has ever fallen on your lap," Harry said. She nodded eagerly in response.

"Yeah, it might be the biggest story that has ever fallen on my lap," Lois said, and she sounded extremely breathless. "You know, if I live long enough to cover it."

"That's always the deal, isn't it?" Harry asked her. "I don't suppose that I should tell you to stay out of trouble?"

Lois looked amused. "Did you honestly forget who you were talking too?"

Harry smiled and turned away from her. The green eyed wizard followed the progress through the city.

'_So, I will stick with you and help you as much as I can,' _the Phoenix thought to him.

'_Thank you, I appreciate that.'_

Harry honestly meant that from the bottom of his heart. He took the security of this planet extremely seriously. He made some mistakes, more than a few.

'_And, so far things are quiet on the Western Front,' _Barbara reported when she reclined back behind the computer. _'But that doesn't mean anything.'_

Harry would have to agree. _'It means that we're just waiting for the big attack. I think that I might have something, or rather someone that could help us. And believe me, we could use all of the help that we could get against this menace.'_

'_D'Ken is vain,' _the Phoenix reminded him. _'He will not deny a direct fight against someone, especially when he considers that person to be weak.'_

'_Not seeking out a direct fight, not if I could avoid it anyway.'_

He could avoid it all that he wanted. There would come a time where he would have to fight. And he didn't fight to lose. Harry Potter never fought to lose.

* * *

><p>Back in the main RAO tower, Harry made his way up to the elevator. He was pretty sure that this was one of the areas in the city that actually worked as it should. At least that's what he assumed. The elevator stopped at the top floor and landed with a solid ding.<p>

'_Fascinating,' _the Phoenix thought after she materialized slightly next to Harry.

Despite being a cosmic entity, they were certain things that she was woefully ignorant of.

"I know of these things based off of the memories of the last bonded, the one that I actually took halfway across the universe," the Phoenix said. "But they were like photographs, memories…"

The elevator opened and Harry led the way out.

"It's far different to experience and feel, isn't it?" Harry asked her and the Phoenix turned around with a nod and smile.

"Yes, it is," she replied and she peered out the window. "I apologize for disrupting so much of your world."

"That's no problem, it happens, trust me."

Harry had many ideas going into his head. The past three years he had been on his planet, he thought about what he could have done wrong. The contingencies he had on the old world were rock solid but not strong enough. This time, he had some pretty clear motives in mind. All he had to do was cross his fingers and enact them.

Then there was the hint that Patricia was still out there in Limbo. Harry hoped that resolve that point soon but the fate of the world seemed to be extremely perilous right now.

The first ding on his shields other than when the Phoenix tore through them could be heard. He frowned when he punched up the report.

"So, what's up now?" Lana asked and she slid over next to Harry. "We're running out of time, aren't we?"

Harry frowned and he tapped his finger on the edge of the screen. "Running out of time, yes, we're almost out of time completely."

Not good, not good at all. Actually they were far beyond not good. He tapped a red button and activated something.

"A deterrent," Harry whispered.

He alarmed it for an attack. It blinked to light and a silver triangle flashed briefly into space. It would latch onto the first ship that it found. Hopefully in theory it would fry its computer systems and knock it off orbit.

It was a sound idea in theory but everything worked better in theory.

Kara jumped on it. _'The power is back on.'_

'_That was my doing,' _the Phoenix thought. _'I didn't intend to wreck everything to that extent. But it was the only way that I could announce my arrival in the way that would get your attention.'_

Harry smiled. _'Fair enough.'_

He switched to another view and so far nothing triggered is deterrent. Zero hour rapidly approached. Each second grinded by on the clock and it was far longer than the last one.

During times of pressure, people had the weirdest thoughts and Harry had one of his. Everyone was always attacked by questions of "what if?"

Harry slowly turned to the Phoenix who watched him nervously. "What if the Crystal is here on the planet?"

The Phoenix's response was crisp. "Then we need to do what we can to secure it."

Harry figured that if the crystal had a similar point of origin than the Phoenix; he might have a chance to find it.

Lana's eyes flickered over from the display. She thought that she saw something.

Harry saw a shadow hovering outside of the window. There was a cape that hovered in the distance and he spotted it out of the corner of his eye. Slowly, his head turned around and he smiled at the person who watched him.

'_It's about time,' _Harry thought to himself.

"You know you're a very hard person to get ahold of."

"Well, you have your ways of eventually getting someone's attention," the person said. She leaned back into the shadows and smiled.

Lana stepped forward to open the window for her old friend. "So, that's what you look like when you're not moving at the speed of light."

"You figured it out, didn't you?"

Lana placed a hand on her hip and gave her a smile. "Yeah, it wasn't too hard to figure it out. I mean, you might have learned hard work and ethics with the Kents. But telling a convincing enough lie was not one of those things."

"Well, I guess they seemed stupid in hindsight."

A gorgeous dark haired woman stepped into the shadows. Her black hair hung over her face and showed her soft and gorgeous features. Her piercing blue eyes stared back at Harry and met him. She wore a tight black shirt that wrapped around the upper half of her body. She was gifted, maybe not as much as Karen was, but she had extraordinary gifts. She wore a flowing black skirt that extended down to her knees. A pair of thigh high black boots covered her alluring looking legs. The black overcoat she wore added to the picture.

Kara decided to comment with the obvious. _'She looks like Aunt Lara did….only you know with the dark hair.'_

The girl in her twenties stood and smiled.

"It's been a long time since I've seen you, Miss Kent," Harry whispered in her ear and she blanched. "I figure the awkward act in college was a bumbling act to divert suspicion about what you really were."

"Or was it just because Harry was around?" Lana asked.

"So, I guess you've figured out who I am," the woman said with a smile.

"Are you upset about the fact that Harry figured out or the fact that Kara beat you to the punch?" Lana asked. The girl glared back at Lana with a burning gaze.

Thankfully she wasn't using her heat vision or Lana would be a smoldering pile of ash on the floor.

Claire Kent, born Clara Jor-El, of Krypton hovered before her.

"So what's going on here?"

"I need something that you have at your Fortress of Solitude and your cousin doesn't have the pass key," Harry told her and Claire sighed.

She knew that she forgot something. It might be a good time for Kara to be able to access her Fortress in case of an emergency and she was sure that her mother wouldn't mind.

"I'll take you there right now."

**To Be Continued On November 7****th****, 2014. **

* * *

><p><strong>The worst kept secret in this story is finally revealed. <strong>


	33. Absolute Power Part One

**Chapter Thirty-Three: Absolute Power Part One.**

A crisp and cool wind blew over the Arctic. It was the type of wind that would bite anyone who ran into it. No one without super powers even dared to go out there without any kind of training and the right quite equipment. Even then it was ill-advised to do so, for someone who tried was completely insane.

What laid deep underneath the ice and the snow was a magnificent looking Fortress. It shined brightly with glowing lights. There was a miniature living area that had a roaring fire, a bed, a couch, and a shelf with various tomes on it. A television also rested to the side which it blared the latest news from Metropolis. Off to the side there was a bathroom with a heated toilet and a shower.

It was a contrast to the main part of the Fortress. It was a cold and sterile area that contained hanging ice crystals, with a central computer. It was only for a practical feel for the Fortress.

Claire snorted when she looked around this part. Her mother did have some influence on parts of this fortress, but it was obvious that her father had the greatest input on the main fortress. Her mother did the best to make it look even livelier and she tided things up when she could.

"Clara, the Fortress sensors have been tripped."

A beautiful blonde woman came to life and flashed deep within the Fortress. She wore elegant white robes. She resembled an older version of Clara, with blonde hair. Harry looked at her with a smile.

"Mother, I know, there are alien invaders coming," Claire said. She grew serious but she knew that this next piece of news would cause her mother grave concern and rightfully so. "The Shi'ar."

Lara's expression grew completely grave. "This isn't something that we hoped for you to deal with. The Shi'ar are among Krypton's gravest enemies, and they are after the M'kran crystal. It will give the holder ultimate power, at the cost of their sanity."

"That's always the case," Harry grumbled. This caused Lara's full and undivided attention to direct towards the young man.

Claire figured that introductions were in fact in order.

"Mother, this is Harry Potter."

Lara looked Harry up and down.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, at least, my daughter has raved about you," Lara said. It was after this response that Claire looked a bit flustered. Now that her duty as a mother to embarrassed her child was done, Lara popped in. "The Shi'ar is coming, we need to prepare for them. And the only language that they understand is force."

Claire wondered what her mother had up her sleeve regarding that.

"Most of the heavy weapons on the Fortress have been dismantled."

"Yes, it would be unwise to leave weapons that can crack a moon in half in play," Lara answered with a smile on her face. "That's not to say that we don't have other weapons that can pack a punch."

Lara punched up a diagram of another weapon. Harry leaned in and looked fairly impressed with what he saw. Although he had a few questions about how feasible this weapon was.

"That could work, but is in intact?"

"It will only serve to divide the fleet, but it should make it more manageable," Lara explained. "But I assumed that the Shi'ar would have backed off any aggression with D'Ken being off of the throne."

Claire decided that she might as well break the grim news.

"He's back now."

Lara figured as much. The man had his allies.

"And when he comes, I'll rip him apart for all he's done," the Phoenix said. She flashed into the Fortress at that second and gave Claire a start.

"You know, you could have warned someone," Claire said, annoyed that the Phoenix flashed into the Fortress without any kind of warning. That kind of messed up the entire security thing of the Fortress.

Lara stopped and stared. The mythical force to end all mythical forces stood right here next to her. Perhaps they didn't need a weapon, perhaps they got all of the fire power that they needed here. Not that she would dare think of using the Phoenix Force as a weapon that could be fired at something.

"You're really her, aren't you?" Lara whispered.

The woman rarely was put in such awe, but here she found herself blown completely and utterly away by the presence of the Phoenix Force. The avatar that she took was nothing short of stunning.

"Yes, I'm the Phoenix, and it is a pleasure to meet the last children of Krypton," the Phoenix said. A sad smile crossed her features. "I heard of your planet's demise. It was not pleasant, thousands of lives wiped out in an instant."

Lara's voice grew solemn. "Yes, if we had only seen the signs, we might have saved it."

That was the problem for any society. They didn't see the signs of their own decay and their own destruction until it was much too late. Lara hated to be the type of person who brought this up but Krypton repead what it sewed.

"We need to worry about the immediate danger that this planet is, so it doesn't rip the planet apart like several others have," Harry reminded Lara.

Lara snapped back to life and nodded. He was right, of course. "Yes, D'Ken is a brutal barbarian of the highest class that will tear this entire planet apart to get the key to ultimate power."

"Even if that key to ultimate power wasn't here?" Claire asked.

"It is," Lara said. That was a revelation that left her daughter gobsmacked. "That is why we need to prepare for the invasion and strike it at the source."

"I've delayed them," Harry said. He wasn't sure for how long but it was something. "At least long enough for us to come up with a plan to take them down. I don't think that we have much more than a day."

"No," Lara agreed shaking her head. "And the Phoenix may have already wiped them out if she was at full power. Am I right?"

"Yes," the Phoenix stated, arms folded. Her voice sounded brisk when she spoke. She wasn't about to stand by and not do her part. She was going to help in any way she could and in every way she could.

X-X-X

The moment that they left the Fortress, Harry turned to confront Claire about something. "So, why exactly have you been avoiding me?"

Claire jumped straight to the defensive, throwing her hands into the air. "Avoiding you, I haven't been avoiding you!"

Harry smiled. So this was the game that she wanted to play? Well he could play it just as well as she could.

"Maybe you haven't, but there has been a reason why you've been gone," Harry said. Both of them were on the way back from the Fortress to Metropolis.

They could have got there much faster, but there was a lot of air traffic they had to navigate around. Exactly what happened in Metropolis was a mystery to some people.

'_My father told me in no uncertain terms to keep my mouth shut when I tried to push around for information,' _Lois thought, breaking into the bond link. _'You can't even ask a simple question around here anymore without someone jumping down your throat. Can you believe that?'_

'_Yeah, Lois, I believe it,' _Harry thought. He sighed in response.

The bond chatter was a nice diversion and Harry turned to Claire. "So, what's up?"

"Do you want the truth?" Claire asked.

"Yes, I want the honest truth," Harry replied.

"It's actually nothing that seedy," Claire said with a sigh. "Even though it seems stupid, because I was giving myself more false hope. I mean, I found Kara and my aunt…."

"She is in the Fortress, right?" Harry asked. He knew he forgot about something when he went down there. He should really worry about that later when he had more time on his hands than he did.

An incoming alien invasion did wonders in chopping the free time down to a lull.

"Yes, she's at the Fortress," Claire responded and she almost thought that she was scot free from answering that Harry where she was during all of this time. "Actually, I should really tell you. Especially before you glare a hole in my head and guilt trip me into doing so."

Harry didn't say anything and his eyes fixated on Claire's. Claire released her breath intensely and smiled.

"It all started with when I found Kara," Claire informed him. "I thought, maybe I hoped, that there would be other colonies out there. So I traveled to try and find them, but the only thing that I found was ruins and the ravaged remains of the people there"

The two of them touched down outside of the RAO building. Harry's security credentials allowed them inside.

"I might have been much too late for some of them," Claire said with a shudder. Harry pulled his arm around her. That caused her to blush slightly at the close contact.

"The Krypton colonies might have been doomed," Harry told her gently.

Claire hated these words that came out of his mouth, mostly because she agreed that he was right. She hated when Harry was right.

"Just look at it this way, you looked, and you might have been able to save one or two people," Harry said.

"I didn't save anyone though," Claire protested and Harry placed his finger on her lips to silence her.

"That's not the point," Harry whispered to her. "You tried."

Claire shook her head and gave him a smile in response. That being said her body relaxed a little bit more in his presence. She did pick up a few trinkets along the way. Perhaps in time she would determine the fate of the people in those colonies.

The fate of Earth, her adopted homeworld, was first and foremost. Clara Jor-El, Claire Kent, she had bright hopes for the world. She was damned if she would allow them to falter that easily.

"Please tell me you have some good news," Harry said to Barbara.

Barbara gave a long sigh. "Well, the good news is that our defenses have held, but they're closing."

"Not good," Harry groaned.

"Yes, you figure that much," Barbara agreed and she drummed her fingers against the edge of the desk.

She did appreciate that Harry had the best security in the world. Security which most companies would give their right arm for and there would be most countries as well.

"Okay, I've got a plan, but it might be nuts," Harry said just as Karen and Kara turned up next to him. Both blondes braced themselves for battle. The others were bracing themselves for battle.

Karen turned to her husband and looked at him. Blue eyes locked onto greens. "As nuts as your plan might be…"

"The Fortress is readying the defenses for the Earth," Harry said. He couldn't say that he was completely happy that some of the more deadly weapons had been disconnected from the Fortress. He understood exactly why that was the case, even though he didn't like it. "But I think that our best game would be to beat him to the Crystal."

Kara questioned her husband's sanity and she stepped towards him. "You do realize that crystal has warped the minds of anyone who has ever touched it."

Harry nodded, he was completely aware and conscious of that fact.

"Your Aunt Lara told me as much when I swung on by the Fortress," Harry answered. He absent mindedly walked towards the computer.

"It is better if someone strong of heart grabs onto the crystal, before someone who will use it for annihilation does."

The Phoenix showed up. She was much more soft spoken than ever before.

"And if anyone can hold the crystal and actually not succumb to it, you can," the Phoenix said.

Harry felt glad regarding her confidence, he really hoped to live up to in due time.

A blinking message diverted his attention. It was actually sent to the world leaders.

"Give me a minute, and I'll get it," Barbara said, she cracked her knuckles and got to work.

X-X-X

"I see your attempts to block us from coming and it's laughable," a rough and extremely crazed voice said. It was garbled slightly but thanks to Barbara's hacking magic she managed to get on through.

"Oh, really, genius," Kara said. She looked quite dubious at these claims. "If it really is so laughable, that how haven't you broke on through?"

"They haven't," Karen said. Despite that fact she was extremely anxious.

"But they're close," Harry said with a sigh.

He was pretty sure that what he was looking for was close to being underneath his nose. All he had to do was seek out and locate it. For now he would have to run around in circles.

"Earth will be crushed unless you surrender to the might of your superiors, the Shi'ar," D'Ken said and madness brimmed through his voice. "I may be persuaded to spare you or at least offer you a quicker demise. You will surrender the M'Krann crystal to be immediately. Anyone who refuse will be the first to perish. Including the one who attempted to impede my arrival."

Harry needed to drop the gates before long, so he can lure them into his trap. The trap would once again forestall the inevitable.

"You have one of your Earth cycles to surrender, or you will face the full and unwielding might of the Shi'ar Armada."

'_So how big of an armada are we talking about?' _Donna asked, nervously chewing down on her lip.

Kara decided to give the grim answer. _'So big that half of it could wipe out the Earth, and everything that it stood on.'_

'_We're ready,' _Diana told Harry.

'_Good, I know that if it comes to a far fight, the fiercest warriors the Earth has to offer will be able to stand up to them,' _Harry thought.

The problem went without saying that he was almost certain that they would not be aiming for a fair fight.

"They're getting closer, on the edge of Mars," Helena reported from the vantage point she positioned herself at.

"And they're mobilizing all around the perimeter," Barbara said and she frowned. "So, are the rumors true about there being life on Mars?"

"War between the greens and the whites, no confirmed survivors," Kara said. There was a second that it seemed apparent that Harry might have known a bit more about this. If he did, he wasn't telling.

Harry didn't bother to confirm that point. He got a call and he expected this one for a long time.

"You know who this is," a gruff voice said over the edge of the line.

He had to admit that he was pleased by that. Short, sweet, and to the point, and given the fact they had less than a day to force back the invaders, he needed time.

"They may have found a hole, they're mobilizing around one area," Batman said to him.

"Yes I can see that," Harry said.

The Wayne Tech satellites and the RAO network worked together to form a security blanket around the world. Harry didn't know how long it would hold.

"You have a plan, I take it," Batman said.

"Yes," Harry agreed.

"Good, I'll be in touch," Batman said, and it went without saying that Batman had his plans.

"So, he's as chatty as usual, isn't he?" Helena asked, barely keeping her attention off of the work that she had to do. She learned to live with that quality of her father who really wasn't her father in this world.

Alternate dimension could give a person a headache if they weren't careful.

"Yes, but chatty or not, I think that he's a good person to have standing by," Harry answered with a smile.

While he had his plans, he could use pretty much all of the help that they could get.

"We're armed and ready to go, in twelve hours," Lara reported through the portal version of the Fortress crystal that Claire carried on her.

"Do you think that we're going to be able to last another twelve hours?" Karen asked.

Harry placed his hand underneath his chin, that honestly was a good question. "You know, I think we can stall them at least that long."

D'Ken wasn't one to keep his promises. Harry knew that he would blitz the Earth before the twenty four hour cycle was up. The moment he found even the smallest security hole and exploited it, he would dive on down just like that.

"Harry, are you okay?" Helena asked her husband with a frown.

"Yeah, I'm fine, for what it's….."

A blink popped right into Harry's face and he couldn't believe it. He half expected that there was some chance that he couldn't find it. In fact, he expected that D'Ken was a raving lunatic who misinterpreted the beacon that Hath-Set sent up was the crystal.

'_I'll be damned,' _Harry thought.

Lois chimed in. _'The military discovered something in the midst of the desert, it vaporized an entire tank.'_

'_We're going to have to keep the military from killing each other to get the crystal,' _Harry thought.

The Phoenix inched in next to Harry and both of them locked eyes with each other. With a nod of agreement, they locked arms and disappeared into a flash of light.

Time was of the essence, they needed to beat him to the crystal.

X-X-X

"Our contingency plan is holding about fine," Helena informed Harry.

Harry, Claire, and Jean made their way off to Vegas, to retrieve the crystal. The young man had an ear bud in his ear where he tried to listen to the President and his attempts of reassurance that everything was going on alright.

"My fellow Americans, I can assure you that nothing is the matter," the President said in a southern drawl. "These threats for the alien invasion are nothing, but a hoax. I can assure you that you have nothing to worry about."

'_Just how much can one person cover their ass anyway?' _Lana thought in frustration.

'_A whole lot, trust me,' _Lois said. She had been around politicians for most of her life thanks to her father. Most of them didn't even seem to have a mirror in their home. If they did, they could see how absurd that they are.

If they did, they mastered the art of not even bothering to look themselves in the eye, while looking into the mirror.

Harry's piercing sigh increased, he didn't trust himself to let this one pass without comment. He tracked the crystal's energy through the desert. The fact that it was surrounded by a group of military people indicated that they were getting close.

"Do they not understand the dangers that they're putting themselves in?" the Phoenix asked. They saw three tanks vaporize right before their eyes.

Claire looked down and watched them drag a large drill into the picture. The crystal must have lodged itself deep under the ground.

'_Barbara check for power fluctuations around the Vegas area,' _Harry thought. He had a theory that the crystal was inactive until a certain point in history.

It amused Harry that everything seemed to come back to Las Vegas after a certain amount of time. The crystal being here of all places and the rampant insanity that followed certainly was fitting in numerous ways.

'_Okay, I figured out where you were' going with this one,' _Barbara said. She paused to draw breath. _'And you know, you're right, the power fluctuations popped on and off ever since the beacon was released.'_

'_The beacon activated the crystal, perfect.'_

"The beacon you speak of…"

"Blood was spilled in the name of a ritual to summon…..well you," Harry said.

The look on the Phoenix's face matched his own emotions quite nicely. Was she thinking about just atomizing all humans and putting them out of their misery? She considered it to be honest, but she couldn't really bring herself to pull the trigger at all.

"Not all humans are like that."

The Phoenix's sigh could be heard. "I know."

Harry wondered how he would get past the military guards. He knew that they would shoot first and ask questions never. He wore his armor which would protect him from any round of bullets. If Harry could avoid any kind of fight, he would.

Claire nudged Harry in midair. The shield on her costume resembled a blinking beacon and it could draw the fire away from them.

"Leave them to me," Claire whispered urgently in his ear.

Harry wondered what Claire had in mind. He didn't really have much time to figure that out.

"What in the name of Sam Hill is that?" one of the older officers asked when they saw a shooting star across the desert.

The President told the people that there was nothing to worry about. He sent the military out there, which was a direct contradiction of their orders. One of the military bases out her lost power and the source of the outage was found in Vegas. They had things in these military bases that they didn't want the average person to know about.

"It must be some kind of space craft. It's moving faster than a speeding bullet!"

The blur shot over the top of their heads and they shot at it. It clocked at speeds so fast that it was hard to keep track of them.

The Phoenix amused herself with the Star Child flying around circles. She stepped towards them and lifted her arms.

The redhead's eyes glowed when she lifted the troops off of the ground. They shot out in all directions and hit the ground. They crashed like miniature looking tops and rolled over. The agony that rolled through their bodies was tremendous.

Speaking of tremendous, that's what the power that pulsed through the ground felt from Harry. He reached forwards the ground.

He was seconds away from fishing the crystal out. His arm lifted up and he hesitated and wondered if he should do this. The crystal called to Harry like the staff. They gave similar energies when they pulsed off.

'_Now is the moment of truth,' _a voice whispered in Harry's head. _'Feel it, you can have absolute power. You will have no weakness, no handicaps, you will be the ultimate.'_

It was an extremely tempting offer and Harry disabled the drill that they used. He had way too much experience with things drilling into the center of the Earth to find it being anything but the worst.

Harry cracked the drill open and disabled it. Then he made his way down to the enter of the Earth.

'_It can be yours, you can be the ultimate.'_

Harry collapsed with a rush of power through his body. He felt the power that had been blocked suddenly.

"I'm going to take the power of the crystal, but not for me, and only so no one else can do it use it to destroy the universe," Harry said. Without another word, he reached the crystal.

Something rocked the side of the Earth and the power went out all over the planet.

'_Harry, we've got a bit of a situation,' _Karen thought. She frantically scrambled to get the back up power of the RAO back on line.

It would take about ten minutes and that was long enough for D'Ken's armada to blow through the Earth and head to the desert.

Harry rushed for the crystal, it was within his grasp.

The only problem was that someone else rushed for it as well.

X-X-X

The first defense was breached and obviously considering that they launched something that disabled all the communications, along with all lines of power on the planet, it was painfully obvious that they were not going back up any time soon.

The Phoenix stood at the edge of the desert, she looked towards Harry, and she looked towards the crystal. Three of the ships hovered around them in a triangle formation.

She doubted very much that D'Ken was on any of those ships. The spineless weasel would have sent his minions to do his dirty work. The ships weren't completely armed and she would be damned if she allowed them to touch down.

The dangers in tapping into so much power were obvious. Her eyes flared with energy and her red hair resembled flames more than anything.

The ships got knocked back with a huge crunch. She smashed them. Many of the people on the ships were soldiers who were blackmailed into doing their job thanks to D'Ken and their followers. She didn't like it. At the same time, she held no real ill will to any of them. The Phoenix's flames flared up even more when she knocked them back.

Another huge crack and the Phoenix grabbed Harry by the sleeve.

"The crystal is trying to tempt you," the Phoenix said. Her firm grip caused Harry to snap back into life.

He could have sworn that he saw something rushing for the crystal. Maybe it was an illusion of some sort.

"We got to find a way to get the crystal away from Earth," Harry said.

"Now that D'Ken has a taste of the power, he'll ravage everything to get his hands on the crystal," The Phoenix said and the fire expanded in her eyes. As the Phoenix spread her arms she was ready to fly.

Harry snapped back with the obvious. "Then we need to take D'Ken out before he causes untold damage."

"Yes, we do," the Phoenix agreed, pleased to understand that he knew what was on the line and more importantly how much was on the line.

The tempting pull of the crystal ensnared even the most hardened of men and Harry Potter was mostly beyond reproach.

The ship hovered, and something touched down in the center of the desert. Whoever it was, it left a giant crater in the midst of where he stood.

The dust choked anyone who dared get close enough. A few straggler soldiers were back handed like they were small children. They crumpled down to the ground with a huge impact. The sound of bones cracking and blood spurting lead to an extremely deadly combination.

Harry stepped forward and saw his foe appearing in the light. He towered over Harry, which was no small feat. He stood about eight feet tall, maybe more. It was hard to tell when someone was this tall. He dressed in battle armor with purple skin and he had a Mohawk. A battle attitude flooded over his face.

"Stand aside," he growled and he closed the gap between him and Harry. "My name is Gladiator and I'm here on behalf of the Emperor of the Shi'ar, D'Ken. Do not make me ask you to move again!"

Harry smiled and he stared down the large imposing figure. He had fought some big ones in his day. Even though fighting someone this big and strong was of questionable sanity, he refused to step down.

"So that's all you amount to, Gladiator, nothing but D'Ken's personal lap dog," the Phoenix said and she flared up with energy. Her voice became solemn. "It's unfortunate."

"My apologies, but I live to serve whoever is on the throne of the Shi'ar," Gladiator said and Harry put himself between Gladiator and the crystal. "You will not do well with that crystal, it will warp your mind."

"Yet, you give it to your Emperor willingly," Harry said and he wondered what the loyalties of this person lied.

Gladiator cracked his knuckles together and locked his eyes next to Harry's. "I will give you one more warning, you need to stand down."

"You know, you're going to have to make me stand down," Harry replied.

"And he will not stand…"

Something blasted the Phoenix in the chest and caused her to fly backwards. Gladiator brought allies.

"Okay, now that all of the distractions are gone, let me ask you one more time," Gladiator said. Roughly, he lifted up Harry by the shoulder and plucked him off the ground. "Hand over the….."

Harry spiked Gladiator right in the eyes and doubled him over. The green eyed hero jumped up into the air and smashed his foot down onto the back of the head of his enemy. There was a huge attack when he was doubled over.

A running uppercut punch nailed him hard in the chest and Harry closed his eyes. His hand didn't even break the skin.

'_I'm going to have to figure out another way around this,' _Harry thought and he massaged his knuckles.

Gladiator ran him over like a runaway train and Harry went flying. He had a new strategy, perhaps it was insane enough to work.

It was called not get hit at all by someone who could hit way harder than him.

X-X-X

It took approximately ten minutes to fire up the power back to the RAO building. The energy was enough to power up a trans-dimensional portal device.

Shayera, Karen, and Diana were sent out in space. Donna and Kara headed off to the island to assist Hippolyta and Artemis in any way that they could. Barbara, Lana, Lois, and Helena went to the Gotham City side of the operation. And of course Harry, Claire, and the Phoenix went off to Vegas to intercept the crystal.

"Do you get the sense that we're walking right into the middle of a trap?" Shayera asked.

Karen opened her mouth the moment that they landed on the base on Mars where they could safely open the portal. Seconds later, her mouth snapped shut and she shook her head.

"I'm not going to say it, because everything that I say it, I jinx it," Karen said. She switched to the mental link to check up on something.

'_So, the range on the bond works well still?' _Karen asked.

'_Yes, I can hear you loud and clear,' _Helena thought from where she was.

"Okay, we've got the only method of communication up that we know won't fail on us now," Karen said.

The only problem was that Shayera wasn't in the loop yet. They would have to fix that sooner rather than later. Karen perked her ears up and she heard something.

'_Harry,' _she thought in a tentative manner.

'_Sorry, too busy trying to stay alive, I'm going to talk to you later,' _Harry thought. In a flash, Karen saw him dodging the punches of the Gladiator that charged him.

Harry was locked in an intense struggle. Being one of Harry's Alpha's, Karen felt everything that he felt. Each crushing blow that connected and every single crushing blow which came pretty close to connecting.

She was pretty sure that Helena felt it too but she was a bit more composed by it. Karen took a second to submerge herself. The flashes of energy rattled her mind. Then she saw something else, a group of elite fighters dropped to the ground. They engaged their adversaries in heated combat.

Claire and the Phoenix fought some more enemies over on the other end. That caused Karen to want to step in and turn back around to help.

"No, remember the mission," Diana said. The Amazon Princess kept her firm grip on Karen's shoulder and holding her back.

Karen shook her head, she realized that Harry could handle himself in the toughest situations. It didn't stop her from worrying about what he could do, but she had to shake off her fears regarding of this.

'_I'll be fine,' _Harry projected frantically.

Shayera frowned and looked up at this moment. There was something odd about the air around them. They had their breather devices on where they could breathe in space.

"There's a high level of radioactivity in the air," Karen said with a frown.

She got nervous about such things, after the nature of how she lost her last two home worlds.

A flash of bright light erupted above their heads. A giant ship appeared, it looked like a castle floating above space.

Karen tried to re-program the gates, in one last ditch effort to block it off. Much to her agitation, that didn't really work.

"That's just great," Karen said and she squinted her eyes. She didn't suppose that her heat vision would even put a dent in it.

The girls didn't want to say anything, but it seemed increasingly obvious that D'Ken may in fact be on that ship. It was the biggest and the most elaborate. It suited his ego.

And there was only one way to stop it before it reached Earth and D'Ken got ahold of the crystal.

Shayera raised her mace and swung it to knock on the front door. The cannons on the ship responded by arming and bright pulses of red light fired up.

**To Be Continued On November 11****th****, 2014. **

**The invasion is here and insanity is going to hit an absolute fever pitch. **


	34. Absolute Power Part Two

**Chapter Thirty Four: Absolute Power Part Two.**

* * *

><p>Harry looked up at the gigantic Gladiator. His enemy towered over him with both size and strength. A giant whirling fist aimed towards at Harry's head. The green eyed warrior dodged the attack. His fist smashed against the ground. Harry flipped up over the back of his head. A running kick knocked his enemies legs out from underneath him. The man rolled over and staggered to his feet.<p>

A huge swinging punch aimed directly at Harry's head. He dodged it. It was perfectly clear to Harry that he wasn't going to win a straight up fight. He could tell that he was also highly resistant to magic. Not that Harry really used that in a fight if he could help it. But against an enemy that looked to be about as strong as a dragon, it gave him a reason not to.

"You should just stay down, and spare yourself the heart ache," Gladiator growled. He raised his arms into the air.

"Sorry, never been one to just stay down," Harry said. He fired a jab to the throat which doubled his enemy over. He realized that he hit that sweet spot so he did it again.

The pressure point connected staggered his enemy down to the ground. Harry swung his fist around. A huge spinning back fist, amplified by a little bit of power by the suit dropped the large man down to a knee.

He reached up and wrapped his huge oven pan like hand around Harry's throat. The hand tightened and Harry was in a world of shit now. Harry struggled out of his grip and blasted him onto his back. Harry popped up high into the air and drilled both feet down across the chest of his enemy.

The wind knocked out of his adversary and Harry smiled. He would have brushed his hands with the victory, but it was far from over yet.

Gladiator pulled himself up and he was hot. He rushed Harry and Harry dodged the wild swing. A leaping punch to the back of the head knocked Gladiator face first onto the ground. He planted his face into the ground, leaving an indent in the process.

Over to the side, Claire tried to rush over to assist Harry. She would have if she had been allowed the chance. There was only one problem of a huge high impact blast of silver light that shot at her.

Claire ducked and dodged these attacks. The dark haired Kryptonian signed and decided to take this matter into her own hands.

A whirling roundhouse right rammed him into the chest. The goon dropped to the ground and another one grabbed her from behind.

The Phoenix flashed onto the side of her and grabbed the goon by the head.

"So this is his Elite Guard," Claire said.

She sank one punch into her enemy's chest. When she was doubled over, Claire moved in for the kill. She aimed a huge rabbit punch down onto the back of the head of her enemy. His head cracked and snapped.

He fell to the ground. Claire winced. Her hand rarely hurt from these attacks. She rubbed her knuckles and gave a sigh when she continued to move in for the kill.

"Yes, it is," The Phoenix agreed, she should really wrap this up right now.

She launched two of them down to the ground and one of them fired an energy beam to contain her. The Phoenix swiftly dodged that attack and the beam flew over the top of her head, shattering a light post into millions of little fragments.

Claire heard the whirling of helicopters. A brilliant idea passed into her mind.

"Sorry, I need to borrow this," she said. Without a warning, she rushed over and super sped the pilot out of the helicopter to yank him out of harm's way.

The pilot didn't really have any chance to register what happened. He landed down onto the ground with a huge impact and smashed hard into the ground.

Claire backed off and shook her head. She had to fly one of these once and she needed to pack a punch if she hoped to take the Elite Guard members down. She manned the controls and started to press buttons.

'_Okay, here goes nothing, and I really mean nothing,' _she mentally stated anxiously.

She hitched in her breath and flew the helicopter down to the ground. The helicopter connected with the ground and smashed down into her enemies.

The Elite Guard was all wiped out now, except for one.

Gladiator lifted a huge battle axe over the top of his head and swung it. Harry dodged with his quick reflexes.

"You do this again and again, and you shouldn't keep fighting," Gladiator grunted.

He saw the Blur flying off to the side and he turned around. He reached behind him with his palm and nailed her in the face to knock her down onto the ground.

Claire Kent felt her hot Kryptonian temper bubble to the surface at what happened.

Harry heard the crystal call to him. He had to protect the crystal, no matter what the cost. He loaded up the knuckle dusters on his costume.

Charging Gladiator, he smashed the man down. He flipped back onto his feet. The hero took aim and hurled a huge flaming dagger out of nowhere.

The dagger slammed into Gladiator's crotch and caused him loads of pain. He healed better than most.

"My turn!" Claire yelled and she rushed Gladiator at super speed.

Claire nailed Gladiator with a huge punch and knocked him halfway across the desert. She rushed around the other side of him at a super sonic speed.

She nailed him with an ear splitting punch. Her hands clapped together and she drilled him in the ears.

Harry tore himself away from the spectacle that was about to be. The crystal nearly was unearthed.

'_Harry, are you there?' _Karen asked.

'_Yeah, I am, for what it's worth,' _Harry said and he could hear the military closing in.

If they got anywhere close to the crystal, their goose was in fact cooked.

'_I'll misdirect them,' _the Phoenix thought and she disappeared in a flash of light.

That allowed Harry time to focus on the crystal. Was it just his imagination or did the scorching desert get even hotter?

Harry reached the crystal and it shot out a pulse of energy.

"And now I think the stupid crystal is playing hard to get."

"That is because it recognizes that a more worthy master for it's powers approaches."

'_Perhaps we should have mentioned that D'Ken's armada is closing in…..and that's a big ship,' _Karen thought.

'_Be careful, please,' _Harry said. He sounded extremely certain and very serious. He didn't want any of them to get hurt.

His suit picked up another recorded message.

"My scouting party has been met with aggression. Therefore if the people of Earth wish to be barbarians, then so be it. I will teach them some manners."

The voice of D'Ken sounded crazed and Harry figured out by now, he was as bad as his word. The crystal was right in front of Harry and yet at the same time, it was completely out of reach.

"If anyone other than its rightful owner lays hands on the Crystal, then they will be destroyed. This is your only warning, I will not be charitable enough to give you another one. You have a few more hours to surrender control of the planet to me. Say goodbye to your loved ones why you still can because your world leaders are too arrogant to assume anything other than their status of being safety."

'_Monologue is really kind of getting on my nerves,' _Kara thought crossly. _'Is that really big ship up there even going to do anything?'_

'_It fired a warning shot, and no more,' _Karen confirmed to them. _'I think that he's toying with us.'_

'_Yes, yes he is,' _Harry agreed, there was no doubt about it.

He dropped down to one knee and he looked at the crystal. If he wasn't wearing armor, Harry had no doubt that the crystal would have vaporized him.

"You should be able to touch the crystal," the Phoenix said to Harry quietly.

It seemed to defy all logic and reason that he was unable to reach out and grab onto the crystal. It was right there in front of his face. The Phoenix racked her brain for a logical explanation as to why Harry couldn't touch it.

Harry turned and looked at her. Her red hair flowed freely about the area of her face. "I should be able to touch the crystal, yes. The problem is that it's blocking me from doing so."

"Reach deep into your heart and find the answers," she said. There was a moment where she was silent, the full seriousness of what was going on coming to light. She tried to drop the mysterious tone, to emphasize more with the people that she would have to save. "It find it difficult to understand exactly what's happening. "

Harry snorted. Needless to say she found herself in some extremely good company.

"Join the club, we're giving out cookies," Harry told her.

The Phoenix gave a smile and landed down next to him.

"You're not as powerful as you should be," Harry whispered.

"I didn't want to broadcast the fact, but for the first time, I feel both weak and vulnerable, and I like neither fact," the Phoenix said. Harry reached forward and grabbed her hands.

She felt a rushing of warmth through her body. This shouldn't really be happening but it did. And she wasn't sorry for it happening either. If this was wrong, she didn't want to be right. Yet, she disagreed, because this was so right.

"You shouldn't be worried about it," Harry said and he sighed. "The truth strength you have comes from within and you see what you can do."

"Yes, I can see what I can do," the Phoenix agreed. Anxiety filled the voice of the Cosmic Entity and Harry swept her in closer to him.

She drew some kind of strength from him. It empowered her already grand powers. It made her feel like anything was possible if you just thought enough.

"You aren't to your full capabilities either," the Phoenix concluded. "You parted a barrier into this dimension and sacrificed your powers to survive."

Harry nodded. "They've come back."

"But you are capable of much more," the Phoenix said.

"I was, and I can still be here," Harry said. "I have all of the necessary power where it matters."

He reached up and tapped the top of his head.

"No, it's more like there," the Phoenix said and she extended on hand.

Harry felt the warmth when she touched one finger to his heart. She pulled him on in and their lips pressed together into a kiss.

The kiss lasted an eternity, or so it seemed. Harry Potter felt much stronger than he had felt in an extremely long time. And for that matter, so did the Phoenix.

* * *

><p>"One shot, something is wrong," Shayera said. She raised her mace and continued to slam it into the doors over and over again. They didn't exactly rip down that easily.<p>

"You know, there's a more elegant way to break these gates down," Karen replied.

She amused herself with Shayera's fevered attempts to bust down the gates with her mace. Diana did so as well.

'_I'm sending what I have and translating what I know,' _Karen thought urgently to Barbara.

'_Right, of course,' _Barbara whispered, seconds later. _'Um….this might be a bit beyond my scope of knowledge you know.'_

That being said, Barbara Gordon rolled up her sleeves and got to work. This was the most complex system she hacked, even with Karen's translation. She was going to do it though. She just needed a little time. Granted it was time they honestly didn't have but she needed it.

'_The natives are getting restless there,' _Donna thought with a frown.

'_Tell my mother that the ship hasn't moved in the past twenty minutes,' _Diana relayed back to her sister.

There was a pause and Diana thought she heard snatches of conversation between Donna and Hippolyta.

Seconds later, Donna popped back onto the line. _'Diana, Mother says that you better be careful and come back in one piece.'_

'_Tell her that I intend to,' _Diana thought. She wasn't going to settle for anything less than victory. Her Amazon Warrior spirit just demanded it.

They would have to arrange something a lot easier to talk in the future, so they didn't have to play this bond tag. Right now, this would have to do. This invasion was going to end up being a nice little mess.

The doors cracked open and Shayera paused. Did one of her shots work?

"No, I think the more elegant way worked," Shayera said. She was kind of disappointed but she wasn't really complaining.

"We just got inside the ship, we need to head to the main engine room and shut it down," Karen said. She hooked her portable computer to the port of the ship. "Going to have to fiddle with the settings a little bit for compatibility."

No sweat for someone like Karen, she was used to dealing with situations like this. It was a huge part of her life.

"Okay, I'm getting the relay points right here," Barbara said. Anxiety hit the redhead flush in the face. "Do you ever have the sense that we could be running into something that we might not be able to stop?"

'_Stay strong,' _Harry interjected out of the blue.

They got a rush of something through the bond and they wondered what the hell was going on. The group felt that empowering feeling none of them could even shake off.

'_Wow, that was something,' _Karen thought with a smile.

Diana watched the door of them and so far there were no Shi'ar guards. That was very odd, since they breached the security of their ship.

'_I'm not sure how much time I bought you, but I sent them on a wild goose chase,' _Barbara chimed in.

'_We're just going to have to play this one by ear,' _Karen thought and she frowned.

'_Shall I even bother to ask how it's coming on your end?' _Barbara asked.

'_You can ask, but I don't think that you'd get a favorable response,' _Karen said with a sigh. She tried not to lose her head. _'How is coming on your end anyway?'_

'_Better than I thought that it could be, actually,' _Barbara thought.

One of the doors clicked open. Shayera, Diana, and Karen made their movement. They might only have minutes. D'Ken already likely figured out that their attacks were an act of aggression and the bastard was going to fight back accordingly.

"We're going to have to find the room with the highest security," Karen said.

Shayera could hear the stampeding of soldiers and the rushed out. She didn't know whether or not these people were willingly following D'Ken or not. It didn't matter to her right now. She'd sort that out after knocking them out.

She swung her mace as hard as she could. The mace clung down against the head of their enemy's.

Karen cringed a little bit when she saw the soldiers drop to the ground. Diana looked at Karen, watching Shayera's progress.

She didn't seem to be in the mood to fuck around and talk. The winged warrior woman was right to the action with absolutely no bullshit. Which was good because of the pressure based situation that they were in. She swung the mace as hard as she could go and it smacked them down.

All of them dropped down to the ground like nine pins. The redhead warrior woman aimed another swing and cracked them in the head.

Diana raised her eyebrow and whispered in response. "Hera."

"Indeed," Karen said. That summed up everything nicely.

As much as she didn't want to deprive Shayera of her fun, she was kind of on a time table. The blonde blasted at her enemies with her arms outstretched. Two fists nailed them in the chest. They all fell over with a heaping and agonizing movement.

Diana raised her eyebrow, impressed with what Karen did. She decided not to stand there and take it. She rushed forward and fought.

Diana wrapped her lasso around the waist of one of the warriors. He was large and towered over her. The Amazon Princess dove underneath the dagger that he threw at her. She slid underneath him and tripped her adversary up.

Karen caught the dagger in her hands. It felt like white hot in her hand. Her Kryptonian endurance allowed her to hold it despite some slight pain. She super charged it and hurled it over the top of her head.

The enemy fell down to the ground.

'_Master computer is to your right, you should be able to shut the ship down and turn it around, end this invasion,' _Barbara thought and she sighed. _'I would say before anyone figures out what's happening but…..'_

Kara helpfully interjected where Barbara left off. _'Yeah, we're really past that point where we have that kind of luxury.'_

There was the arrival of another barrage of enemies. Those goons tried to attack them.

Karen prepared herself for them and waited for the moment of truth. When they come closer, she manipulated them so they wiped each other out. She dodged between them. Their attempts to sandwich her up against them fell on deaf ears and they all dropped down to the ground.

'_Almost pathetic, really, and kind of funny at the same time,' _Karen thought to herself. There was bemusement in her tone.

"You think that you can stop me, well you are wrong. The crystal will be mine and Earth will be reduced to ashes."

"I'd give anything to track him down and shut him up," Shayera grumbled.

She swiftly took out her annoyance on one of her enemies. He cracked hard against the ground and blood flowed from his mouth. It was a nasty attack and one that worked well.

Karen whistled when she saw the pile of guards. She knew now that D'Ken likely sent some of his most elite forces to scout ahead to Earth.

He found the crystal, Karen knew it more than anyone else did. The man just wanted to exert his dominance.

"I found it, I think," Diana said, placing both of her hands on the door. She bent at the knees and strained.

Her Amazon strength ripped open the door. The three female heroes rushed in and found that there was absolutely no one there.

"Okay, that was kind of anti-climatic," Shayera said. No sooner did she say this was all of the doors shut and laser arrays on the wall armed at them.

Karen threw her hands back. "Yeah, you just had to…"

"No problem," Shayera said and she dodged the attacks.

Her recklessness nearly got her killed more than once. This time she swung the mace down onto the laser array. It smashed to bits.

Karen used her heat vision to fry the arrays. The blonde raised her hand into the air and ripped it off of the wall. She hurled the large piece of metal at the other array.

"You should give up, you'll lose…."

Karen lost her patience and her move didn't improve much of any with the taunting sight of D'Ken's face flashing up on the screen. His ugly mustache and dark hair, dressed in ceremonial garb was a sight to behold. Not all sights were really good to behold though. He had a face that only a mother could ever hope to love and maybe not come to think of it.

Shayera raised her mace and hurled it into the view screen. It smacked hard and caused sparks to fly everywhere.

Karen had to admit that she was glad that Shayera did it. Mostly because Karen would have did it as well.

"You know, if you spent as much time doing something as you did talking, you'd really be successful by now."

Karen hooked in the portable computer and they saw that there might be more of an Armanda coming. D'Ken's big invasion fleet would come on by once he got his hands on the crystal.

With the crystal, there was really no need for a huge space invasion. Karen guessed that there was no kill, like overkill. That crystal was the epitome of overkill.

* * *

><p>Claire Kent refused to back down from a fight, even though it seemed hopeless. Perhaps one might question her sanity. She would be right there next to them questioning her sanity. The one thing that no one could question was her determination.<p>

This blue skinned mohawked man rushing her was more than proof enough that there was something kind of off about her. She just barely blocked his punch and wrenched his arm back.

"You can keep attacking me, but I won't give up," Claire said. She tried to fold his arm behind his back but he fought that attack off.

"You are a noble warrior, but I am the strongest in the universe."

Claire was not strong as she could have been sometimes and she felt a huge punch nailed into her ribs. Gladiator doubled over her over.

She blocked his foot from coming down and connecting with his face. The man's large hands tried to swing down and cave her skull in. She dodged the attack and felt her heart speed up with a heavy beat against her chest.

The Last Daughter of Krypton saw a large tower hovering above the top of her head. She gripped her enemy across the chest and swung back. A huge uppercut punch nailed him swiftly in the chest and launched him high into the air.

The enemy crashed hard into the tower and sent sparks of light flying in every direction imaginable. Claire waited for it to happen.

Gladiator flew out the other side of the tower and she super sped over to the other side. She rammed her fist into his gut and doubled him over. Claire fired a huge kick and dropped him to his knees.

"How?" Gladiator whispered.

She didn't respond other than flickering one pinky finger at him. He slammed down onto the ground. His back cracked against the ground with a fearsome force.

Claire looked around. She heard the thunderous crash of a portal splitting open time and space and another war ship approaching. It hovered within time and space above her head.

'_You really got be kidding me now, right?' _Claire thought.

Harry turned up next to her. He saw Gladiator down on the ground, his jaw split from the impact of Claire hitting her as hard as she could. A great warrior whose only crime was loyalty to the crown of the Shi'ar and it didn't matter who it was.

"Please tell me that you got that crystal," Claire said. There was urgency in her voice.

No sooner did that question leave her mouth did an ear splitting shriek enter her ears. Both fighters stepped back, caught completely and utterly off guard. Harry tried to push himself against the tide of what was happening.

"There's a funny story about that, the crystal isn't coming into my hands easily."

"The energy readings are off the charts, there's a nuclear reactor like level heading into Vegas," Lara said. She grimaced. That wasn't good news for any of them. "The good news is that the contingency we have in place is ready."

Harry didn't want to seem too cynical. He had to express what he thought was a pretty good concern. The Phoenix beat him to the punch.

"Your contingency will deter them briefly, but I think that D'Ken may have been here longer than we think," the Phoenix said.

Claire turned her attention to the Phoenix. She felt slightly uneasy about the mysterious redhead to begin with. She felt extremely more uneasy the longer that she had been here.

"How didn't you locate him before?"

Harry was the one that answered the question. He stood between the two powerful girls. Claire had a temper and the Phoenix was a fiery redhead. So if tempers rose, things could get extremely ugly very quickly.

"He's able to cloak his presence, and he would have known all of what the Phoenix Force was capable of," Harry responded.

Harry wondered if he was overlooking something. The initial beacon, the scouting ship, and the random crystal flare in the desert. The fact taunted him D'Ken's Elite Guard happened to set up shop around the area of where the was nothing to say regarding the crystal, which also taunted him.

He fit together the pieces.

'_He's not on the mothership, is he?' _Harry asked. His tone was solemn, even if his anger bubbled to the surface.

'_No, he isn't,' _Karen thought.

'_He's been on Earth for much longer than we think,' _Harry thought to himself.

'_How could someone like that blend in?' _Diana wondered.

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He didn't really know how someone like that could find a way to blend in.

"His ships logs indicated that there was another ship that landed down around the area of Egypt, about six months ago," Barbara told him. Both over the communication link and the bond link.

"There's a temple in Gotham City, I'm on my way there," Batman cut into the communication link. "I'll keep you posted."

"My cousin just got back to me," Lois added when she chimed in. "The President gave another address about how there's nothing to worry about and well…."

Harry already punched up the images that flashed in front of him. The President was in the middle of giving his blasé reassurance that there was nothing to fear. It might have pacified some but those who know the game knew that something was up. No one reassured the people this much unless there was something to worry about.

"Your leaders of the world have lied!" D'Ken yelled, and he paced back and forth.

"Get, a look at where he is," Harry muttered underneath his breath.

"You have much to fear, and that is the consequences that the lies of your world leaders will give to you," D'Ken answered. The Emperor grew even more rabid with his claims. He resembled a mad dog and he foamed at the mouth.

He paced back and forth, and Harry kept trying to zero in where he was.

"The temple," Harry whispered.

D'Ken stirred up the cult and also stirred up Hath-Set. He may have acted like an advisor, and he tricked Hath-Set into using the ritual to reveal the location of the M'Krann crystal. It would summon the rest of his fleet.

"I'm on it," Claire said. She looked at Harry seriously, grasping his hands. She stayed calm. "Stay here, and guard the crystal."

Claire smiled and she was halfway across the world in a blink of the light.

Harry had to guard the crystal. He had to grab the crystal before it was too late.

"You figured out the intentions of the crystal," the Phoenix said. She could feel the burning power of it.

The crystal could also repower her. There were whispers that echoed from her mind, that told her that she could be the Ultimate. The power was strong enough to reshape the universe in her own image.

Humanity burst on through from her power. She could feel Harry's hand wrapped around the hand of the human form that she shook.

No, it wasn't the human form that she took. It was her form, her form, she couldn't say that more than enough. She was more than some cosmic entity. More than the power that defined her, she had a past, even though the world that she left was gone long ago.

"Don't listen to the crystal, it will lead to madness," Harry whispered to her.

"You've learned well, that's why you're worthy," the Phoenix said and things heated up a little bit.

It was extremely weird; they were not at their full power. They weren't even at a fraction of what they were capable of. The power that flowed between their bodies energized them. When two hearts beat together as one, they were stronger than anything.

The crystal drew them closer in and Harry almost paused. He never hesitated but for this brief instant he did.

He took the plunge, wondering what would happen if he touched the crystal. Hesitation was not something that one that was worthy had.

Another hand reached out and blocked his. A triumphant round of laughter echoed and the entire world went into a bright light.

"THE UNIVERSE IS MINE!"

* * *

><p>D'Ken knew from the moment that he was born that he was destined to be part of the throne of the Shi'ar. He was the strongest out of all of his siblings and he made sure that all obstacles to the throne were eliminated.<p>

They exiled him, the council, not understanding that what he did, it was meant to protect the world from barbarians. The Kryptonians were among the worst of them. The Thanagarians were also up there. The Reach also tried to extend their grip on the planet. D'Ken used his influence to scorch them and make sure they didn't try that again.

He was exiled like a criminal. It would be less humiliating if he was executed. His head would stand up high and he would die like a true warrior. If it was removed in the process, at least it would be removed in defiance.

The wild planet they exiled to him was intended to cause him a slow and humiliating death.

"They thought they could stop me," D'Ken whispered, rage flowing from his voice and also through his eyes. "But they don't understand that I've grown stronger ,more powerful, and through my strength, I can crush any who dare oppose me!"

His howling rant fell upon deaf ears when he sauntered out into the desert and got closer to the crystal.

The Phoenix Force guarded the crystal, which was an annoyance, but not something that he would have to worry about for too long. He would have the power that finally would be able to destroy and decimate one of his greatest threats.

The man felt a feeling of lust enter his body and he sent his Elite Guard forward to scout the area.

He recognized the lying eyes of the daughter of Jor-El. He intended to humble her first, as revenge for what her father did to him. She would make a perfect trophy to be at his beck and call.

The entire universe flashed before him. The closer that he got to the crystal, the more his entire potential resounded to him.

"YES!"

He yelled that and then saw the Phoenix Force and another young man walk forward. D'Ken didn't know how this young man fit into it. Then he realized that this was the young man who tried to block his invasion attempts. Fruitlessly he did so, but D'Ken refused to let something like that go.

He opened his hand and closed it. He was armed and he saw the crystal.

The crystal illuminated with power and beckoned him. The young man was close to the crystal. D'Ken pressed a button on his suit and it flashed in front of him.

He reached forward and grabbed a hold of the crystal.

"THE POWER IS MINE!"

He gripped the crystal in his hand and it vibrated in his hand.

The Phoenix tried to prevent him from completely submerging into the power of the crystal. She rushed to grab onto it, but the energy field enveloped around him.

"I can see it, it's beautiful, the entire universe, it flashes, stars, constellations, everything!" D'Ken rambled.

He felt the power of the crystal and of the entire universe itself spike through his body. The vibrating crystal slammed into his chest.

Energy flashed through his body and he raised his hands.

"I warned you that I would hold this entire world in the palm of my hand!" D'Ken howled in a thunderous manner. "And now you're going to see my power!"

D'Ken called his Elite Guard to him and gave them only enough of the power to strengthen them. He also made them into puppets at his will.

"Crush them all!" D'Ken yelled. His minions charged their enemies.

The Phoenix and Harry braced themselves for a battle. They knew it better than anyone else that they were now in for the fight of their life.

D'Ken drew more power from the crystal. The desert became more distorted, more warped, with it spreading to the rest of the world and soon the universe. It reflected the state of mind of the person who contained the crystal.

The Phoenix felt her power returning, but it was much too late to do anything.

"We find, even if we're doomed," Harry said, and he raised his hands.

**To Be Continued On November 14****th****, 2014.**

* * *

><p><strong>Now things are heating up and how. If the original trilogy continued to a second trilogy as opposed to a reboot, this arc would be the finale of a probable Book IV. But it didn't for reasons that I've driven home constantly. And if you didn't get why it didn't, you never will. <strong>


	35. Absolute Power Part Three

**Chapter Thirty Five: Absolute Power Part Three.**

* * *

><p>Reality fractured all around them. The webs of energy that shot around the air erupted from D'Ken. The power continued to spill through his body and his hand shook. He was growing mad, at least madder than ever before.<p>

"YES!" D'Ken yelled.

"Okay, do I need to leave you and that crystal with a moment alone?" Claire asked, trying to get in close. There was a field blocking her. She had to try. Damn it, she had to try.

The one thing that really made her vulnerable was magic. Not in the sense that she was particular weak to it. It was just that she was vulnerable as anyone else. She didn't have a drop of prowess with it dancing in her body. The closer she got, the more she felt completely weakened.

"Perhaps you don't understand what's going on here!" D'Ken howled.

Harry understood perfectly, he was a deranged lunatic who had more than his fair share of power. His eyes traced around the area of this crazed lunatic. If he could somehow get in close, and engage him in closed quarters he might have a chance.

A throwing dagger fired from his hand and made an overaching throw. It shattered the edge of the barrier. It connected with it.

"We need to break his hold on the crystal now," The Phoenix whispered. She place her hand gently on Harry's hand. "I know you have it within you, beloved. The power might be locked partially away, but the mental will to exert that power is not."

Harry muttered underneath his breath as some kind of everlasting and crazed mantra. "Right, right, I can do this. I have this, I can do this. I have the power."

Harry removed a pair of glowing daggers from the sleeves of his robes and twirled them in his hands. Again, he tried to rush through.

He wasn't failing as much as he was trying to find a weakness.

"You insolent insect, you dare doubt my power!" D'Ken shouted and he slammed his hand onto the ground.

He expanded in size and mass, not to mention power and ego. His eyes flared with the agonizing power that absorbed. It was like he drew power from reality himself.

"You know, you've made a believer out of me now," Harry said and his hands closed together.

Believer or not, Harry had to keep trying. The Phoenix grabbed him around the shoulders, and flashed him out of the way.

Claire got up to her feet and she was pulled out of the way. Large pieces of debris flew everywhere like a cyclone.

"You know, I don't think that he has the control that he thinks that he does," Claire whispered.

Harry nodded in response. "Yes, but the crystal is attached to him."

There was a crackling sound through his head. Harry was almost certain that someone tried to break through the bond link. He didn't know who and he most certainly didn't know how. All he knew was someone tried to push their way through his mind.

"Okay, let's do this now," Harry said, cracking his knuckles together. He had one good shot to do this, he better make it count.

D'Ken stepped back from him, his Elite Guard rushing the Phoenix, Arcane, and the Blur.

"I took him down once," Claire said. She felt the cosmic energy rush her body. She clapped her hands hard and rocked D'Ken with the full force of her attacks. "I can do it again!"

Claire zeroed in on Gladiator. The large enemy swung his fist at the Kryptonian. She zipped out of the way and jumped onto his back. She wrapped her arms around his neck and tried to squeeze the life out of him.

Gladiator reached around and hurled Claire down onto her back. The girl bounced off of the ground with a huge impact.

The Phoenix knocked Gladiator down.

"I could have gotten that one," Claire crossly declared. The Phoenix's burning gaze made her reassess her statement.

"I think that you might have, yes," the Phoenix whispered. The cosmic entity raised her hand into the air and a portal open, to vanish the Elite Guard. "But you can't deny the value of working together for a common goal."

That was one thing that she learned during her previous light. As parts, they might have been good. As a whole, they were strong. The sum lifted the parts into being the best as they could be.

"I understand," Claire said in an agreeable voice.

Harry tried to break through the barrier. He could feel reality warping around him and he got an unfortunate flashback for when he got sent through the barrier the first time. All of the stomach curling agony slammed into him at the speed of light.

'_Stay strong, your mind remains powerful,' _the Phoenix urgently reminded him.

Harry understood, and he could be all that he could be. The true power never left him.

"I won't bend to you!" Harry yelled.

D'Ken felt his hold on the crystal weaken a little bit. That allowed Harry to bolt in as fast as he could go.

"Close, but not quite," D'Ken said, he blocked him. His body bounced off of the silver shield. "Your pathetic gambit was all for nothing."

"We both disagree with that, D'Ken," Harry whispered to him. With those words he raised his hand up as high as it could go.

He cracked his hand down onto the back of the enemy's head and caused him to go hurling.

The crystal, he had to get to the crystal, nothing else mattered.

* * *

><p>Shayera touched down to Earth and she felt ravaged. Perhaps she was losing her mind, but things had gone from bad to worse.<p>

"Great Rao," Karen whispered.

She didn't want to mince words. This situation sucked. She could feel a headache and the fact that she couldn't feel Harry didn't improve her move. The fluctuations of enemy erupted around her.

"I don't understand, what's going on," Diana whispered.

"You tell me, and we'll both know," Shayera interjected.

She doubted that hitting the energy field with her mace would do any good. It wouldn't even make her feel better. It would likely kill her to be honest. The woman raised her mace into the air and considered her thoughts.

"It's like fighting a temptation, isn't it?" Karen asked.

Shayera lowered her mace calmly and nodded. She didn't attack, mostly because she had other things to be distracted by. Energy flickered in and out of space out of the corner of her eye.

Time and space distorted where they saw different places on Earth that they shouldn't.

'_Harry, Harry, Harry, are you there?' _Karen asked and there was no answer. A dull buzzing bombarded her brain.

Karen fell over onto the ground. Diana only barely was able to reach over and catch her.

"I didn't think that would ever be a problem," Karen said. She realized that her top heaviness might hinder her ability to fight.

That was something that she never had to deal with for the simple fact that she dealt with the powers underneath the yellow sun.

"We'll figure this….." Diana said and she saw a pair of pinpricks from the darkness. She looked and she pulled both of her companions off to the side. "LOOK OUT!"

A large ship warped through the barrier and crashed out into the middle of the city. A huge wind blew and warps ripped through time and space.

"I don't even know what to make of this anymore," Shayera said and she could see D'Ken's fleet above her head.

The blinking of the ships going in and out caused her to stop and stare. She thought that it was insane that D'Ken would sacrifice his own people to satisfy his extreme bloodlust of power. The ships flickered out of focus.

They disappeared into the night one more time. Shayera's shoulders slumped down.

"I think I've figured out where the pattern is going," Karen said. She frantically waved her hand in the direction of the problem. "This way, come on."

The form of Gladiator flew through the portal and crashed down at their feet with a thud. They saw Kara zip through the light and nearly smack into Karen.

The younger version rested her face in Karen's breasts and arrived at a shuddering stop.

"Hi, Karen, fancy meeting you like this," Kara said and she slid down to the ground. "But why am I in the middle of the city? I was helping on the island."

"The next step you take, you could end somewhere else in the world or…" Diana started. She could see someone else appear.

Zatanna dropped to her knees in the middle of the city. She placed her hands on the top of her head and screamed.

"It's becoming unravaled, the balance, all hope might be lost if the Avatars do not restore it!" Zatanna yelled.

She screamed out loud and then started speaking in tongues. Maybe she started speaking backwards, it was hard to tell.

"Zee, you need to hold it together," Karen said nervously. She grabbed the dark haired girl around the shoulders and started shaking her.

The lights were on but there was nobody home. Karen felt her hands burn the moment that she touched the area where Zatanna once was.

"It's affecting the magic users more than anything," Kara said and she dropped to one knee, feeling the burst of power through her. "And it's a double whammy for the Kryptonians…."

Her statement was cut off and she felt the wave of energy pass through her body. The ringing cascading through her ears assaulted her hyper sensitive hearing.

Diana closed her eyes, she could feel the rush of power that Kara described and had driven Zatanna down to her knees.

"Harry's our hope," Diana whispered underneath her breath.

Her knees staggered for a few seconds and there was a crashing of several buildings.

Kara rushed in and stopped the buildings from falling to the ground. The blonde's hands scrapped up thanks to her attempts of heroism. The sun turned red above her.

"No, it's not happening again," Karen said and it was almost scary how determined that she looked.

The ships crashed into each other. Shayera figured that she had the best chance to get up there.

She hoped that her wings didn't fail her now. She pushed herself as far up as she could. The cascading impact of the ships slamming into each other made her wonder if she ran out of time.

She ignored the dull ringing that passed through her ears. She ripped open the ship and she could see the terrorized people who were frozen in place.

Shayera could see something flicker and she felt the presence of D'Ken. His presence crawled down her spine.

'_Close, so close, yet so far,' _Shayera thought.

The world continued to spiral out of control and several moments later, it would become undone. Where would they be when that happened?

* * *

><p>Harry ignored the dull throbbing in his head. Many strands of light and darkness surrounded him. They flashed in the air above and taunted him. He was in the center of several interconnecting points. The portals threatened to overlap each other and suck everyone inside.<p>

"Damn," Harry whispered.

His gifts were a curse this time. The artifacts he merged with prior to being send to the Earth that he left three years ago, allowed him to see everything. Lives slowly ceased to be, the power of the crystal drained them.

D'Ken gave the illusion that he was two times his size. The Phoenix assisted Harry in pushing on forward.

Harry stopped and realized one thing. If he could see how the universe was becoming unraveled, then perhaps he could see where he could break the connection.

He saw a portal break open and Shayera flew out. She nearly slammed down onto the ground off to Harry's side.

She winced, her wing joint slightly damaged. Not one to be taken down so easily, the winged warrior woman pushed herself to her feet. The mace clutched her hand and she waved it fiercely.

"Keep it together," Claire whispered. She nervously looked high up into the sky. There was something flashing up above her head. She didn't like the looks of it, at all.

D'Ken grew in power and also in madness. As promised, the crystal warped his mind. The man was a snarling beast and he continued to worsen with each passing moment.

"I have you!" D'Ken howled at the top of his lungs and he raised his hands into the air. "I WILL DESTROY YOU!"

Harry sighed and he locked onto the crystal that was merged with him. He would be a liar if he thought that this would be easy.

The world unraveled even more around him and Harry Potter thrived on pressure like this. He locked onto the crystal and pushed himself in.

"You think that you can try after you've failed so much."

"SHUT UP!" Harry yelled and no sooner did he say this, he channeled a burst of energy through his hands.

Every single nerve ending of his body felt like it was on fire. Not to mention he was racked with indescribable pain, but he was alive. He raised one of his hands into the air and slammed it into D'Ken.

"Give me the crystal," Harry said.

Reality flickered back and forth. The Phoenix jumped in and joined forces with Harry.

The very balance of reality was on the line. One wrong move could cause everything and they meant everything to come undone.

Nothing like a little pressure to put things in perspective.

"I'll have the power!" D'Ken yelled at the top of his lungs and he grabbed onto the Phoenix. "I'll have all of the power. I'LL HAVE YOUR POWER!"

The man was stark raving mad and it was terrifying to see what his madness descended into. Harry lifted his hand into the air but the Phoenix shook her head.

'_At the moment of truth, you'll know what to do,' _the Phoenix thought.

Claire and Shayera felt a barrier go around them. It blocked them from the power that was shooting out.

Reality dropped down to what passed as normal, although there was some surreal quality. It would be a long time before everything that had become undone was redone.

Reality only warped in the box where the Phoenix and Arcane dueled D'Ken over the crystal. The deranged man was not giving this up without a fight.

"You lose, you lose," D'Ken whispered. He grabbed the Phoenix and throttled her.

"That was the biggest mistake you could have mad," Harry said and he drew upon the power of the crystal.

He filtered out the corruption and it was the spark that he needed. Energy flowed through his hands.

"One of my jobs is to make sure the balance of power in this reality is restored," Arcane whispered. "And you're breaking my world. And I'm not losing another one."

He broke the entire multiverse but why quibble over things like that. Harry slammed both hands into the chest of his enemy and doubled him over.

The crystal yanked out. D'Ken screamed when he felt his skin fry and his blood boil. The crystal caused him pain. Yet at the same time, he could not bare to let it go.

The addiction of the crystal warped his mind like it did so many before him. His eyes glowed.

"No, I won't let go of this power!" D'Ken howled. His voice cracked when he struggled to keep it together. He was losing control over everything around him.

He could feel an entire multiverse around him. If he wasn't already quite mad, he would have been driven so.

His inhumane screams could be heard and the man's grip on reality broke.

The Phoenix thought that he bit off more than he could chew and this was proof of it. "You can't hold on. You've lost control. It's a pity, but you brought this upon yourself."

D'Ken flew into the air and the crystal broke free from him.

Harry sped out and caught the white hot crystal in his hand. He felt the power burning into him. He felt D'Ken's body sucked into the crystal and he screamed.

He was trapped with other souls over time who had tried to use the crystal for their own devious means. His scream filled their ears for several more moments.

Harry took a step back, but held himself back.

The barrier around him faded and Harry drew a sharp breath from his body. Everything that was undone was redone.

'_Harry?' _Karen asked, tentatively. Everything suddenly turned back to normal on her end. The only things that weren't there were the invasion forces.

Funny how that worked out nicely like that but Karen nervously spoke and wondered what Harry would say.

'_Yes?' _Harry asked her.

'_I'd ask what happened, but I'm almost afraid to,' _Karen thought to her.

'_Do a head count and make sure everyone is safe, I'll talk to you in about an hour,' _Harry said.

Harry turned to Shayera, who was grounded for the time period. She looked at him, impressed.

"That was very likely to get yourself killed, you know," Shayera commented lightly.

"You know, I could have said the same thing about that stunt that you pulled," Harry told her and Shayera looked at him. She grimaced very obviously. "Are you okay?"

"It's merely a flesh wound, it will heal," Shayera commented and she looked rather rocked. Then again, she just had to deal with the cards that were dealt.

"If you're sure?" Harry asked her.

Shayera nodded in response. "I'm positive"

Claire looked up into the sky. Things calmed down at least for now.

* * *

><p>"And no one knows where the chaos started or where it ended. One thing that can be verified for certain is that there are a growing number of costumed heroes out there. The Military has remained silent and the authorities caution anyone to emulate the activities of these vigilantes. As for the general population, the efforts of these heroes are much appreciated, and we hope to see them continue to help us in our hour of need."<p>

Harry descended a set of stairs down the basement area of the RAO tower. It was so deep underneath the ground. He held the crystal in his hand. For now it remained dormant. There was something about the crystal that left him uneasy but it remained dormant.

He hoped that there would be a way to humanely dispose it where no one could use it and caused the damage that D'Ken did. The fact such an object did not destroy the entire universe really was a testament to how lucky they were.

He would be deaf to not know that the people were talking about a co-op effort regarding heroes. And he would be lying if he didn't consider making the arrangement more permanent. They did fine working together, but if this were going to be a regular event, they would need to learn how to work together.

Many moving parts in one moving machine, that's what Harry hoped to accomplish in due time. He slid the crystal into the vault where it hopefully rested in hibernation for quite some time. After all the trouble that little thing caused him, Harry wouldn't be too happy if it got into someone's hands.

"You restored the balance," Zatanna said. She walked down the stairs, wearing a tight tank top and jeans. "Everything is okay here, but, you do realize that was a scary couple of moments, don't you?"

"I had a theory that it might be," Harry agreed, watching Zatanna make her way the rest of the way down the steps.

She approached Harry, slowly edging her way towards him. The two of them were really close to each other, but neither of they closed the gap yet.

"I'm going to check up on Alex in a little bit but…"

"She coped rather well, actually better than many of us adults, I think," Zatanna said with a smile on her face. "So, the crystal, what exactly did you do with it?"

"If they can break through the vaults codes, without using an arm or their head, they can have it," Harry told her. He leaned towards her with a smile. "So, I heard you did fairly well out there."

"Maybe," Zatanna replied in her most grudging tone of voice and she sighed. "You know, at least until I was overwhelmed….but…well I need to thank you."

There was some nervousness in her voice and she wrapped her arms around Harry. He pulled her in tightly to ensure that she wouldn't leave until she did what she did next.

Zatanna was glad that Harry made that decision for her. She didn't think that she could handle doing it. The two of them leaned in.

His strong and powerful lips captured hers with a kiss. Zatanna felt blown away with his kiss.

It was a shame that she had to go right now, a couple of things she needed to check on back home.

"Um, I've got to go," Zatanna said nervously. She shook her head, Harry made it difficult to keep her mind on her duties.

"Yes, I know you do," Harry said and he smiled. "We're going to have to get to that date that I promised you."

Zatanna smiled. "When everything gets worked out, I promise that we will."

She gave him one last parting kiss and took her leave. She didn't honestly trust herself to stick around too much longer without taking more drastic action.

'_Someone has it pretty bad,' _Kara chanted over the bond link. there was a look from Karen that told Kara to behave.

Harry made his way up the stairs, he was going to pop in and check on Alex. First through he needed to check on Shayera and find out how she was holding up.

The woman laid on the bed, dressed in nothing but a gown, which showed off her elegant legs. Her wing was in a splint.

"Good thing we didn't have to amputate it," Shayera commented without a word. "Then again, it's a good thing that you have someone who has a knowledge of how to treat these wounds."

"Did that ever happen where anyone has to amputate a wing?" Harry asked her.

"Well there were a few Thanagarans flying around with prosthetic wings," Shayera admitted, shaking her head. "And I should know, because I think I had my wings ripped off in about three of my past lives."

Harry grimaced, feeling her pain. "That's nasty."

"It's not a picnic," Shayera agreed and she wished that she could stretch her wings just a little bit. Right now she was grounded for the foreseeable future. "So, you've been busy I'm sure."

"Lana's earning her pay, there's a weird rumor going around that RAO is funding a few of the vigilante heroes," Harry said. "Rumors that Harry Potter is in bed with several of them and plotting a takeover of the world."

Shayera laughed, she looked kind of amused to be honest. "Well the being in bed part is right about some of them."

Shayera groaned, the wing was nearly healed. It was through the trickiest stage of healing.

"Let me know if you need anything," Harry told her.

Shayera gave him a knowing smile in response. "Yes, I'll let you know if I need an injection."

Harry smiled. "Get some rest, Shayera, I'll see you later."

Harry walked down the hallway, and he could see Alex in her room. She frowned when she worked through a difficult piece of transfiguration.

"Visualize it Alex, visualize it," Harry told her.

She dropped what she was doing and rushed over to Harry, giving him a crushing hug.

"It's good to see you as well," Harry said. Without another word, he picked up the eleven year old girl and put her on her chair.

"Sooo, you saved the world again?" Alex asked and she looked at Harry. "Something's different about you."

Harry thought as well to.

"I touched the crystal and for about ten seconds, I had brief access to all of my powers," Harry told her.

Alex didn't miss a beat. "But you didn't later."

"Well, the blocks returned, but they're far weaker, and some of them vanished," Harry said. He would have to run another test to be sure.

His twenty first birthday came up tomorrow and that would be the real test to see if his theory worked.

"That's weird, isn't it?" Alex asked him.

"What about either of us is normal?" Harry asked and he decided to add on. "Actually what in this world is really normal?"

Alex didn't have an answer to that and really neither did Harry. He would just have to wait and watch.

"Let's see if I can figure out where you went wrong with that Transfiguration."

* * *

><p>It had been an extremely long time since the Phoenix had been brought down to Earth. She found herself submerged in the deepness of space for so long that she forgot who she really was. Her powers gifted many extraordinary women through the years, but none might have been more extraordinary than the last one that she gifted.<p>

They truly became one as they were and the Phoenix retreated, leaving an entire world behind. Something happened to bring her out of her state.

The redhead wore a tight pair of white robes, with a silver Phoenix emblem on her back. The woman approached the main lab. She saw Shayera resting in her room right across from it, waiting to get a clean bill of health.

The warrior woman was valiant even though there was a total lack of sense that came from her. Then again, the Phoenix reminded herself that she didn't have that much room to talk. She shifted herself through the doorway of the lab.

She reminded herself to knock.

"Come in"

The voice of Harry Potter was jovial and that made Phoenix happy. If her mate was happy, that means she was pleased. If anyone upset her mate, then they would be completely and totally fried.

Harry walked out of a machine, wearing absolutely nothing but a pair of boxer shorts.

"Good thing it was just me and no one from the media," Phoenix said without missing a beat and she looked over Harry's healthy form.

"I've got some good news, not that it really matters right now," Harry said.

After the lesson he learned, he knew not to rely on his powers, whether they be magical or otherwise. The true power remained as always within his mind.

"Oh, what do you have?" Phoenix asked him.

"My powers returned to a shade underneath their normal level from before I walked through he barrier," Harry said.

"Give that you're at a fraction of your complete power, that's pretty impressive what you could do," Phoenix said. She stepped towards him, placing her hands on him.

She felt something different. While it was within her abilities to remove the barriers that had been placed upon Harry, it was not without some kind of horrific consequences. She didn't want to go down that road because she had no wish to harm Harry.

"So, what are your plans?" Harry asked.

Phoenix looked extremely thoughtful. "I have been drawn here for a reason. Everything happens in the grand scheme of the universe for a reason, and now that I'm here…"

Phoenix paused and she struggled in an attempt to articulate her thoughts. She didn't know what she would do next per say.

"Phoenix was not the name that you were born with, you've taken on the primary aspects of your most prominent avatar," Harry said to her.

Phoenix nodded. "Yes, many women over a countless number of years. But the one that I last took as an avatar was Jean Grey. The two of us learned much from each other, and I guess that is who I am."

Jean looked at her mate, a burning expression of lust dancing through her green eyes.

"We are destined to be mated," Jean whispered when she pulled a lock of Harry's hair back and looked into his eyes. "The master of death and the avatar of life, it's a match made throughout the universe."

Harry thought that entire Master of Death thing, combined through his trip through the Veil was what got him in trouble in the first place. He wasn't completely sure though.

The one thing he knew was Jean's hot lips captured his with a burning kiss. Her mouth opened and allowed his tongue entry when he returned the kiss.

Flames surrounded both of them. Their clothes faded from their bodies. In the case of Harry, thanks to the examination he was under, that didn't mean that he had to go that far.

Jean smiled and she stepped back so Harry could see her surrounded by the flames.

"I feel your power call to me," Jean whispered, hair dropping down to her face and she looked rather seductive.

A come hither tone and look flashed through Jean's eyes.

"Beautiful," Harry said. When he looked at her beauty, he grew so hard that it hurt. He thought that there was something tugging on him to entice him to come forward.

* * *

><p>The city of Metropolis had many questions in the month that passed since the mysterious invasion. Where the invaders had been repelled just as quickly as they arrived thanks to the heroes, there were a lot of questions and not a sufficient amount of answers for some people.<p>

That was the case with most things and some of them remained silent. It was a game of waiting and seeing to see what these heroes would do. In the meantime, pretty much everyone could only guess.

The only thing that they couldn't guess was that this was a bright and sunny day in Metropolis. It was the type of day that was good to be alive. The type of day people could agree that nothing bad could possibly happen.

A portal opened up in the skies above a park in Metropolis. The nearby people screamed when they saw an object sail out of the portal.

The woman dropped down to the ground. She dressed in tattered clothes and she looked very weak. Her brown eyes flittered open but it was hard to breath from where she was.

Several large chunks of meteor rocks flew and that really panicked the people even more than the woman. There were maybe about a dozen pieces, but they were the size of a bowling ball. They glowed in the light, those who were close to them felt the power that they emitted.

Seconds later, a large dark ship flew through the portal and landed on the ground hard with a thud, several hundred yards away from where the woman first landed.

The panicked population in the park screamed their heads off. After the recent alien invasion, they were on a hair trigger.

The screams woke up Patricia Swann, who was dazed and confused. She didn't have the slightest idea how she got here.

The sounds of approaching military vehicles told her enough that she was in for it now.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued On January 2<strong>**nd****, 2015.**

**And that's quite a way to leave you hanging on this for the next six weeks. **


	36. The Homecoming Part One

**Chapter Thirty Six: The Homecoming Part One.**

* * *

><p>Patricia Swann's mind was extremely foggy. She honestly had no idea whatsoever how she got here. It was a chore for her to try and piece everything together. The throbbing headache made it even more so. She had to think, she had to remember. Her mind went off course, no matter how much she tried to focus.<p>

She knew one thing that rang out in her mind with picture perfect clarity. All that time ago, she escaped her world when it was on the verge of collapse and on the verge of destruction. It was a horrifying moment when she left. Karen, Helena, and Harry all escaped through the portal. It was her turn next and she stepped through.

Then there was fog and patchwork after that point. The next thing she knew, she was here in the middle of this park. This was in Metropolis, but it was not in her Metropolis. She laid on the ground amongst the shattered and broken pieces of Kryptonite. There was one question that pumped through her mind and she wondered where the hell she was.

Patricia tried to get up to her feet but she collapsed. Weakness was felt by her and her muscles grew numb. It was unknown to her how much time passed for her. Her mind may have been blocking out everything that happened from when she stepped through the portal until now.

"Spread out and search the area. Take everything here. I don't want you to leave any stone unturned, do you hear me?"

The loud and thunderous voice echoed for them all to hear. Patricia tried to focus on it. She got a better look in her surroundings.

She laid amongst the debris, which included some pretty big chunks of Kryptonite. It was mostly green but there were a few red pieces in the rubble.

Patricia groaned when she tried to gain her bearings. She pulled herself up on the large metallic object that was in the park. She recognized it, it was an alien ship. It resembled the one that they found Kara in but there were a few differences. It was going to be difficult to open the ship without a controlled environment of a lab at her disposal.

There was most certainly something inside that ship or perhaps Patricia would be better off in saying that there was someone inside that ship.

"Freeze!"

Patricia froze, not that she could move anywhere. Not in her state anyway, not with how sore she was.

"Please, I need….I need help."

"Oh, don't worry," the gruff voice commented behind her. "You're going to get help alright. You're going to get all of the help that you need. You're going to get helped right into an interrogation facility."

Two large men grabbed her around the arms and dragged her away from the ship. Patricia struggled against their grip but they were strong and she wasn't in the best of shape to fight them off.

"We need to secure this ship, it could be extremely valuable, and the cargo inside is important for us to obtain and utilize," the leader of the crew commented. He was the same general who showed up on the scene in Vegas, so he was in a pissed off mood to begin with after that. More alien involvement did not improve his disposition any. "Anyone who comes into this area, shoot them now, and ask questions to their next of kin. Do you hear me? We don't need any more aliens ruining this world."

There was a series of grumbling nods and a grumbling sound. This announced an arrival of a large truck that can rolling in.

Patricia tried to find a way to escape but it was very hard when an overzealous solider stuck a tazer in her back. She was shoved in the back of a truck, shackled and handcuffed.

She wondered how this could be. Through her fogged memory, all the woman knew that it was a long journey here. The meteors started raining down around the time she stepped through the portal and now she was here. Did that meteor shower cause her interdimensional problems? Or was it something else entirely? She was a woman of science so she spent some time entertaining pretty much any theory that entered her mind. Patricia's imagination ran wild with multiple theories, all of them as insane as the last one.

The general looked absolutely stoic. His stoic look faded away for a brief moment for a smugger, more self assured look. He wasn't about ready to let this one get away from him, not now, not after he accomplished so much.

"We've got it boys, we've really got something here," the general barked. He was still sore about the last invasion. There was a buzzing on his communicator. He turned to the men in uniform that he brought along with him. "Make sure that you get that loaded up into the truck. And remember, we're taking a secure route. Shoot anyone who gets even close. No one should know about this except us and our benefactors."

Now that his men got their orders, the general stepped off to take the phone call.

"Yes?" the general asked in a gruff voice.

"Your boys are on the ground at the sight of the meteor shower, aren't they?" a distorted voice asked.

"Yes, sir," the General said. There were two men he answered to, three if you counted his wife. The other was the President of this country. "A woman arrived with the alien ship and we're going to find out what she knows. Don't you worry, we're going to make sure she gets to the facility and doesn't know of anything."

"You need to move quickly," the distorted voice whispered over the phone. "There are certain parties that will be interesting in that alien ship."

"Yes, sir, yes, sir, I understand, as soon as I wrap up this call, my men will be ready to move out, don't you worry," the General said. He spoke in a rapid fire pace and it was almost like he was tripping over every single word that he came out of his mouth. His tongue seemed so tangled that he almost choked on it.

"Then get on your way," the man over the phone said.

The General nodded when he hung up the phone. There was no need for farewells. There never was a need when you were working for an outfit like Cadmus. His men turned around and looked at him.

"Is the ship secure?" the General barked.

"Yes, sir!" the man yelled. He nearly tripped over his words when he spoke.

"Good," the General said. He gave a wide grin that showed his teeth and a couple of them were rotted. "Move out."

* * *

><p>"Gotham City was center stage to an accident at the Ace Chemical plant. Eye witness reports put Batman there, fighting a mysterious man wearing a red hood. No one quite knows what happened, but the GCPD are investigating the matter, along with any possible break ins. Rumor is that the Red Hood was working for the Metropolis crime outfit known as Intergang in an attempt to sabotage operations that was going on in the area around the plant. Rumor has it that Carmine Falcone ran these operations in the plant."<p>

Harry only half paid attention to the news. He looked in on Alex in the other room. She was currently talking to Rebecca, who stopped by to spend the summer in Metropolis. Both of the girls were trained by Helena in self-defense. Given what they might get into when they were older, it was just as well.

For some reason, Batman refused to train Rebecca. In principle, that was something Harry agreed with. Even though in dangerous world of Gotham City and the somewhat less dangerous, but still dangerous, world of Metropolis, one needed to know how to defend themselves. RAO was sponsoring an initiative of self-defense classes for youths as well.

"The Meteors rained down in the park, Lois just heard about it," Claire said. She showed up at Harry's door. She dressed with her hair tied back in a bun and a pair of glasses on. Her attire was a somewhat conservative female business suit. She looked rather unassuming and a bit bumbling, which was the idea.

"Yes, it just came up on our scanners," Lana said. She popped her head in to join them. "Karen and Helena are coming up in a moment, and I understand that the four of you plan to take a trip to the Fortress?"

"Yes, we're going to see what we can do about bringing certain people out of stasis," Harry commented. Lana smiled and nodded at him. "You're not worried, are you?"

"Claire knows why I'm worried, if anyone was exposed to the meteors when they were hot, we've got a mess," Lana said.

She was having flashbacks to her teenage years and all of the problems with the meteor infected. It seemed like everyone in that town had powers at one point or another.

"Yes, I know what you're talking about," Harry agreed. He took both girls close to him. "You're dealing with your meteor freaks of the week."

'_Wonderful, that's just what we need, more of them,' _Karen said. She fought more than enough of them in her native world.

'_We're going to need to monitor the situation here,' _Helena informed Harry. _'You understand that, right?'_

'_Loud and clear,' _Harry thought. _'Keep me posted through the bond link.'_

Kara turned up at this moment, even though she wasn't noticed.

"I guess it's the two of us going to the Fortress then," Harry said. Kara cleared her throat and got Harry's attention.

"The three of us, if I'm not mistaken," Kara corrected him. Harry raised his eyebrow and Kara gave him a challenging expression. It was one that someone shouldn't argue, no matter what. "This is my mother we're talking about here, you know."

"Yes, I know, and yes, I'm aware," Harry agreed with her. He swept his arm around Kara and pulled her in close. "And it's also your….aunt several times removed or something like this."

"Although she might be an alternate version of me that got time displaced," Kara suggested.

Claire smiled and the three of them prepared to head off to the Fortress.

They arrived at the Fortress. Kara walked over towards her mother who was placed in a crystalized chamber. She couldn't hammer home how lucky it was Claire got to her when she did. The stasis pod was about to fail for her. It wasn't doing much better for Kara but for Alura, it was about ready to bust and bust hard.

"Harry, it's good to see you again," Lara said. Her corporeal form had a bright smile when she leaned forward to look towards Harry. "And Claire and Kara, it's good to see both of you as well."

"It's excellent to see you as well, Mother," Claire said. She gave her mother a bright smile, which was returned.

"The same to you as well, Aunt Lara," Kara said. She didn't want to sound too ungrateful but there was a question that burned in her mouth.

Fortunately for her, Lara was the one that decided to jump in for the chase.

"You're wondering about the status of your mother," Lara said. Kara nodded in response. There was a note of regret in Lara's voice when she continued. "I will not lie to you because things seem rather bleak. They are in fact rather bleak. Your mother's pod was rescued. She diverted most of the energy that they had left to keep you alive….just as any mother would have."

There was a note of warning in Lara's voice for Kara not to feel guilty. It was only natural to feel some kind of guilt. She couldn't help herself. She felt guilty, extremely guilty about the situation. Harry placed his arm around her. His grip relaxed her and she gave a long sigh in response.

"The process is rather slow going, isn't it?" Harry asked.

Lara's soft voice chimed in with the affirmation. "Yes, and I understand your plight with the two others that you've found. I understand that you're currently working with trying to bring them out of their stasis fields at RAO."

"Yes," Harry agreed. "But it's been slow going, especially with the ship that we found in the temple."

"That's unsurprising given that it's a legacy system that the knowledge of such has been lost an extremely long time ago," Lara said. She frowned. "You would need someone who had grand abilities and an affinity to technology to hack into the ship. And it would have to be a person because no computer system would be able to do so."

"That's about what I figured, but…..perhaps we should pool our resources together," Harry added.

"There is the portable version of my mother that you can use," Claire chimed in. She held a crystal in her hand. "We can hook it up at RAO and download another copy of her there."

"I'd be happy to help, especially given that you'd be able to help me as well," Lara commented with a smile. "And it would be good to know my daughter's potential mate."

"MOTHER!" Claire yelled in an absolutely mortified voice.

Kara nearly broke out into laughter at the sight of her cousin looking so absolutely mortified. That was until Claire turned around and gave Kara a cross look that could burn through steal. Kara shut up, at least for now.

"I don't think that I was supposed to inform you of that fact just yet," Lara said. There was a slight amount of mischief to her voice when she spoke. "That's my mistake."

'_Harry, there's more reports coming in, well the news media hasn't been told anything,' _Lois said. She jumped onto the bond link with all of the subtly of a Sherman tank. Then again, she wouldn't be Lois Lane if she was all that subtle. _'But I've been able to figure out that there was something taken from the park and someone. No eyewitness accounts as to who it was, but…the military is usually good at wrapping those loose ends up.'_

'_RAO has satellites, I can see if I can get a lock on any footage,' _Karen thought.

'_Dare, I ask the legalities of this?' _Lois asked. She paused and back tracked suddenly. _'Not that I want to rip on you or anything, but it just seems kind of illegal and stuff….what you're doing, you know.'_

'_Well, sometimes you got to bend the rules,' _Harry said. He smiled. _'But you know that better than anyone, Miss Lane.'_

'_Wouldn't it be technically Mrs. Potter now, given that you're bonded with her?' _Kara asked.

'_Seriously, a magical wedding is just that simple?' _Lois asked. She was trying to wrap her head around this. _'You just stick tab A into slot B, and you're bonded for life.'_

'_Yes, yes, pretty much,' _Harry commented. He chuckled at Lois's reaction. It was so priceless that it couldn't be beat.

'_Oh and Claire sends her love,' _Kara commented.

'_I'm surprised not to see her on here yet,' _Lois said. _'Then again, she was avoiding you. She wasn't too happy that Kara beat her to the punch.'_

'_I knew it!' _Kara cheered in triumph. She pumped her fist up.

Claire looked at her strangely and Kara straightened up.

"There was some kind of ship that came through and there was someone that came on through with the ship," Harry informed her.

"Your bond network thing?" Claire asked.

"I prefer to the term highly advanced and sophistication Collective network," Kara said. She was so insistent on this fact.

Claire wasn't going to argue her about this. She knew better.

'_Patricia!' _Karen yelled suddenly.

Before she had a chance to elaborate on that statement in any way whatsoever, she bolted out of the room and out of RAO.

'_Okay, Helena, she….we found her, didn't we?' _Harry asked her.

'_Yes, we did, but the military found her first and there's a ship….a ship that resembled what Karen's looked like,' _Helena thought.

'_Meet me outside in five minutes,' _Harry thought. _'And Lois.'_

'_I'll see what I can do,' _Lois said to him.

* * *

><p>Patricia Swann woke up in a room that was cold, dark, and sterile. It made her really depressed just to be here. It most certainly wasn't the most inviting place in the world. It caused her to shiver when she attempted to hold her head up. This wasn't going as she planned, not at all.<p>

The redhead tried to hold her head up high and with a fair amount of pride. There was something that caused the back of her head to throb though when she attempted to move and shift herself out of her predicament.

"So, you're awake, excellent, I'll be with you shortly."

Patricia wondered how she got herself into these messes. It was very likely that this was all a horrible dream. The more she thought about it, she realized that this wasn't a horrible dream.

No this was a nightmare. The woman tried to push herself out of her bindings. She found it very difficult to breathe when she moved.

"Make sure Jones is on a leash, we don't want him causing any trouble," the General commented to the men. He opened the door and shut it behind him. "So, I bet you think that you're pretty slick."

"Let me out, please," Patricia said. She didn't want to resort to begging. She was too proud to beg. Even if the ropes were about ready to cut into her and crush her, she was too proud. The predicament she was in settled in and she winced. "I can hardly breathe."

"Well it's just as well that we have you now," the General said. He reached forward and roughly held her chin up. "You're going to make sure that any humans, we're the ones that can't breathe. That's what your little game is, isn't it?"

"I'm not….I was in the wrong place, at the wrong time," Patricia said. The General backed off for a moment. "I was just in the park."

"Yes, you were in the park, after you fell from the sky and the meteor shower and that alien ship followed you," the General said. He reared his hand back and almost slapped her in the face. He stopped short. He didn't want to touch this filthy creature. "You can lie to me in your little alien logic as much as you want. But normal women who just happened to be there, do not fall from the sky. Eye witness accounts pegged you there. There's no way that you were anything but there at the time."

Patricia realized that she was backed into the wall. She shivered. She was so cold. All she wanted to do was for this end.

"That little mess in Vegas, it was just a warm up, wasn't it?" the General whispered. "And now there's this little Justice League that's forming. I've never been a fan of anyone wearing a cape. Don't trust them and now that they have their little Fortress in the sky, I hate their guts. I wonder how many of them are aliens. They come here, they take our jobs, they take our food, and I bet they don't even pay taxes."

The General raised his hand again.

"You're going to tell me what you know about that ship or you'll wish you died in that meteor shower," the General whispered. He looked completely nasty. He almost bared his teeth. "You're going to wish that you died with the rest of them. Tell me about the ship. Who's inside?"

"I don't know….."

"We're going to get that ship open and we're going to see if someone's inside," the General said. He eyed the table and the instruments on it. Needless to say, this lab was borrowed for the purposes of interrogation. The man who owned it was quite strange indeed and aptly named as such. "And you and your little alien friends are going to be sent back to where you came from in pieces. You have no place in this world. You make me sicker than those fucking Mexicans that come over to this country and expect a free ride when they can't speak a lick of English."

The General allowed himself to trail off. His acidic words still burned the tip of his young.

"We're going to keep this planet safe from any kind of alien intrusion and also keep an eye on the super powered people who are rising with increased prominence," the General said. "And if you're not willing to talk, things are going to get much more difficult for you."

Patricia thought that things were pretty difficult right now. She shuddered to think what he thought more difficult was.

"Super powered people aren't gods, and they're not above the government," the General rambled. It was obvious that he had something that he wanted to get off of his chest. These were things that he wanted to rant to the first person who would listen and since Patricia was tied up, that lucky person was her. "It's not down to the super powered capes to lord over the people. They answer only to the government and not some super powered vigilantes and their space club."

Patricia really hoped that this guy didn't speak for the general population.

"You can stew here for a little bit," the General whispered. "Unless you want to talk."

Patricia's resolve was such that she absolutely refused point blank to say a word. She was not going to get broken. The woman had nerves of steel, even though they will be tested.

"You have another hour to think about your options," the General commented. "There are ways to make you talk. Maybe we should take you apart and see what makes you tick."

Patricia refused to meet his eyes. She was trying to calculate a way out of there.

She saw the logo on the wall. It said Cadmus. She vaguely remembered that Cadmus was some super-secret covert operation in her world. Was it the same in this world? She had no idea. The lack of knowledge spooked her to be honest.

She struggled against those ropes but there was no go.

Patricia hoped, perhaps to the point of foolishness, that Harry, Karen, and Helena made it out of their ordeal alright. The portal was uncharted territory.

Without any knowledge of how much time passed, she didn't know for sure. Patricia waited for her time to tick down. She wondered what happened to the alien ship and hoped that the person inside wouldn't be victimized.

It looked so much like Karen's ship when her father brought it in. She knew how to open it but she would be damned if she told this jackass anything.

The only fear she had was them triggering the security protocols. If they did that, well this entire base and everyone in the nearby towns would go out in a blaze of glory.

There had to be a way out. Patricia was lost to exactly what that was.

* * *

><p>Karen was single minded, focused on her objective. She arrived outside of the government base, like a woman on a mission. That's what she was, a woman on a mission. Her frustration boiled over to a certain point and she closed the gap when she started walking on in.<p>

"You know, you could have waited."

Helena and Harry turned up in full costume and they were ready to go.

"I've waited for three years," Karen said. She was glad that they were here. Now that she was able to think more clearly, a little backup could be useful. "I've tracked her and the ship both here."

"The ship is like your ship," Harry said. Karen nodded in response. That made this far more personal.

"Another alternate version of me," Karen said. She paused and realized that she should not be making assumptions like that. "At least that's what my assumption is."

"Well you know what happens to people who make assumptions," Harry told her.

Karen smiled, she knew alright, all too well. The group decided that now they were all in one cluster, it would be best to switch to the bond link.

'_How did you track it?' _Harry asked her.

'_The meteor radiation, there was a lot of it, on the ship, on Patricia, and on those soldiers,' _Karen informed her. Harry smiled. _'Are you impressed with me?'_

'_Very much impressed,' _Harry thought. There was no time for back patting now, they had a job to do and they would do it now. _'But we've got to get inside.'_

'_This building is registered to a company known as Cadmus,' _Barbara commented. She was working mission support and with help from Lois, they managed to scramble together enough information to make this mission worthwhile.

Karen's tone grew increasingly grim when she spoke. _'It's not a company, well it is, but it isn't. I've heard of it before. It's a top secret branch of the government.'_

'_Must not be so top secret if you heard about it,' _Kara chimed in. She had a certain amount of teasing to her voice.

'_Well, this group does have a certain way of knowing things that it shouldn't know,' _Donna offered.

'_Yes, we shouldn't,' _Harry agreed. _'But I remember hearing about it as well, in the other world. It exists in this world and it was backed and ran by Luthor.'_

'_We got a different Luthor here though,' _Helena reminded him.

'_Yes, I'm well aware,' _Harry commented.

The base looked unassuming. If Harry didn't know better, he might have mistaken it for an abandoned base. Unfortunately for the people inside he was trying to pass it off as one, he did know better.

'_Security is an absolute nightmare, but I love a challenge,' _Barbara commented. _'There should be a port outside where you can plug me into and I can have you inside within ten minutes or less, or your pizza's free.'_

There was a pause when everyone both in the bond and near her looked at her.

'_Sorry, I couldn't resist,' _Barbara said. She snickered and then grew serious. _'You know to lighten the mood because it's such a tense situation and everyone looks like they're going to lose their mind. If they haven't already. Just, you know, trying to be helpful, that's all.'_

'_I've found one and got you plugged in,' _Karen thought.

'_Trickiest system ever, the Pentagon wasn't this bad,' _Barbara thought.

'_You mean you hacked into the Pentagon?' _Lois asked. She was full of shock and awe.

'_Well, I'd deny it in front of a jury of my peers,' _Barbara commented. There was a sense of smugness in her voice.

'_Chloe's going to be so pissed, she never cleared that mindfield,' _Lois commented.

'_Well that's nice, but I think that I got you inside, and the two heaviest amounts of Kryptonite residue would be on Patricia and the ship, which are two important things that you need to liberate, obviously,' _Barbara said. She cooled down for a moment and focused herself. _'Okay, right the place is a maze and I think a part of the prison was used as a prison for the meteor infected.'_

'_They were experimented on,' _Lana said grimly. She wouldn't shed many tears for some of those meteor infected because they did try and kill her before. But she had to admit that was a raw deal.

'_There are four guards on the other side of that door,' _Barbara informed them. _'The moment that I open that door, you're going to have to act quickly. None of them are super powered.'_

'_Just random powerless mooks?' _Harry asked. _'Great, we can handle this easily. We need the rest of the League on call in case things get…insane.'_

'_We're ready and at your call,' _Diana thought. There was a lot of agreement from others, Harry was sure.

The door popped open and Helena took out two of them before they could even blink. Harry took out the other two.

Karen quickly disposed of them off to the side. They were random grunts. Their only crime was working for a nefarious outfit. They had no idea what sinister horrors lurked in the floors beneath them.

'_God, this place is like a maze,' _Barbara thought. _'The residue is the strongest three floors beneath you and….the residue is moving.'_

'_They're not going to be moving the ship once they got it here, because we know that they haven't gotten it open,' _Karen thought.

'_And how do we know this?' _Lois asked.

'_Oh, there will be a big crater in the ground instead of this lab and hundreds of people will be killed,' _Karen informed her. There was a sense of dryness in her voice.

'_Well, sorry for asking,' _Lois said. Her frown deepened. _'I wish you good luck but….you're going to need more than that in there, aren't you?'_

'_Yes, we will,' _Harry confirmed to her.

The elevator went to thirteen floors, all of them identical, unless one had a special code to get to the right floor, behind all of the cloaking in the room.

'_Digging up the codes as we speak,' _Barbara thought. _'They change them every thirty minutes….wonder how anyone gets anything accomplished. I mean there's security, but that's absurd.'_

Harry looked over his shoulder and saw the soldiers behind him. They pointed their weapons. They looked to be a bit more high tech than you would expect.

"Freeze right where you stand!" the leader of the task voice said. "We will open fire."

"Freeze, interesting idea," Harry said. His voice was casual, laid back, if not a bit lazy. The green eyed vigilante looked like absolutely nothing phased him. Not even these high tech weapons pointed at him and his wives.

The weapons being pointed at his wives annoyed him more than the weapons pointed out at him. Harry took steps to correct that. He flicked a grenade from the sleeve of his uniform.

The grenade bust on the ground and released a miniature sonic attack. The cold wave locked on the troops and froze them in place.

It froze them but without the effects of being frozen. It should wear off in an hour, long enough for them to do what they can do.

'_Okay, I've got the code, we're ready to do this,' _Barbara thought. She was excited but at the same time nervous.

They were getting closer. It was something that Karen eagerly anticipated for many years and she wasn't about to get denied this close.

'_She's beneath us, and on the move,' _Karen said. She was so excited she looked like she might as well have burst from the excitement.

Harry smiled. He appreciated the fact that Karen was so excited because he was excited as well for numerous reasons.

Karen, Helena, and Harry all waited for this moment to be reunited with Patricia for years. The trio was not about to be denied now.

* * *

><p>Patricia couldn't have fought this if she wanted to. To be perfectly honest, the horror that went through mind was beyond all description.<p>

Her hour was up and she felt like she was on death row. The guns pointed to the back of her head didn't really improve her mood and her mood was one that was pretty grim.

"If you could have cooperated, this would have gone on a lot better," the General said. He looked like he was satisfied that they would be doing things the hard way. That would be the best way. He liked doing things the hard way. "But you just had to be stubborn. We'll figure out how to open that ship, with or without you."

Patricia didn't say anything. It was best if she shut up and played ignorant. She didn't give any indication she knew how the ship worked one way or another. She wouldn't help them if her life depended on it.

The redhead realized one extremely horrifying fact. Her life did depend on this.

After all that, after that trip here, she was going to die. Patricia might not have super powers or special abilities, as far as she knew, but she did have determination and a strong will that wouldn't be broken.

"The doctor will see you soon," the General said and the lights in the hallway went out. "GET THE LIGHTS ON!"

There was a sound of falling bodies around her. Without the light, Patricia could only begin to guess what the hell was happening around her. If she would hazard a guess, it wouldn't be anything good.

The backup power came back on and the soldiers were taken out. Patricia nearly fell back. Thankfully she landed on something soft.

She landed on a very familiar pair of breasts. They did a wonderful job in breaking her fall.

"Hello, Karen," Patricia commented. She wished that she could show more energy for being reunited.

"We're getting you out of here, and soon," Karen said. "Do you realize that I've been looking for you for three years?"

"Wow, the time displacement was that off," Patricia said. Karen led Patricia off into one direction down a long and winding hallway.

There were many long and winding hallways. Barbara said it best, it was like a maze.

"I'm just glad the three of you found your way here, but…..how did you track me?" Patricia asked.

"You're tainted with meteor rock radiation….which is something that we should check out when we get back," Karen informed her. She knew that there was a chance that Patricia developed powers because of the meteors.

And if she didn't develop powers, there was a chase that she was going to be extremely ill or worse. Karen didn't want to think of that worst case scenario.

"It's good to see you, do you have any idea where they're holding the ship?" Harry asked.

"Good to see you as well, Harry," Patricia said. There was an amount of tiredness coming from her voice. "And no, I don't really have any idea. I wish that I did, but…."

"We'll get you out of here, and then….we'll come back and find it," Karen said. She preferred to not leave without the ship, especially given the fact that she might not find it again.

"You might not have to," Claire piped in through the communication link. "Lois found another way in, Kara and I are on our way in now."

"Be careful," Harry warned her.

Harry's group ran smack dab into some trouble. There was an unassuming looking brown haired man standing at the edge of the hallway. Looks could deceive greatly when his eyes began to glow purple.

"How nice, dinner has arrived," the man said. "And Kryptonian is on the menu, a rare delicacy."

"Rudy Jones, better known as the Parasite, he absorbs the energy of anything that he touches and can use their powers," Claire informed them, when Kara described what she saw to her.

"Noted," Harry said.

The Parasite was unleashed. Harry saw the control collar on his neck and it was obvious that prevented him from attacking his captors in a fit of rage. It didn't stop him from attacking anyone else however.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on January 6<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	37. The Homecoming Part Two

**Chapter Thirty Seven: Homecoming Part Two.**

* * *

><p>Parasite was extremely dangerous for many reasons. One of them was the fact that he had been experimented on. He was extremely angry and didn't care knew it either. His eyes widened when he sensed the food that was near.<p>

"I'm going to feast tonight!" Parasite yelled. He stalked them, like a shark smelling blood.

He dove towards the group. Harry put up a barrier. This effort caused Parasite to bounce off of it. The creature rattled onto the ground with an abject thud.

"That won't hold him for long, "Karen commented. She used her heat vision to take a pot shot at him while he was recovering.

Parasite screamed in agony. Despite his enhanced powers, his skin boiled. He rushed towards Karen in an attempt to get his hands on her. His slimy hands outstretched when he charged her. It was feeding time, this time. His blood soaked teeth looked quite ravenous when he lurched forward.

Helena stood in front of him, protecting her two super powered spouses. The Parasite stopped and looked at her, with utter disinterest in his face.

"Get out of my way!" he demanded of her. "You don't have any powers!"

"Maybe I don't," Helena admitted to him. She pulled a retractable staff out. "But I'm far from powerless."

She jammed the staff right in the rib cage area of the Parasite. He gave a loud and pained shriek when it connected. His eyes came very close to rolling up into the back of his head. There was another loud scream when she stabbed him with the staff.

He was in agony and he took a swipe at Helena again. Harry and Karen both mentally calculated a way for them to take him out.

'_Open to suggestions,' _Karen thought. She looked towards a section of the floor that was weakened. _'Actually, I've got something. And it's a long way down, even for someone like the Parasite.'_

'_Good, we just need to get him out of the way, he's not the reason why we're here,' _Harry said. He was more curious than ever before about what secrets this Cadmus base held. He wasn't about to stick his nose into such problems through.

Harry lifted his hands into the air and sent a rushing bolt of energy towards his enemies. It cut them down like they were nothing, because to Harry, they were absolutely nothing.

The creature toppled over with a thunderous crash down to the ground. His arms and legs twitched and Karen decided to make her play.

She slammed her fist into the ground and it cracked beneath the Parasite. She grabbed Patricia and Harry grabbed Helena.

The group flew away as the Parasite crashed to the level beneath. A large piece of equipment slid down the floor and landed on top of him or so they assumed. They weren't exactly going to be sticking around to find out whether or not that happened. The group was driven completely and utterly breathless when they pushed out.

"Oh, this is madness," Patricia whispered. She brushed her hand through her hair. She shook her head and tried to return herself to some sense of sanity. "It's nice to see that you three haven't deviated from your normal ways of getting into trouble."

Harry smiled in spite of himself. "Well we do try the best."

"Did you ever have any luck in getting your powers back?" Patricia asked. Harry turned towards her and answered her honestly.

"For the most part, I did," Harry admitted to her. His frown deepened when he listened for something coming.

If Parasite was here, then he should go under the assumption that there were other super powered meteor mutants here or whatever he was. Harry didn't know what it was.

He kept his ear to the wall. Karen and Helena were tense. Helena leaned down and picked up a laser blaster that was on the ground.

She aimed it at a stack of boxes and blown them away. She handed it to Patricia.

"This seems simple enough for you to aim," Helena told Patricia. The woman's imploring eyes locked onto hers. "I'd suggest that you use it to the best of your abilities."

"Okay," Patricia agreed. There wasn't that much humor in her voice. Then again, Helena always was a bit intense sometimes. Given who her father was, she couldn't blame her. Karen stood by her, which made a laser blaster redundant.

'_Is this a stupid question?' _Lois asked.

'_Nothing's a stupid question,' _Harry thought to her.

'_Yeah there are only stupid people,' _Donna commented.

'_Donna!' _Diana popped in a reproachful voice. Donna and her sister got into a glaring contest in the bond and Harry cleared his throat.

Once he was sure that they were behaved or at least behaved as they were going to be, Harry pressed forward with his question. _'Yes, Lois, what is it?'_

'_Why in the hell does the government have weapons that shouldn't be invented for about twenty or thirty years?' _Lois asked. She paused. _'Actually a better question would be, why does the government have weapons that Intergang might have their hands on.'_

'_Good question,' _Harry thought. He wished that he had a good answer.

'_Harry, we may have another small problem,' _Barbara chimed in. She paused and sighed. _'And by small problem, I mean a really big problem. As in an extremely big problem, as in, this base will self destruct in five minutes type of problem.'_

'_Are you serious?' _Harry asked.

'_As a heart attack,' _Barbara confirmed. One could almost hear her frantically typing over the bond to get out all of that information. _'I'm trying to get on through the system, to override it, but nothing's working. Nothing, oh god, this is complex, I really wish that I could break this one.'_

'_Babs, calm down, take a deep breath, and don't worry about it,' _Harry said. He waved his hand and sent holographic duplicates of the group down one hallway, while the other took another direction. _'We're almost done here anyway.'_

Thankfully, the soldiers took the holographic bait.

* * *

><p>A mysterious shady figure in the shadows watched a group of scientists move in to work on the ship. He wanted to get this ship open. Answers could be in this ship, answers that should be given in the name of science.<p>

Science was power and knowledge as power. There was a smile on his face with the fact that they got the ship and also a grimace of frustration on his face. They had been working on that ship for almost six hours and they hadn't been able to scratch the paint job.

In some ways, that was liberating. That was the pure personification of power. His excitement brimmed through his eyes when he watched. The phone call he received wasn't going to deter his mood.

"Yes," he commented.

"The captive has escaped!" the general yelled.

"You idiot," he grumbled in a crisp and disgusted voice.

"Hey, you have no right to call me an idiot!" the General yelled. The General was getting rather hot underneath the collar. The scientist smiled when he had stirred up his enemy. "I've served this company ever since you've been making a mess in your diapers. And you should know….."

"I've given you license to chase your alien enemies and I've equipped your friends," the man commented in a cool voice within the shadows. "Do not forget that I can take that way from you. It was my funding that brought you to this point. Given your lunatic ravings, you'd be lucky to push pencils at a desk. Or you'd be lucky to clean up the paper scraps of the guy who pushes the pencils."

"How dare you….."

"You could be making excuses or you could be doing what you do best and that's making actions," the scientist commented. "I'll be perfectly blunt and spell this out in a way that a two year old doesn't have trouble comprehending. Find her and find her now. Mr. Luthor doesn't tolerate failure and neither do I. Or would you like to talk to Slade Wilson and explain to him why you failed?"

"No sir," the General commented. He had properly been cowed by this scientist.

"I'm always in need of subjects and you could serve your company in a completely different way, General," the scientist said in a silky voice. "Just remember that."

"You devious fucking jackal…"

"Oh, I've been called worse, but flattery won't get you anywhere," the scientist responded. "Oh, and you might want to get out of this base. It's going to self-destruct in the next five minutes. Good thing it's a go between for…"

There was a sizzle of the lights and then a crack which indicated some kind of power outage. The scientist frowned when he was in the dark.

There was a rush as the security guards hit the ground first.

"GET A LIGHT ON!" he yelled. He was knocked to the ground seconds later, just as much as the security guards were.

The room with the ship was breached but there was no alarm because someone cut the power. The backup generator would kick on within the next ninety seconds.

The lights started to flicker back on. They came back on just in time for the scientist to spot a shapeless blur coming out of the shadows. The power was coming on and off at a rapid fire way.

The backup generator finally kicked back up and the scientist looked at the room. His subordinates were down on the ground. There were some busted jaws, a couple of dislocated limbs, and most of them were just about knocked out.

The lead scientist was incensed about one thing. He didn't care about his subordinates being taken out. They could be replaced. The alien ship they obtained was gone. It was like it wasn't even there at all. Someone came into the darkness and obtained the ship.

The scientist needed to inform his boss of his blunder and hope that didn't net him some alone time with an operating table. He could blame that glorified boot camp instructor they called a general. Yes, that was it, he would blame him. Mr. Luthor would not bat an eye if someone like him screwed up things. Far from it, it would be expected in some ways.

The self-destruct sequence of the base was about ready to go off. The guards grumbled when they got to their feet. The scientist bent down, with near pity in his eyes, but it was lost. The pity left his eyes completely and he smiled.

"I suggest you find a way to shake off what hit you because we need to be out of here in three minutes."

There was a warning siren and the scientist took the back door. This was one of their more minor bases, so nothing of value was lost.

"Is Mr. Jones secure?" the scientist asked.

"Yes, Dr. Warren," one of them whispered to him.

"Good, make sure he stays sedated, we've done the drill, we know what to do," Warren replied in a brisk voice.

The security logs would be downloaded to the computer of the next base. There weren't too many valuable assets at this base. A couple of meteor mutants were stored here but the experimentation on them left their lifespan at an end.

Warren exited the base. He had his research in a briefcase, and there was more information at the main Cadmus base. The ship would have been moved there tomorrow but that was completely out of his hands.

A techno-organic virus filled the base and caused it to self-implode. There was nothing left standing, not even one chunk of debris. Any person inside the base would not have even a fingernail for their families to bury.

Most of these scientists didn't have any families or their families thought that they were dead. That was well and beside the point though.

Warren's eyes narrowed when he watched the base. The Parasite was contained in a van. He would be moved to Level 33.1 with the rest of them, until he was needed.

Now it was the unfortunate task to tell Mr. Luthor that the alien ship slipped through his grasp.

* * *

><p>Patricia arrived at the RAO facility. She was impressed. They had made something more interesting and dare she say it, more expansive than STARR. It was impressive what they did. In fact, she could see STARR going in a similar direction if they had been able to stay in the world that they were in. She really wished that she had an extra set of eyes to just take in everything that she was seeing.<p>

Karen smiled at how impressed she looked. She might have laughed at it as well. The thing was that she really didn't blame Patricia for being impressed. If she was in her place, she would have been extremely impressed as well.

"The main elevator is this way, we need to get you to the lab to make sure your clean," Karen told her. Patricia snapped out of her thoughts and looked over her shoulder to face Karen. "You know, to make sure that there are no side effects regarding the meteors."

Patricia nodded. She understood perfectly. There were enough cases of meteor mutants in her world and apparently this one that caused more than enough problems. That base was working with these meteor mutants.

There was one question that was completely galling. She turned towards the group and gave a deep frown.

"Um, how long exactly did it take me to get from my world, to this one?" Patricia asked.

"Three years, seven months, two weeks, three days, twenty one hours, nineteen minutes, and twelve seconds," Karen informed her. That caused Patricia to turn to Karen with a sharp raised eyebrow directed towards her.

"Are you serious?" Patricia asked. She was actually impressed that Karen managed to count down the time that she was gone to the second. Or was it Helena? Actually she could see Helena being that meticulous.

"Pretty accurate wouldn't you think?" Harry asked her. Patricia gave him a smile.

His green eyes shined with even more power when she glanced into him. That was a very easy gaze to be trapped into.

"She's pretty accurate, yes," Patricia answered. She was lead into the lab area. "And I'd imagine that you looked for me through all of those years and you never gave up, did you?"

"Yes, I never gave up," Karen said. She leaned towards Patricia and gave her a shadow of a smile. "Would you have given up if you were in my position?"

"Absolutely not, I would have left no stone unturned," Patricia said. There was a bold inflection for her voice. She stepped back and took the chair Harry offered her. She breathed heavily. "It's been a long time, but it didn't seem to be that long when I was there."

Patricia's mind flashed back. There were some fragmented memories that were there, just bubbling beneath the surface. Accessing them was a slight issue.

Karen frowned when she asked the obvious question.

"Do you remember anything about what happened?" Karen asked. She looked at Patricia and she frowned deeply. Helena gave Karen a light nudge with her elbow and she straightened up. "You don't have to tell anything, but I'm just curious if you did."

"Honestly?" Patricia asked. It took a couple of moments for her to figure out how she wanted to best phrase this question. It was something that was extremely hard to deal with and really wrap her mind around. "I don't really have an idea what happened, and that's the honest truth."

Patricia paused and something came to her.

"The meteors started raining down a second before I went through the portal," Patricia said. She frowned deeply. "And I'm sure that they brought the ship. Time and space was already becoming undone and that brought….the gift that was on the ship. Speaking of which…..?"

"It's secure in a lab," Harry said.

Patricia nodded. She was essentially at ease with it. She placed her hands onto her lap and leaned back. The last thing anything wanted was someone to get their hands on that ship. She wrung her hands and Karen reached towards it. Her hand placed on top of Patricia's was a sense of comfort and Harry's hand placed on her other hand.

"That's good, no one deserves to be at the mercy of those people," Patricia said. There was a frown over her face. "Exactly who are these people? Who is this Cadmus?"

"That's what we hope to find out," Karen replied. She leaned towards her. "First thing's first…..this is Lara, she will be helping check you out."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Lara said. Her image flickered into focus. The download into the RAO main servers worked completely. She wasn't completely fully formed, the solid function of her hologram wasn't one hundred percent functional. She was getting there.

"This is my aunt, removed by an entire dimension," Karen said. Patricia nodded. She knew not to question these things by now. "And I have a cousin in this world."

"Also removed by a dimension," Patricia said. She stretched herself out. There were a lot of things that changed in this world but she would have to get used to this. "This isn't going to hurt, is it?"

"No, you won't feel a thing," Lara said. She looked regretful in breaking up this little reunion but it had to be done. "I'd like for you to please step outside for just one moment, if you may."

"Of course," Karen said. She could see Patricia frowning. The blonde extended herself forward and looked in Patricia's eyes. "Don't worry; we'll be right outside if you need us."

"I actually have to check up on the ship and I'm meeting with a couple of people," Harry said. He smiled. "I'll be back soon though."

"It's important," Patricia said. She got to her feet for a minute. "I understand."

Patricia threw her arms around Harry's neck and leaned forward. Her soft lips pressed against his with a kiss. Harry returned the intense kiss, his tongue pushing into her mouth.

The redhead shifted back, absolutely stunned by what she felt. Karen's lips curled into a momentary grin when she saw Harry walk out.

"Okay, we'll leave you to that then, Aunt Lara," Karen responded.

"That's all I ask, honey," Lara informed her. She turned her attention to the redhead who looked really pleased with herself. "Patricia, sit down, you won't feel a thing, trust me."

Patricia sat down and she did trust Lara.

* * *

><p>Harry walked down the hallway where Claire waited patiently for him. He approached her with a smile on his face.<p>

"So, it's been a while since the two of us have had a face to face conversation when the fate of the world hasn't been balancing on our shoulders," Harry said. He said all of that without taking a breath which was quite the feat to say the very least.

Claire thought so to. She looked on at Harry in complete awe. "That's quite a mouthful. But…..we've got a lot of things to do. This Cadmus, it could be the tip of the iceberg of something."

"The alien invasion opened many doors to some really nasty people doing some really nasty things," Lois said. She smiled when she turned up. "I'm not going to lie, there are a lot of people pointing some fingers. And those are some pretty important people, pointing some really important fingers."

"We're going to need someone to keep the peace," Claire advised. She leaned against the wall with a thoughtful expression on her face. She was half glad that she was not having the conversation with Harry that she thought that she was having. "But, all of the heroes, we're scattered out. They think that we're organized."

"Yeah they're calling us the Justice League, can you believe that?" Lois asked in amusement. She laughed for a second and then grew suddenly somber and serious. "You know, there are far worse names."

"It isn't the name that matters; it's what the people behind the name do?"

Diana decided to join the group. The quartet moved down the hallway and there would be some more people joining them.

Jean popped her head out of the room to join Harry. She stopped in front of him and greeted him with a kiss.

"You've shown something that most people who have power wouldn't have," Jean said. One could not mistake the pure passion that flowed through those green eyes. "You've given them a symbol that they could rally behind. Not because they have to but because they chose to."

"That really takes talent, I'm going to have to agree with her," Shayera said. She was pretty much on the mend now. She was ready to get back out there and crack some skulls in the only way that she knew how. She couldn't believe how excited she was. Pins and needles would be a pretty good way to describe how she felt. The woman leaned forward on the mace clutched in her hand. "So, are we ready to do this?"

"I'm ready, if you're ready," Harry told her. "I've got a couple of places in mind where we could establish our base of operations."

"I was wondering if you worked on something."

Batman showed up behind them. Harry saw him coming, although the others were survived at his sudden arrival.

"I was wondering if you were going to make yourself know, or if you were just going to stand there like you have been for the last ten minutes," Harry said to him. "And I know that you won't have time to be a full time part of this because Gotham City comes first."

"The promise I made, the mission, it comes first," Batman confirmed. "But this has its importance and I'll do what I can to assist when a crisis arises."

"And I'm sure that you can count on the League's help if you have any sort of trouble that you can't get yourself out of," Harry replied.

Batman's expression became grim. "Are you implying that I can't bail myself out of trouble?"

"Not implying it at all, but even Batman needs help every now and then," Harry said. He let the matter drop at that.

"We'll split the funding, that way no one will be too suspicious about too much money going out of either of our companies," Batman said. He obviously had some kind of plan mapped out and he knew that Harry did as well.

The two of them would spend some time to collaborate on that plan.

"And I'll see what I can dig up on this Cadmus," Batman said. He learned enough about them to be concerned but they didn't see to exist. It was like he was chasing a ghost that didn't exist. And that bothered him, it really bothered him.

"I would be disappointed if you didn't," Harry answered with a smile.

He had to deal with the ship. This one should be much easier to open given that the stasis system didn't have that long to lock up. The meteors weren't helping their favor though.

If he could get this ship open, he could figure out how to get the other two. And also get Kara's mother out of stasis, that was also an important goal. Given what Kara and Karen both said, Alura was one of the foremost scientific minds on Krypton.

It went without saying that to have her on their side would be a plus.

"I've considered your offer and I accept," Jean said to Diana. Harry raised his eyebrow and Jean decided that it was best for her to elaborate. "I'm heading to Themiscyria, so I can learn how to focus my humanity. I've been detached too long for it."

"We'll help you find a balance, we've had many women who have lost their humanity but found their way," Diana said. Jean smiled. "I'm confident that you will find your way as well when given the chance."

"The confidence is reassuring, as I do want to be a part of this," she commented. She cleared her throat. "Harry opened the door and showed me the way. But the rest of my journey must be completed on my own."

"I appreciate the journey that you're going to take, and I wish you the best on it," Harry said. He leaned in and wrapped his arms around Jean's waist. He kissed her heatedly on the lips. "I'll be around to visit you."

"I know that you'll check up on me and even after that, you're just a psychic call away," Jean said. There was a smile crossing her face.

The League was beginning to get formed and Harry had some ideas where he wanted to make it go. He crossed his fingers that things would go well but he felt that he didn't need to. There were a lot of things that were moving forward.

"I'll be in touch with all of you," Harry said. He had to go and check something.

"So, interesting things are happening," Claire chimed in. Lois snorted when she looked at her fellow reporter/super heroine.

"Obviously Smallville, obviously," Lois said. She reached forward and placed her hand on Claire's shoulder. "Surprise you didn't make your move. Or are you still pouting because your cousin beat you to the punch?"

"I'm not pouting!" Claire pouted. She crossed her arms. She got some amusement from her fellow League members.

'_Ah, I think she's pouting,' _Kara said. There was amusement flickering through her voice. _'It's kind of adorable, you know what I mean.'_

'_I absolutely know what you mean,' _Lois agreed with mirth. She reached in and patted Claire on the head.

'_Another version of me, that's going to be great, Harry's accumulating them really nicely,' _Kara said. That caused several people in the bond to stand up at attention at these words from Kara.

'_Wait a minute, how do you know that it's another version of you in the bond?' _one of them asked through it.

Kara laughed. There was a lot of amusement dancing through her voice. She thought that she was going to drive them nuts just by holding things off.

'_Wait, how do you know?' _Lois asked. She was a little more demanding than normal but she really needed to know. She really had to know. That was just the bottom line for her. She wouldn't be able to rest if she didn't know.

Her arms crossed together and she gave a prominent tut. There was plenty of laughter from all of them.

'_Trust me when I say, I just know,' _Kara said. She looked rather amused to be honest as they guessed how they knew.

* * *

><p>Anticipation brewed some frustration. That was what came to mind from Patricia. She nervously waited for the moment where she could get the good news. Or get some bad news. She wasn't really sure what kind of news that she would get right now. She patiently waited for it one way or another.<p>

Lara continued to scan her. It was a delicate process.

"Ninety seven percent done," Lara said. Patricia's frown deepened. "I realize that this is a difficult process for you and you need patience. And I thank you."

Patricia amused herself with something. Her father would have died of shock, if he wasn't already dead, that she exhibited any amount of patience. Funnily enough, it was her father's death that caused Patricia to mature to the level that she was at right now.

Sometimes it took a slight shock to bring someone back to life. She saw Harry return with Karen and Helena as they waited.

"No super powers?" Patricia asked.

"None that manifest, although you should return for a checkup every few months until we're certain," Lara said. She sensed that there might be something different about Patricia but she couldn't quite frankly put her finger on it. "Just hold tight, you're almost there."

"Finally," Patricia muttered. She blushed, she didn't really mean to say that out loud.

Lara raised an eyebrow and gave her a warm smile. "One hundred percent complete now, you're clean. Although I would advise some bed rest and a good meal later, but I know that you have something else on your mind."

Patricia grew embarrassed for a second. Was she really that transparent? She would have liked to think that she wasn't but she guessed that there was a pretty good chance that she was.

Harry arrived to join her. Karen and Helena arrived behind her.

"One hundred percent completely clean bill of health," Patricia said. She paused and looked at them before she added. "Oh, physically at least, mentally….I'm not really sure. There are a lot of things in my mind that aren't clear."

Patricia rose to her feet and stepped forward to close the gap against Harry. She was pressed against his chest. She rose up on her tiptoes so she could properly look in his eyes.

"There's one thing that's coming back to me clearly now," Patricia said. "I don't know why I didn't take this particular action why I had the chance."

"The time was never right," Harry commented to her. He snaked his arm around her slim waist and pulled her in close to him.

She breathed. She felt a glowing energy around her. Harry always had that way to make a woman weak in the knees and even weaker in the thighs.

"We're going to a new age now," Harry said. "We'd like you to be a part of it. It's not STARR Labs but….."

"No, I saw what I saw around here," Patricia admitted to him. She pressed herself against his chest. She thought that she would lose all control of her inhibitions if she wasn't careful. There was a bit of a problem. She didn't want to be careful. "And I agree that it's far better than STARR was. You've built upon the foundation. That was my father's vision. Future generations should keep building upon the vision, and create something greater."

She absent mindedly stroked his chest when she spoke.

'_This one's got it really bad,' _Karen thought. She smiled when the brainy redhead was about ready to go down on Harry right now.

'_She's had it bad for a long time,' _Helena responded in a bold voice.

Harry looked at Patricia and smiled. "We're going to make up for lost time, aren't we?"

"Yes," Patricia breathed. She ran her hand down past his abs. She looked absolutely bound with lust and she was getting closer. "But why just tell you?"

She slid his hand down his pants.

"When I can show you."

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued On January 9<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	38. Thawed Out

**Chapter Thirty Eight: Thawed Out. **

* * *

><p>The fallout of the recent alien invasion and the subsequent meteor shower was something that was felt even many weeks later. Everyone was wondering what was next. Any supposed security that the citizens of Earth had been completely shaken. They feared what would come next and they now knew that they weren't alone. Aliens were out and among them.<p>

The newly formed Justice League was the topic of conversation for many people. They went with the name because why shouldn't they go for the name? It just seemed like the path of least resistance at this point in time. People were calling them that and the name was going to stick.

They could have been saddled with a far worst name all things considered. Harry wasn't sure what but you give the general public a voice and they will use it in ways that shouldn't be imagined at all.

The reviews were fairly mixed for the League. Harry and the rest of the heroes knew by now not to take stalk in such things. The results of what the League was doing would speak for themselves, whether it be for better or for worse. Harry was confident that it would be for the better but he was proven wrong before.

To cater to an extremely vocal and obnoxious minority would be foolish. Harry had far bigger problems at hand right now. Well maybe not so much of a problem, other than the project.

"The ancient ship might be difficult to open," Lara reported to him. "But these two ships, not so much. And with any luck, we can free Alura from her pod. We found the memory crystal on her, so we should get help from the source."

Lara turned to Kara and Karen who were helping Harry.

"Speaking of which, how is that downloading?" Lara asked them.

"We are at ninety five percent download capacity, she should be online within a matter of minutes," Kara commented. She was looking really forward to talking to her mother again. It might have been just an AI form of her mother but something was far better than nothing. She tried not to get too excited with what was happening. Her excitement threatened to boil over and more importantly spill over.

Lara had to smile had how passionate that Kara was about what she was doing.

"Well don't get too excited, we still need get these three out of their ships," Lara commented. "The scan on this ship indicates that this is a younger version of Kara, around fourteen or so years of age, from an alternate universe. And the most ancient ship is an ancestor of hers. A distant aunt from the In-Ze line that got lost on Earth. History may have forgotten her."

"History has been destroyed countless times where we don't know whether or not it begins, or it ends," Karen remarked to her aunt. Lara gave her a slight shadow of a small.

"True too, honey, too true," Lara commented. "And the third ship….."

"Download complete manifestation of artificial construct Alura In-Ze nearly complete," the voice commented. Her AI slowly became fully formed, twisted into a form that was more recognizable.

Kara couldn't help but grin. She was in good spirits, why wouldn't she be? Her mother was coming back to life to greet her. She tried not to get too excited, but at the same time, she slightly couldn't help herself.

Karen gave an amused smile at her younger sister's antics. She could see Alura was disoriented.

Claire turned up at the door. Harry invited her inside. Kara turned towards her cousin, excitement burning through her eyes.

"Claire, it's so awesome, you're just here in time to see my mother, your aunt for the first time," Kara said.

"Where am I?" Alura asked. She wasn't completely solid. Kara really wished that she was, that way, she could give her mother a proper hug. She settled for walking over and touching her lightly through the holographic projection.

"You're here, mother," Kara whispered. Her excitement was infectious and nearly boiled over when she stared at her mother through the stasis field. This was like a dream come true for her. She could hardly believe it.

"Kara?" Alura asked. There was a few seconds where it took a while for her brain to reboot efficiently. Her frowning increased when she looked at her daughter. "Did we make it off of Argo?"

"After a while, but Clara got our distress signal," Kara said. She turned her eyes towards the dark haired girl, who stared at Alura with a smile on her face. Alura returned fire with a smile of her own. This could only be her niece, she could see Lara.

And Lara was here as well. This was looking to be a nice little family reunion even though Alura had to admit she didn't know why it was one. She was far more confused than ever before.

"Clara retrieved both of our pods, yours was nearly losing power, and we couldn't revive you straight out," Kara commented. "But we used the AI crystal to download your memories to the computer here."

"Very perspective, and hopefully in time I can return officially to a solid form," Alura said. "Although when the AI project fully manifests, some of that alleviates itself."

"Yes, and you know Clara, and this is Karen," Kara said. Alura looked at the girl, her eyes averting towards a certain part of her body. "She's me, but from an alternate universe."

"Well, it's good to meet a version of my daughter from any universe," Alura said.

"And you'll be meeting another soon because one is on that ship," Harry said. Alura turned her attention to him. She hadn't noticed him yet and it was obvious by her demeanor she was fairly disappointed that she didn't. "My name is Harry Potter. I'm Kara and Karen's husband."

"Along with several others," Kara chimed in happily.

"Well I'm happy that such a strong and powerful male has taken an interest in my daughter….daughters," Alura said, correcting herself with a smile. It was obvious she was taking an interest in him with the way she was undressing him with her eyes. "A pleasure to meet you, Harry."

"We were just working on the stasis lock of this version of Kara," Lara informed her friend. "We should have it open and then we should be able to get this ship open."

"Is that who I think it is?" Alura asked.

"Yes, that is," Lara said. Claire blinked and she wondered what the hell was going on.

Harry put his shoulder arm her arms and she shuddered. Even more so when he leaned in and whispered in her ear.

"Patience, patience," Harry whispered. He grinned when he looked at her. Claire looked fairly sullen at being told to be patient.

"We just have one more step on this first ship," Lara said. The lock of the ship opened up.

Kara waited patiently. She hoped that this younger version of herself wouldn't attack anyone like she attacked Claire. To be fair, Kryptonians were always disoriented and fairly moody when they came out of stasis for long periods.

Well at least she was and since this was a version of her, she could very well assume this one is disoriented.

"She's out, stand by," Lara said. The entire group waited on pins and needles for what she would do next.

The younger version of Kara stepped out. Kara greeted her with a smile.

"Where am I?" Kara the younger asked. "Have I been cloned?"

"No, honey, your ship made it to Earth," Alura said. She took half of a step out of the ship and relaxed slightly at the sight of her mother.

"Where is Clara?" Kara the younger asked. "I was supposed to follow her to this world to take care of her."

"I'm here, don't worry," Claire whispered. Kara turned towards her.

"I've been on that ship for too long," she managed.

Of course, none of them wanted to bring up the point that this may not be the Clara Jor-El that she was looking for. The fact she didn't attack them was an extremely good sign. They wanted to keep it that way.

"Why don't you sit down?" Lara asked.

Kara recognized the voice of her Aunt Lara and became pacified, for now. The blonde teenager shook her head and gave a sigh. She did think that sitting down was a good idea. She plopped into the chair that had been offered to her.

She was trying to reconcile the fact that the Krypton she knew was gone. She was just glad that her cousin made it out alive.

"And now, we open this one," Lara said. She anxiously waited on pins and needles.

The ship cracked open. The stasis lock on the ship wasn't that different from the younger Kara's.

A beautiful girl with shoulder length dark hair, dressed in ragged black clothes was in the ship. The inside of the ship was more high tech as well.

"War ship, modified for travel," Karen muttered, and everyone nodded.

"This is Faora, she's the daughter of Zod," Lara announced to her daughter and nieces.

"No, seriously, the Zod?" Karen asked. She was surprised by this. "As in the General who made men kneel before him? That Zod?"

"Yes, that Zod," Alura confirmed to her eldest with a smile. "He killed himself on Krypton when he was cornered and took a lot of people with him. He would have rather done that and been sent to the Phantom Zone."

Faora's eyes snapped open. Her eyes glowed with malice. Harry knew that kind of look in a woman's eyes and it never went in a good direction.

"Where is she?" she demanded. She was getting hot and not in the good way. Her eyes lit to life when she started breathing heavily. "Where is she?"

That wasn't a good tone to have. Faora bolted out of the box and went for the first person who she saw. That just happened to be Claire.

Claire got out of the way and blocked Faora's roundhouse punch. A kick knocked her off guard and sent her to the table. The most impressive thing was she was nowhere near full power. So it was fascinating that she was able to hold her own.

"Just calm down!" Harry yelled. He tried to subdue her but she ducked out of the way.

She was about ready to attack them. She had to find her. She had to find her sister.

There was a hold over her mind. Faora's extremely strong will struggled against it. She absolutely refused to be put on her knees by any person.

Jean stood behind her. She noticed the ruckus and she noticed the hot tempered alien female that was about ready to wreck the lab something fierce. She couldn't allow that to happen. The woman dropped down to her knees and started to scream out loud.

Faora dropped down and she was calmed down, a little bit.

"It's a good thing that you didn't leave just yet," Harry said.

"I'm sure you would have handled it," Jean replied. She smiled at them. "I just sped up the process a little bit."

* * *

><p>It took Faora some time to cool down. Her breathing was completely deep when she was contained in a chair.<p>

"Don't worry, I'm not going to attack you, just let me free and let me find my sister," Faora whispered. She stared at Harry, and met his green eyes. His eyes looked very familiar. Had her mind been a bit more coherent she would have been able to pick up how familiar they were. "My sister, Alia Dru-Zod, I was supposed to guide her and now…"

"We'll help you find your sister, but don't rip our heads off," Harry said. When he was certain she was more calm and tranquil, he slowly freed her.

True to her word, Faora didn't attack him. Mostly because she was taking time to take a look at Harry, Kara, Karen, and Claire. The woman's smile crossed her face.

"You have her eyes," Faora said. Her voice was soft. "She was the one that the crystal chose. I saw a glimpse of her when the tracking beacon was found. She was another displaced daughter of Krypton, sent to Earth to avoid paying for the sins of her parents. And she was the descendant of one of Krypton's greatest scientific minds….no offense."

"None taken," Alura said. She was certain that statement was directed at her.

Faora took her attention from Harry for a moment. "No one knows what happened to the woman exactly, but her descendants lived on."

Harry knew who she was talking about and knew that her descendants lived on. That was another story for another time as far as he was concerned. He looked towards her.

"This is Kara Zor-El and this is Kara Zor-L, but they're called Kara Kent and Karen Starr," Harry said, introducing Faora to them.

"Yes, it's a pleasure to meet both of you," Faora commented. She felt suddenly weaker after her rush of adrenaline. That was something that she would have to correct sometime soon. She hated not being able to stand upwards and speak to them properly. "And this facility is yours."

"Yes, we've grown it from the ground up," Karen said.

Faora nodded in agreement, looking around in a rather approving manner. "Most of the best places are….and you should approve of it. It's really amazing."

"Yeah, amazing," Kara commented. Harry noticed some kind of tension between Kara and Faora for some reason. Even though Faora was able to play it far more coolly than Kara did.

Harry turned towards her and raised his eyebrow. Kara looked away when she realized that she was making the evil eyes at Faora.

'_Might I ask what that's all about?' _Harry asked her.

'_Nothing, nothing, I don't have a problem,' _Kara said. She drew her tone out to indicate that she thought that she was the one that didn't have the problem.

"Impressive, I think that I'll fit in well right here," Faora said. She took a step forward too quickly.

She staggered and nearly fell over. Using his quick reflexes, Harry grabbed Faora around the waist and held her up. The woman held herself up, looking back towards Harry with a smile on her face.

"Good thing you have some excellent reflexes, Har," Faora said. She winced when her body felt off. "My ship had radiation shields on it. But they got misconfigured where they blocked out everything including the yellow solar radiation."

"That seems to be a common technical snafu on all Kryptonian ships, no matter what," Lara said. She frowned, it was not a technical snafu on the ancient ship. There was something else entirely wrong with that one. "I think that your body just needs to get used to being back in the actual world."

"Yeah, I do have to," Faora agreed. She closed her eyes and Harry guided her back into a chair.

"You'll sit down and you'll get checked out," Harry remarked. "And we'll figure out what to do about your sister."

Faora waited patiently or what passed as patiently for her. She crossed her arms.

"That's just as well, I don't want any complications," Faora replied. If she went out there and was any less than better than her best, that was would a disappointment.

Kara might have had her share of issues with Faora but she had to admire her determination.

"While you were getting her in order, we were trying to put your younger counterpart back in order," Lara commented to Kara. "So far, she appears to have no long time side effects. She's just extremely disoriented and tired. The shock of seeing her planet destroyed has not set in. Her entire world just crumbled before her eyes."

"Poor girl, I can sympathize," Kara said. She stepped away from the medical station which was getting its money's worth as of late, if she had to say so herself.

Karen turned towards Kara and raised her eyebrow. "We can all sympathize."

"You lost two worlds, I know," Kara said. The three of them walked away. Claire decided to stay with the younger version of Kara, who was obviously shell shocked.

'_So are we going to tell her that this Claire isn't her Claire?' _Donna thought.

'_You know, it just might be and I'm from the alternate universe,' _Kara suggested. _'There have been urban legends about a Crisis every few years that have messed the universe up.'_

'_I've heard of such events, it's confusing even for the cosmically inclined,' _Jean thought.

'_Well that just really says something about how well the rest of us are going to grasp it,' _Lois thought. She crossed her arms and sighed.

'_Don't worry Lois, it's insane enough for the rest of us, as well,' _Kara said.

'_And exactly how long are going to make Smallville choke for it?' _Lois asked. She had a wicked grin on her face.

'_Well, I made you choke for it for a long time,' _Harry thought back to her.

'_No fucking kidding,' _Lois said. She looked rather bemused by what Harry said. She tapped her foot on the ground. _'But one of these days, she's going to jump you.'_

'_Isn't that the idea to see how long it takes her to break?' _Lana asked. There was plenty of amusement through the bond link.

Harry would check back on what was going on with the younger Kara and Faora soon. He had a couple more things to check up on.

* * *

><p>Barbara couldn't even begin to imagine what Patricia went through. Never mind the fact that she lost everything that she knew and loved in her world. That was a really awful thing to begin with. That was just the tip of the iceberg for Patricia.<p>

She was trapped in some kind of horrific state of limbo. Perhaps it was a good idea that she didn't even remember anything that happened. Barbara would be terrified even to think about what someone like Patricia would be through. Then there was the government thing and this Cadmus thing, which she was running into a brick wall on.

"I know I feel awfully naggy but….."

"I'm adapting if you want to know," Patricia told her without hesitation. She actually thought that she would be doing far worse. It was good that Harry, Helena, and Karen made it. She thought at some time that she wasn't going to make it. "But, you know, I technically don't exist in this world."

"Well thankfully there are several channels that give criminals and illegals new lives, granted they're kind of shifty," Barbara said. She frowned when she waited for her contact to come back. "But they're pretty much airtight, if you are willing to throw the money at them. And Harry has plenty of money to throw at people. You aren't the first one that he had to get a new identity."

"Oh?" Patricia asked.

"Well a cosmic entity who takes the form of a human teenager technically doesn't exist in this world," Barbara told her. Patricia nodded in agreement, that would make sense. "The Swanns don't exist in this world, so you won't have to worry about running into your doppleganger."

"Some don't exist, others are older and younger, and some are gender swapped," Patricia muttered. She met Alex briefly and she wondered if Harry was like that in any way when he was younger. She didn't ask.

"So, are you getting it in order?"

Barbara nearly jumped halfway off the chair. Patricia had a sixth sense Harry was coming. Barbara obviously was too distracted in her work not to notice that he was there.

"Calm down, you're going to give yourself a heart attack one of these days," Harry said to Barbara. She scowled when she stared him down, looking at him.

"You mean you're going to be the one that was going to give me a heart attack," Barbara said. She shrugged her shoulders when she stared him down. "Yes, I'm getting together an identity for Patricia."

"Well, we're going to need to get together a lot of papers, two, and eventually maybe more if Lara and Alura get physical forms," Harry responded. "It should be a matter of figuring out how to safely wake Alura's body up and as for Lara….it's more tricky, but doable."

"More of a long term project than anything," Patricia said. She looked forward to being a part of this for as long as it takes.

Harry smiled when he saw how excited Patricia was. Her excitement was absolutely infectious. She reached the point where she was nearly bursting forward with excitement.

'_So, are you getting used to the bond link?' _Harry chimed in. Patricia relaxed herself suddenly.

'_The voices popping into your head takes a bit getting used to, I admit that,' _Karen commented.

Patricia frowned. _'Yeah, I might have been confused the first time. And that's your fault for springing it on me.'_

'_You can't deny that it's pretty humorous,' _Karen thought. Patricia crossed her arms and pouted.

'_But I'm glad that I have a support network,' _Patricia said. She drummed her fingers on the table.

"And now Patricia Swann is about ready to go, all we need to do is pick up the necessary papers," Barbara said. She turned over her shoulder and stared Harry down. "We seem to have more people with fake identities than we do real identities."

"Well, to be honest, they're not all fake, they're just to cover up the fact that that not everyone has papers," Harry answered her. He leaned towards her and smiled. "Did you get anything on Cadmus?"

"Still chasing ghosts and their facility is gone, just up in smoke," Barbara said. She really hoped to find something. All she hit with a huge bunch of dead ends that made her feel like a whole bunch of fail. "There are a lot of people who aren't for the League."

"There always will be, people have their opinions, even if they are formed by their fears," Harry said. He added softly to himself, even though both of the redheads heard him. "And their ignorance of the situation."

Harry turned around and walked off. He stopped at the doorway and turned back towards them as an afterthought.

"Keep me posted if you find anything," Harry said.

'_Hey, Lois?' _Harry asked, switching to the bond link. _'Are we still on for lunch?'_

'_Yes, and I've invited Claire along and she's not going to get out of it this time,' _Lois thought.

'_What exactly do you have on her this time?' _Harry asked. He sounded amused and Lois sounded indignant when she flew into complete defensive mode.

'_I haven't been blackmailing her,' _Lois said. There was a moment where Harry raised his eyebrow and Lois deflated. _'Okay fine, but she has been ducking you. And I figure that the three of us were due to get together. And…..'_

Claire walked up behind Harry. He turned around and saw the dark haired Kryptonian female behind him. She was frowning when she looked over.

"So, Lois told me that we're going out to lunch, the three of us," Claire said to him. Harry smiled when he walked towards her, basically closing the gap.

"She did," Harry agreed. He looked towards her. "Are you up for it?"

"It's long overdue," she replied. She thought that she was over this.

She realized something. With Harry, you never got over this. That was just how things worked.

* * *

><p>Lois, Claire, and Harry made their way to one of the more exclusive establishments in Metropolis to have lunch.<p>

"I'm working on a story that's going to break the organized crime ring right open in Metropolis," Lois said to both of them. "You know Morgan Edge….he's trying to buy up every major media outlet in the city. Perry refuses to sell to him though, even though he's losing money out the ass for refusing to revamp the Planet for the 21st century."

"Edge is going to get a deal though, if the shareholders lose interest with him," Harry said. "And the deal's going to be highway robbery."

"Yes, Perry's going to get screwed by his stubbornness, they say Print Media will be dead in the next ten years," Lois commented. "The blog that Chloe is making is the only thing that's maintaining the company and that's really not maintaining it by that much."

Lois was struck by something that she thought was brilliant. Claire groaned when she was like this. Lois being struck by some kind of divine inspiration never really ended anywhere she would consider well.

"Don't give me that look, Smallville," Lois snapped at her. Claire folded her arms and sighed. Lois gave her the evil eye in response and Harry cleared his throat that caused both of them to straight up.

Both of them looked at Harry with pouting type faces. It was obvious that Harry had some kind of thrall over them and they were disappointed that he was disappointed.

'_I think someone's going to get in trouble!' _Kara exclaimed in a sing-song kind of voice.

'_And you can only troll one of them from where you are,' _Karen commented from amusement.

Kara was disappointed about the fact that she couldn't troll her cousin from where she was. She was just going have to hope that Harry got to adding her to the bond link.

"What was your brilliant idea, Lois?" Harry asked her.

Lois looked like she regretted even thinking the idea. She waved her hand trying to get out of it. "No, Harry, I don't think it's a good idea, in fact, it's kind of stupid."

"I think that I'll be the judge of that," Harry said. His green eyes met Lois's vibrant violet eyes.

Lois gave a lengthy sigh. She hated when Harry gave one of those looks. It felt like he was staring into her very soul. She thought that she was in trouble.

"Well?" Harry asked Lois.

Claire nudged her roughly in the shoulder. That caused Lois to give Claire one of those looks. Claire wasn't backing off.

"I think that you should buy the Daily Planet before Edge ends up doing so," Lois said. "Because if he ends up buying this, you can kiss free press goodbye….he'd….."

Harry placed one finger up and silenced Lois.

"I'm already on it," Harry told her. Lois's eyebrow raised in surprise when she was caught off guard with what Harry said.

It took a couple of moments for her to fully process that.

"Really?" Lois asked. "Are you….."

"The deal isn't going to be announced for a few more weeks yet, so could you both please keep it quiet?" Harry asked.

Lois looked at him, but she conceded what he was asking with a nod.

"Only for you," Lois responded. "And I know that I'll get certain perks and benefits for keeping it quiet."

"And if you say something, you will be cut off," Claire said. She gave Lois a smug smile but Lois turned back around.

"Yeah that's really funny, Smallville, but I suppose you can't be cut off, because you haven't been figured in," Lois said. Harry cleared his throat even more.

Lois decided to straighten up. She swore that she would be good. It came difficult to her but she would be good.

"Are you ladies done yet?" Harry asked them.

"Yeah, we're cool," Lois agreed. She suddenly heard an alarm go off across the street.

Granted, she didn't hear it about as well as Harry and Claire did, but she heard it.

"And speaking of gang…..activity," Lois said. She trailed off when she saw Harry and Claire sped off in the direction of the alarm, faster than then a speeding light. "And I guess that means lunch is over…..well at least Harry paid before he ran out. That puts him above a lot of dates that I have, doesn't it?"

Lois shook her head. She was talking to herself again. That was just one sign of her insanity. She pulled her bag over her shoulder and it was time to power up.

The dark haired reporter exited the warehouse. She pulled out the glowing Lantern that came from her bag and the ring.

"In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight," Lois chanted. She held up the ring about ready to power it with the glowing lantern. "Behold my power….GREEN LANTERN'S LIGHT!"

Lois felt the costume wrap around her body. She wore a tight black shirt that snugly fit around her breasts with the Lantern symbol. It was cut off at the midriff area. She wore tight leather pants which molded nicely to her ass.

"Okay, let's kick some ass…providing that there's still some ass left to be kicked."

Lois could see one of the Intergang goons about ready to make a run for it. He started scrambling like a mad monkey. His feet nearly slid out from underneath him when he tried to get out of there. There seemed to be no way that he could get out.

A large hand appeared and blocked his path. He turned around and was knocked out by Harry.

"Nice one," Lois said, a wicked grin spreading out on her face. She could see one of the tanks that they had trying to get away.

She created a barricade construct. She held the barrier despite the fact that they were trying to break through.

"These Intergang bastards sure never know when to take a hint, do they?" Lois asked. She practically growled in frustration when they were held back. They tried to fire their way down the hole but they were blocked.

"It wouldn't be them if they didn't," Harry said. The weapons were disabled. "This is about the fourth date this week these bastards ruined. I'm kind of sick about this."

"And they're getting some of this technology from Gotham City," Claire said. She recognized some of the tank parts.

"Willingly, or not so willingly?" Lois asked. She made sure that the Intergang punks were bound. She was kind of disappointed that she missed a fair chunk of the action but she did get her shots in and that was all that mattered.

"Well, given that Mannheim's butting heads with Cobblepot and Sionis, I have a feeling that he swiped one of their shipments," Harry said.

"And how much you want to bet that's some kind of revenge for some kind of slight from either of them?" Lois asked.

"Edge is a multi-millionaire, why is he robbing banks?" Claire asked. She frowned deeply.

"Well like most rich people, he doesn't like spending his own money if he can help it," Lois said. Harry raised his eyebrow at her. "No offense."

Harry didn't have time to take offense. He needed to get answers and he needed to get them quick.

* * *

><p>Bruno Mannheim saw the news that his goons had been busted by Arcane, Superwoman, and the Green Lantern. Those Justice League chumps were bad for business. It was bad enough when the capes were running around as a solo act. Now, they were a co-op.<p>

Even though Thorne hijacked Cobblepot's shipment and sold it to Mannheim at a markup, he still was not getting any closer to establishing a firm operation in Metropolis. The Justice League was getting closer to shutting him down.

Mannheim adjusted the collar of his shirt. He wasn't pretty on his best day but he looked really bad. The ravages of stress was getting to him. He couldn't sleep at night, thinking that this would be the day where they found out that he was holed up.

The League would get him, he just knew they would. Either that, or Edge would have his balls in a vice. Edge would blame Mannheim for bungling another operation and setting back his plans.

He might have been the man who gave the orders day to day, but Edge funded the operations and had the final say in everything. He also had a score to settle with Lionel Luthor, why, Mannheim didn't know. All he cared about was how much money would be placed in his pocket at the end of the day. Anything other than that and he honestly didn't give a flying fuck.

Maroni was supposed to be helping out as well, but he had his own problems to deal with. The Bat was knocking on his door. Cobblepot and Sionis was closing in as well. Falcone was always a tough bastard who wouldn't loosen his stranglehold on Gotham City.

Then there was Thorne, who positioned himself as a true Kingpin of Gotham City. Edge was the Kingpin of Metropolis and as the battle lines between the two cities continued to spill over, there was going to be a clash.

Mannheim pried open the liquor cabinet. This entire gang war was murder on his liver but what could you do?

"Damn it, this day, I really wish that I'd have the connections people think that I have," Mannheim said. He paid out of his own pocket for some of the Penguin's leftovers that Thorne rerouted. He didn't have any access to something out of Star Wars, at least not yet. He wished he did. "Man, I tell you, I'd sell my soul to have the connections that they thought that I have."

He knocked back a drink. It tasted like pure sin and it was, pure sin on his liver. He gurgled it down with one fluid motion. It was like pure lighter fluid entering his body.

"Man, I tell you, that would be….."

Mannheim's phone rang. There were only three people in the entire world that had that number and none of them were good news. He figured that he had enough alcohol in him to soften the blow. He reached over and snatched the phone.

"Yeah, talk to me," he grunted. He held the phone firmly.

"Good evening, Mr. Mannheim," a garbled voice whispered over the phone. Mannheim couldn't tell whether or not it was a male or a female. That was never a good sign when dealing with the people he dealt with.

"Who the hell is this?" Mannheim asked.

"I understand that you been having some problems with the super powered protectors in this city, Mr. Mannheim," the garbled voice continued. There was some smugness over his voice or rather her voice.

"I swear to God….."

"No need to swear to him, when you can swear allegiance to us and we'll give you power over those who are giving you trouble," the voice commented.

That caused Mannheim to shut up instantly. This was an enticing proposal and he was intrigued but at the same time, he was very suspicious with what he was being sold.

"Yeah, I hear you, but there's got to be some kind of catch?" Mannheim asked.

"Only your loyalty, and we won't ask that much of you," the garbled voice continued. The carrot was practically dangled in from of Mannheim's face. He just had to chase it. "You're the one who puts in all of the hard hours running Intergang and Edge gets all of the money and the glory. That hardly seems fair, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, that's a shit deal," Mannheim agreed. He was getting hot underneath the collar and not in a good way either. He was about ready to tackle something or perhaps someone.

"I want you to meet with us, and we'll discuss your future options, and come alone," the garbled voice said.

Mannheim wondered why this person would pick this particular time to call but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"I'm listening," Mannheim responded. He had a sketchpad in front of him.

He had a feeling that this was going to be a meeting that was going to change his life. Call him nuts, he'd been called worse.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on January 13<strong>**th****, 2015.**


	39. Here and There

**Chapter Thirty Nine: Here and There. **

* * *

><p>Now Patricia was back in business and had an identity in this world, she could focus on certain things. There were a lot of projects that she could throw herself into with reckless abandon. The woman couldn't wait to be a part of them. Her excitement brimmed as she wanted to help the RAO Corporation grow.<p>

"It seems like a fairly straight forward manner on the surface, doesn't it?" Karen asked Patricia. Patricia raised her eyebrow and smiled.

"If you've taught me anything about Kryptonian science, there's really nothing that seems actually completely straight forward," Patricia reminded her. Half of the Kryptonians they needed to get out of stasis were out of the ship. The redhead looked over the oldest ship, and there was an intense frown over her face when she studied it. "And you know how much I enjoy a challenge?"

"I know this, yes," Karen said. She couldn't help it, she was grinning.

"But, this is a bigger challenge than anything, as your mother configured her stasis pod such where it might be borderline difficult to get it open," Patricia said. She pretty much thought of something. "But I would have assumed that your mother would have the knowledge to get it open."

Karen gave a dry laugh. "Her AI copy is a bit…behind the times. Alura is a brilliant woman but even she can't figure out what she did wrong."

"I'm sure that we'll be back to crack it, in time," Lara chimed in. She popped up suddenly or perhaps not. Although she supposed that the pop up would seem sudden for someone who had their attention elsewhere. "I'm more interested in this ancient Kandorian vessel. I've seen the architecture but I don't even know where to begin about it. Much has changed."

That was for sure. There was a lot that has changed. Lara couldn't even begin to describe the ways the ship changed. The blonde Kryptonian frowned when she brushed her hand over the ship. She wished that she could unlock the secrets of the ship and more importantly bring out the person inside.

It might seem obvious but she would have some stories to tell.

"If you love a challenge, this is one that has us all baffled," Lara said. "Do you even know about this ancestor, Alura?"

Alura's AI copy popped up instantly. She looked rather worn for a few reasons. "I wish that I could say that I did but at the same time, I don't. She seems to be a bit of a mystery and an even larger enigma. I wish that I could tell you about her."

"Well, there's so much of Krypton's history that has been damaged and rewritten, I guess we're just spitting in the wind," Karen offered. Her frustration increased when she looked at the edge of the ship. That was really the bottom line. She really wished that she had more to offer than just mindless, baseless theories regarding the girl in the ship.

She could feel Patricia's hand on hers.

"And then we got to figure out how to create a clone body for Lara, which shouldn't be too difficult," Alura said.

"If you don't mind me for asking, why didn't you come to Earth with Clara?" Patricia asked. Lara turned towards her. "That question wasn't too personal, was it?"

"Not at all and it's a good question," Lara replied. She actually was saddened by the fact that she could not accompany her daughter on her voyage to Earth. "The pregnancy was so high risk because it was a natural born Kryptonian pregnancy. That's rare and I was still in the stages of recovering. And even if I wasn't, my husband decided to build a ship that was only large enough for an infant."

Lara sounded like she didn't approve of her husband's actions. It was likely because she didn't. Oen could almost see the sneer going over her face. She shook her head to clear her mind.

"He didn't get a chance to install his AI program into the ship, but he seemed disappointed that I didn't bare him a son," Lara said. Her tone was really cool.

"It's really a miracle that Clara made it to Earth as well."

"I would have to agree that she was a miracle, yes," Martha agreed. She popped her head into the door. She actually had some paperwork for Karen and Patricia to sign. "Sorry, if I seemed like I'm eavesdropping on your conversation but….."

Lana followed at her heals.

"Some of the paperwork came in that needs one of your signatures, and with Harry and Helena off doing other things, you're the only one that can sign it right now," Lana said. Martha looked apologetic but Karen waved that off.

"Sorry for bothering you, but this is kind of urgent," Martha responded.

"Of course, it is," Karen said. She understood the nature of the paperwork Martha placed in front of her.

The paperwork was in front of her and Karen signed off on it after double checking to make sure it was exactly was they specified.

"So, how are you adapting to RAO?" Karen asked Martha.

"I was reluctant to leave the farm at first," Martha replied. She looked at the group. "You know, you're at the same place for a really long time. You get used to it and begin to love it."

"I understand where you're coming from perfectly, believe me," Karen responded.

"But, Harry convinced me that this would be good for me to move on from all that's happened and the farm actually is better off, as it's been monetized for the first time in a long time," Martha commented. She didn't know how Harry pulled it off. "Smallville's had a rough last few years but RAO has breathed some new life into the town."

"And sent Lionel Luthor scrambling back to the drawing board," Lana added. She tried not to sound too vindictive, even though she was pleased. Anything to send the Luthor patriarch down a peg was great news for her.

"That's more of a bonus than anything, really," Martha said evenly. She didn't want to seem too vindictive even though the thought of that man getting any trouble just made her smile.

"Well, Luthor is losing his footing here in Metropolis," Karen said. She was watching this very closely. "Hopefully he's nothing like his son was and he doesn't react badly to a little bit of competition."

"Hard to believe that he has a son in your world," Lana said. There was a buzzing and Karen put her hand up to stall the conversation.

"The New League Satellite is online," Karen announced. She thought that it might be just a bit much to have an orbiting satellite in Space and so did Harry, but he went along with it. It was the most ideal spot for the security that they needed regardless. "Barbara designed the security. The firewall protection is off the charts. You're going to need to be a master hacker to even consider breaking the encryption. You won't be able to get past the first firewall, never mind the other eleven firewalls."

"Isn't that a bit excessive?" Lana asked.

"For the League, never, we've already made our enemies," Karen said. There was a long sigh that escaped her lips. "We've made plenty of enemies and the sad part is that we haven't even begun. I wonder what's going to happen when we actually get started."

There were a few new recruits that the League had in mind. One of them was a female heroine who showed up in Central City. She moved at the speed of light. The only problem was that they hadn't been able to catch up with her.

If you pardoned the extremely obvious pun about not being able to catch up with someone who moved at the speed of light, but that was beside the point. Karen took a few moments to amuse herself with that one.

"Lots to do," Patricia said. She was glad to be on the ground floor of this one. She was about ready to do something special, she just knew it, she could just feel it. Her eagerness spiked when she thought long and hard about what her next move might be.

"You know, when you think about it, Earth is at a critical stage of development," Lana replied.

"It's good that more people are figuring that out, "Lara stated. Lana smiled when Lara said that. "But we're going through a very tricky period. If there's one misstep, it could mean disaster like the world has never seen."

"Thankfully we're all here and we're going to accomplish something great," Lana said.

"We are," Patricia agreed.

"I agree, and RAO is going to be on the ground floor of those changes," Karen said. That was their mission statement but it was one that was never the less extremely accurate for where they were heading next.

* * *

><p>It turned out that they were moving forward and looking towards the future in a multitude of ways. Namely they were looking for the best and the brightest. After that meeting was over, Karen and Patricia made their way downstairs.<p>

"We've searched for an extremely long time for some really great prospects," Karen informed Patricia. She nodded her head and looked extremely excited. "And it wasn't easy, but if someone is willing to put in the hard work of going to college at a younger age than most…."

"Then they are an ideal fit for the company," Patricia said. "Well, and they're a young, attractive female with a lot of potential. That's what you, Harry, and Helena were looking for your internship in this company, weren't you?"

"That transparent, huh?" Karen asked. She snickered when she looked at Patricia. Patricia held her thumb and forefinger apart to demonstrate.

"Just a little bit, yeah."

Both of them laughed in amusement. Obviously Harry's tastes geared towards a certain direction, not that they had any complaints about it whatsoever. They just knew how their mate rolled and they accepted it as the truth.

The two girls waited for them. Karen took a chance to look them over. Their accomplishments spoke for themselves. They graduated from high school early and now they were looking for something else to move up in the world. They were ready to tackle the rigors of college and Karen wished them the best of luck honestly because she felt that they were going to need it if they had a hope of surviving the insanity that was to come.

Even with super powers, college could be a bit of a challenge. And by a bit of a challenge, she met an insane challenge. That was one thing that she reminded herself of.

There was no time to go down memory lane.

"Good evening, ladies, I'm sorry that Doctor Potter wasn't able to meet you today, he had something that pulled him away," Karen stated.

One of the girls waved her hand casually; acting like it wasn't that much of a big deal. "Don't worry, we know that Doctor Potter has a lot of things that demand a fair amount of his time."

"I'm glad that you ladies understand this," Karen said. There were a lot of people who demanded appointments with Harry and didn't care that he had a million and one responsibilities. Those people often were shown the exit.

Karen was glad that these two teenage girls had their heads more on straight than most of the so called adults that walked through the doors of the RAO Corporation. Karen gave a grimace when she thought about some of the riff-raff she had to punt on through the doors.

The first was a rather attractive redhead wearing her hair back in a ponytail. She wore a black button up shirt and a skirt that went down her legs. It was obvious that there was far more to her than met the eye, but Karen wasn't about to pry. They had a feeling that they would get to her soon enough.

"Miss Caitlin Fairchild?" Karen asked. The redhead nodded in response.

"Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Starr," Caitlin said. She nearly tripped over her feet but she managed to keep herself upright. Karen extended her hand towards Caitlin and shook it. "Sorry, I hope you don't mind, but I'm just a little bit nervous. I've read about your work, well all of the people working here, and I don't want to…..I don't want to seem like I'm fangirling out, but it's just amazing, completely amazing. I normally don't babble like this, you know, but I can't….I just can't help myself."

Karen didn't laugh. That likely would have freaked the poor girl out.

'_She's worse than Lois,' _Kara commented lightly.

'_HEY!' _Lois exclaimed. She crossed her arms over her chest and she had a sullen pout on her face. How dare they say that she was that bad? She wasn't that bad. Okay, maybe a little bit, but still, she wasn't that bad.

"Caitlin, mind if I call you Caitlin?" Karen asked. The redhead nodded eagerly. "Just relax. I was like you when I was that age. Bright eyed and excited. You get used to a lot eventually. Trust me."

"Oh, yeah, I trust you," Caitlin replied. Her expression bubbled over when she spoke. She took a deep breath to calm herself down.

Karen shouldn't ignore the other girl there. Especially based off of her accomplishments and what she did. The second of the junior interns had a smile. This one came highly recommended from Barbara and in fact they were old childhood friends. Their father's attended the same police academy but the two girls stayed in touch.

She turned her attention to the young blonde. She had a fit looking body, like the type of woman who kept herself in pretty good shape and thus could handle herself in a fight. Her bright blue eyes shined and she wore a black headband on her head. She wore a buttoned up red shirt with a blue skirt that zipped up. She wore a pair of glasses that added to her.

"Gwendolyn Stacy," Karen said, asking for confirmation.

"Please, call me Gwen, and it's a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Starr," Gwen said. Her tone was professional, even if one could detect a glint of excitement in her eyes. "I've been following the work of the RAO corporation for a long time and I have to say, it's an honor to be a part of this."

"Gwen, it's an honor to have you," Karen stated. "You were part of dozens of potential candidates for the RAO's young intern program. But we managed to pick from less than a handful and you two had the credentials that would hold up the best for the job."

"I'm glad that we did," Gwen replied. There was a tone to her voice that indicated that she was practically gushing at the thought of working at her dream job and make no mistake about this, it was her dream job. "And I'm sure that Barbara put in the good word for me."

"She helped us take a closer look at your application, yes," Karen answered. "But, don't deny the fact that you would have gotten an extremely close look. And it was Doctor Potter who requested you personally, both of you."

"Well, it should be an honor to meet him when he returns from his trip," Gwen said. She meant that honestly.

'_So, Barbara, have you been talking up Harry to her?' _Donna asked. She gave Barbara a brief nudge.

'_She didn't speak to me for a month because she was mad that I didn't invite her to Vegas, with us,' _Barbara said. She sound more amused though.

'_It was a spur of the moment thing,' _Kara defended. Her shoulders shrugged when she looked at the girls. _'You did explain that to her, didn't you?'_

'_Well I did,' _Barbara protested. _'But sometimes the best of us have a logic failing, you know.'_

Patricia and Karen answered any questions that the girls had. They would officially start the next Monday. Both were excited to work for RAO although one was more subdued about the situation than the others were.

* * *

><p>Jean knew that Paradise was everything that she imagined it to be. Diana and Donna lead her through the gate for her new temporary home. She could tell that the two sisters were discussing something extremely important with each other. Jean left them to it because that was what made them happy.<p>

Diana realized that she was being rude to her guest. Before she could apologize, Jean smiled and looked towards her.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Jean asked.

"Yes, it is, even though we're used to it," Diana confirmed. Themiscryria only seemed to get more beautiful with each passing day and her excitement bubbled freely with the thoughts of what the island could bring to her. She smiled brightly.

Jean agreed with that. She came to this place to better learn discipline and hopefully keep her powers together. She walked past the Amazon guards. Diana walked over towards a guard with red hair.

"Artemis," Diana commented with a brisk nod.

"I assumed that Harry would have accompanied you on your trip," Artemis said. There was a sense of disappointment in some of the Amazons that Harry didn't make the trip.

'_Needy bitches,' _Donna thought. Diana gave her one of those looks that told her to cool it.

'_Like you have any room to talk,' _Kara said.

Donna fired back. _'Oh like you have any room to talk._

Kara shook her head and sighed before she went back to her work. She actually was helping her mother and Lara look over something. They were getting no closer to achieving their various projects. It was becoming clear that they would have to wait for Earth's technology to catch up to where they wanted to be. That might be about fifty or even a hundred years from now.

That was why they so anxiously tried to figure out a work around to what they were doing. That was pretty much the only think that they could do in their current position.

"Harry will be visiting soon, is my mother ready?" Diana asked.

"Yes, Diana, she expected you to come," Artemis said. The Amazons let them passed. Many of them were in awe of the Phoenix because legends reached the island.

"Don't worry, Jean, it will be an honor and privilege for them to be up close and personal with you," Diana replied with a momentary smile crossing her face.

"Yeah, most of them are creaming themselves at the thought of being up close and personal with the Phoenix," Donna answered. That caused Diana's eyes to shift towards Donna and give her one of those looks.

Donna crossed her arms with a scowl crossing her face. Sometimes she just couldn't get away with nothing.

The imperial throne room was open and Hippolyta looked at her two daughters.

"Diana, Donna, it's good to see you home," Hippolyta said in a bright voice.

"And it's good to be home, even if it is for a short time," Diana replied. "And I'm sorry that we didn't have a chance to visit sooner."

"No need to apologize my child, I understand that you have a multitude of responsibilities," Hippolyta said. She had been reluctant to allow her children to leave the island. Those fears were put to rest. It was good that they had a good support network in Man's World to back them up. And they could open the doors to future opportunities that the Amazons could have. "And you must be Jean."

It was at that moment where the Queen of Amazons turned her attention to the redhead before her. It took a fair amount of composure for her not to be in complete and utter awe.

"Yes, I am, thank you for inviting me and giving me this opportunity, Queen Hippolyta," Jean said. She stepped forward and allowed the Queen to present her hand, which she gave it a light kiss to the top of it.

Jean's touch caused a fire to burst through Hippolyta. She tried not to look too pleased with herself even though it was hard to block such thoughts from her mind. Her smile widened the more that she thought about the power Jean possessed. It was amazing and it was also intoxicating.

"We regret that Harry couldn't make it," Diana responded.

"He just visited not too long ago, he was arranging some additional training for Alexandra," Hippolyta answered. "We actually had a discussion about arranging training for some of the younger girls, including Rebecca and Cassandra, if they got permission."

"Oh, he was here, wasn't he?" Donna asked. There was a hint of a suggestive tone dancing through her eyes. Hippolyta turned towards her daughter and frowned.

"Yes, Harry was here and it was a wonderful conversation that I had with him," Hippolyta said. She decided that two could play that game, or three. She didn't become the Queen of the Amazons without a certain amount of deductive skills and she knew what her daughters were scheming. "Alexandra is making some steady strides though and we'd be happy to assist someone like Harry. It is the least that I can do for him."

"Yes, he is amazing," Jean added. She could tell what the Amazons craved. She couldn't blame them.

There wasn't a force in the universe that radiated sex and passion more than Harry. His power was intense and Jean could even feel it, despite Harry not being present in the bond link. It registered him as healthy but not active.

They would have trust that there was a good reason why he blocked this access from all of them.

"And he did discuss with me about you, Jean," Hippolyta said. "If you don't mind me for saying, the legends don't do you justice."

"I don't mind you for saying and I thank you," Jean said. "When should I start my training?"

"Tomorrow, if that is ideal for you," Hippolyta said. Jean smiled and looked at the Queen of the Amazons.

"That would be perfect," Jean said.

"Then it's settled, Artemis and Lyla will show you to your quarters," Hippolyta said. She properly looked Jean in the eyes. She was staring a goddess of pure power in the eye. And while she was used to dealing with goddesses and in many cases arguing with sad goddesses, Jean's power was something. "If there's anything that you need, please don't hesitate."

Jean's response was brief. "I will."

Hippolyta decided to turn to her daughters and catch up with both of them. No doubt they would attempt to pry the details out of her.

Nothing happened, other than a promise of a date when their schedules finally lined up. Her daughters and Artemis had been pushing for her to take some time off because she had been working hard managing some high strung women.

Hippolyta thought that would be an ideal thing soon for her to take some time off. She meanwhile fed the mystery of what happened regarding Harry. It was fun to make her daughters squirm and speculate.

She admitted that she didn't have the best luck regarding men. Soon that might change.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe that you got to go there!" Cassie exclaimed. She was talking over the computer with Alex. "I'm…..I'd…well I just wish that I'd get to go there. I mean…..the home of Wonder Woman and Wondergirl."<p>

"I see both of them every day," Alex replied.

Rebecca, who was also on the conference line, rolled her eyes. "You need to really dig the knife into the poor girl's eye, don't you? She's already frustrated, aren't you, Cassie?"

"Yeah, I'm frustrated, and I'm mad too!" Cassie yelled. "I know I've seen them a lot but still, to go to the place that it all started, that's really cool. That's…..that's just really cool, you know what I mean."

Alex and Rebecca both laughed at Cassie's indignation.

"You know, Harry mentioned something about getting all three of us advanced training on the island," Alex said. There was a bit of a wicked glint in the girl's eye as she dangled the carrot in front of Cassie's face.

"Why me?" Cassie asked. She frowned in frustration. She wasn't complaining, she was just asking what she thought was an extremely obvious question. "I mean, I think that it would be cool and stuff, but….."

"Harry sees some potential inside you, and Donna and Diana do as well," Alex said. She could almost hear Cassie squealing in delight when she heard that Wonder Woman saw potential in her. "And your codename is going to be Wonder-Fan-Girl."

"It is not!" Cassie yelled. She crossed her arms and pouted. "You're so lucky though. I get to see a bunch of old artifacts from a bunch of dead people that no one's ever heard of."

"Aren't you getting the top marks in your history class just because of your mother's work?" Alex asked.

"Yes, I am but that's not the point," Cassie said in frustration. She could hear something. "But, I got to go…..I'll talk to you later."

"Yes, I've got to go too, Alfred just said that dinner is ready," Rebecca said. She wished that she didn't have to go.

"You should have stayed here, you know," Alex answered. "It must be boring to be in that big house with no one in it."

"Yeah, and I can't go in Bruce's study," Rebecca replied. "It makes me think that he's hiding something in there."

"Well, you got to go in there then," Alex said to her.

"Are you trying to get me into trouble?" Rebecca asked.

"No, but if you're being kept out of there, that means that there's something worthwhile in there that you should see," Alex said. "Of course, you know that he's Batman."

"Wait, he's Batman?" Rebecca asked in surprise. That did make a lot of sense come to think about it.

"Oh, crap, you didn't know, did you?" Alex asked. The call terminated and she turned around to see the youngest version of Kara standing there. "Hi….um….it's Laura now isn't it?"

"Yes, I just got my identity," she stated. The young blonde was a few years older than Alex, give or take. She was around fourteen, going on fifteen, and given that Alex was eleven, going on twelve, that seemed to be about right. "Laura Kent…..the younger sister of Kara, and I doubt that many people would question that."

"No, because you look just like her," Alex agreed. She looked over her with a smile. "Because you are her, although a bit younger."

"Well, it's just like how you look like a female version of Harry,' Laura countered. She stretched out, dressed in a white tank top and jean shorts. She had her hair tied back in a ponytail so it didn't get in her way. It actually gave her a youthful look. She had the proper amount of innocence along with being attractive.

"Actually, Harry looks like a male version of me," Alex protested. That caused Laura to laugh in amusement when she sat down. "So, do you miss it?"

"I miss it, but it's just like my mother said, the past is the past," Laura said. She stretched out her legs. "And I'm sure that the rest of them will be happy that I'm one hundred percent healthy. Harry just needs to give me the go ahead and I'm sure that he'd want one more round of tests."

"Maybe he can personally administer them," Alex commented with a shifty grin.

Laura frowned, this female didn't seem to be as innocent as she was at first sight. Then again, nothing seemed like how it was at first sight.

She caught sight of the door opening. Faora turned up. She didn't have the problems with Faora that Kara did or the problems that she seemed to have rather. It was her larger than life personality that caused Laura to be the slightest bit intimidated.

She wouldn't admit it out loud because that would give power.

"So, you have a clean bill of health, do you?" Laura asked her. Her voice sounded calm, crisp, and collected.

"Alura, Laura, and Karen all made sure to put me through the wringer or rather through the rings," Faora said. She cupped her hand underneath her chin. "I don't know why they had me fly through rings."

"It gives you coordination and focus," Alex commented. That caused Faora to turn around and see her for the first time.

Faora's mouth hung open when she looked into her green eyes. "Alia?"

"Excuse me?" Alex asked. She was seriously freaked out a little bit about how this dark haired girl was looking at her.

"Yes, you're her, I can't believe it, I finally found you," Faora said. Laura looked bemused when the big bad Faora rushed forward and wrapped Alex into a hug.

"What in the bloody hell are you talking about?" Alex asked. This strange woman who she never met before was hugging her. That was a bit….well that was insane.

"You better explain it to her, before you scar the poor girl for life," Laura said. She looked amused.

Faora composed herself for a moment. She gave Laura the evil eye but the blonde smiled back.

"You're Alia Dru-Zod, you're my sister," Faora commented.

"Um, yeah," Alex stammered. She slid back, obviously a bit shell shocked. "I've got some homework to do, so if you excuse me…..I'm going to go do that."

Alex turned around and made a quick exit. Laura was trying to hold a straight face. She wasn't trying that hard. Faora turned towards her and raised her eyebrow.

"I'm guessing one of your training lessons didn't cover tact," Laura said. Faora raised her eyebrow. "So, does that make Harry your brother too?"

"Technically, speaking," Faora said. She wondered if there was another version of her out there.

Then again, there could have been a lot of changes. Alia was female and Harry, or Har-Zod perhaps, was male. There were a lot of variables for Faora to consider. The dark haired woman crossed her arms together.

"Better talk to her when she's less weirded out," Laura said.

"You don't think that I came on a bit too much, do you?" Faora asked.

Laura had the look on her face like she was going to slam her head into her desk, repeatedly. There were some times where words honestly failed her. This was one of those times where they really did. She wanted to place her hands on the top of her head and just scream. That would be liberating, it really would.

* * *

><p>An alarm buzzed off. A certain blur flew down the street. That looked like a job for Supergirl.<p>

Kara just happened to be in the neighborhood. She was about ready to go for lunch but someone just had to ruin her afternoon.

It didn't matter; she wanted to let off some steam anyway. What better way to let off some steam then kick some bad guy ass?

She flew in, badass battle stance at the ready. She stopped to see that the goons who were robbing the place, already had been knocked out.

"Thought that I'd stop by since I was in the neighborhood," someone said. Kara turned her head so fast that she nearly got whiplash.

Something moved around at the speed of light. There was some crimson blur that shot past her line of sight.

"Oh and tell the Blur I said hi, and better luck catching me next time."

Kara could tell that this person was female. That was about all that she could tell from how fast the woman was moving. Her frustration hit an entirely new level of insanity.

Faster than a speeding bullet, Kara shot out the door after her. There was no way that she was letting her get away from her, not this fast.

The only problem was that the person who she pursued was lightning fast. Kara's top speed was faster than a speeding bullet and this person moved faster than a speeding bullet.

Things sped up so much that Kara could no longer focus on the bond traffic in her mind. She couldn't focus on it without an obnoxious ringing anyway.

She moved towards the Scarlet Speedster. She wasn't about to lose her. A second before Kara thought that she was going to catch up, another speedster smacked into her at the speed of light.

"Move it or lose it, slowpoke!" the other speedster, a younger female, shouted.

Supergirl was not about to be called a slowpoke. She nearly caught up with the person in question.

"Just who are you?" Kara demanded. She thought about using her heat vision to slow her down but she was moving so fast that she couldn't focus it.

"Call me Impulse, because I live off the cuff," she commented over her shoulder with a smile. "And you're still too slow."

"Just wait, you just wait, "Kara said. She could see them disappear.

Kara had to slow down to avoid hitting a building. The second she was able to regain her bearings, she realized that both of the speedsters were gone.

The blonde collapsed onto her knees. She huffed angrily. The only thing that she was eating was the dust of these two girls who somehow, someway, slipped away from her.

'_Okay, what just happened?' _Karen asked. She worked her way into the bond traffic when Kara's hyper quick thoughts finally slowed down.

Her response was prompt and irritable. _'You tell me, and we'll both know.'_

She got left in the dust by this Impulse girl and that wasn't something that Kara was going to leave alone.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on 116/2015.**


	40. Growth

**Chapter Forty: Growth. **

* * *

><p>Some time passed since the alien invasion. There was a sufficient amount of time where people were able to get back to what passed for normal lives in this day and age. While there were some people talking about conspiracies and aliens living amongst them, a lot of them had found new things to worry about. That was really the state of the world in a nutshell. People eventually went back to their lives when the insanity died down.<p>

The heartland of Kansas was a place where people got back to their lives. There was work to be done and a fall Harvest to prepare for. Smallville was an area that suffered a lot in recent years. There was the meteor shower and all of the mutants that ravaged the town. There were also numerous strange and mysterious things that caused many people to become baffled.

For one Claire Kent, it wasn't really strange and mysterious at all. In fact it was just how her life went in general. The world might be insane but she was just one who would sit back and enjoy the ride for what it was worth.

For her, it was worth a lot. For her it was worth everything. She arrived at the edge of the Kent Farm. It stood proudly as the day she landed her. Jonathan Kent might be long dead but he would be smiling from afar at how the farm was maintained. Claire was smiling as well for obvious reasons.

She had to admit that her mother leaving the farm was a surprise. Harry talked her into it somehow. She shook her head. Harry was good at talking females into a lot, she had to admit. And he did hire some trustworthy people to look over the phone.

All of them left the farm because it was nearly sunset but everything kept maintain. The actual house was pretty much left alone. The fields were ready to be picked and harvested. The Potter estate that Lana's aunt owned was also being maintained by Harry. It was actually big business. If that was something Claire had to say about Harry, he was all about getting the most out of people and places.

"So, what do you think?"

"I didn't doubt that you would have this place taken care of," Claire said. She turned to face Harry. The two of them were alone on the farm in Smallville. She walked halfway into the barn and Harry followed her. "I know that my mother was thinking about selling this place. A lot of people were thinking about selling their places for peanuts, all thanks to Lionel Luthor."

"He pulled out of town and made everything drop, but I'm sure that Lana told you about that," Harry informed her.

Claire nodded eagerly. "She told me about that. She also told me how you swooped in and saved Smallville."

Harry gave Claire a momentary frown. "I can't take all of the credit. Lana was the one that brought what was happening to my attention and she did a lot of the leg work of the deal."

"I would have helped if…"

"If you hadn't been avoiding me," Harry said out of the blue.

"I've just been busy," Claire said. She was blushing, and Harry hit a little too close to home. "You know, doing the hero thing, the Superwoman thing."

"Yes, I understand that, Claire," Harry said. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her in towards him. "But, you were looking for things to avoid me about. Kara got to me first and that upset you."

"A little bit," Claire admitted. Harry smiled at her. "Okay, it upset me a lot."

"You had your share of hang ups by how were raised, weren't you?" Harry asked her.

"So my mother told me," Claire answered. She allowed herself to slip a little bit closer to Harry. She relaxed against him. "It just comes easier for some people. I guess my father drilled it in my head so often to be careful because of my powers that I guess that I took that lesson to heart about other things."

"Some things are worth taking a bit of a risk with," Harry told her. He turned around to face her.

"You're the one that seems to take more risks that anyone, all of the dangerous things that you did in the name of getting your powers back," Claire responded.

"It's funny because I've adapted and am able to do without them, but I guess it's useful to have an extra weapon in my bag," Harry said. He leaned towards her. "But if we played life safely, it wouldn't be worth living, would it?"

Claire looked at him for a second. She wondered what was going to happen. There was a part of her that was excited. For the first time in a long time, she was alone with Harry. The last time she was alone with him to this extent, some redhead slut decided now was the time to search the Earth for her perfect mate.

She wasn't over that completely. Claire thought the chances of that happening again were about as likely as lightning striking twice.

Unless a tornado ripped through Kansas right now, she was pretty sure that she was alone with Harry. She was alone with him and he was with her. He would be able to do with her what he pleased and that much excited Claire. What he could do was a lot.

She really fucking hoped that a tornado didn't rip through Kansas right about now. Knowing her luck, that would be the thing. She wouldn't put it past a natural disaster to cock block her this time. Rao only knew everything else did.

"Are you feeling daring?" Harry asked her.

Claire realized that her arms were free. She threw her arms around Harry's neck and leaned forward. She captured his lips in a blistering kiss. She put years of pent up sexual frustration and just frustration in general behind the kiss. Her tongue started to probe the inside of Harry's mouth. His returned fire and pushed deep into her mouth, pushing her tongue back.

'_Well, it's about fucking time,' _Lois thought.

All of the girls watched in glee when Harry's dominating aura washed over Claire. He deepened the kiss and pinned her against the wall of the barn.

She closed her eyes and enjoyed the rush that went through her body. She allowed Harry to pull her shirt off. Her firm D-Cup breasts were incased in a black bra. Her dark hair framed her face and lust burned through her eyes.

There was a hint of heat vision as well in them. She managed to reign herself in. It was just in time for Harry to pull her skirt off for her.

Claire screamed when Harry scooped her up and then in a flash, both of them were up in the hay loft.

'_So, I guess that gives a new meaning to the term rolling around in the hay,' _Lana commented.

'_Hey, that's what I was going to say!' _Lois shouted.

'_Sorry, you snooze, you lose,' _Lana replied dryly, amused that she got one up on the normally quick witted Miss Lane.

Claire shivered underneath Harry's touch. His able lips kissed down her body. Her toes curled with the delight and pleasure he introduced into her body when he kept kissing his way on down her body. The dark haired female could feel his able mouth work his way down her.

He paused before he reached a certain place on her.

* * *

><p>Gwen was excited to get to work officially at RAO. It was a dream of many people and from what she heard, she had some pretty stiff competition. She and Caitlin were among the very top and she felt pleased that they got here at the RAO Corporation.<p>

It was good to get back in touch with Barbara and spend some time with her. Right now, she, Barbara, and Kara were working on a project. Caitlin was in another lab with Karen working on another project.

"RAO is going to really be something, isn't it?" Gwen asked. She couldn't help but gush in delight. Really her excitement increased the more that they explained the project.

"It should, but it's a long term thing," Kara said.

"Sometimes the long term projects are the best," Barbara said.

'_I'm coming up here in about ten minutes, but don't tell anyone, I want to observe the interns for a little bit,' _Harry thought. _'Without them knowing that I'm here.'_

'_Fair enough,' _Kara said. _'But I trust that you're going to reveal yourself in due time, aren't you?'_

'_When the time is right,' _Harry admitted. Barbara seemed rather giddy for some reason. _'And I'm sure that you've been building me up in Miss Stacy's mind all you can, haven't you?'_

Barbara looked like the little girl that had her hand caught in the cookie jar. Regardless she kept a straight face other than that. Thankfully, Gwen was distracted by the awesome technology that she was working with.

'_Good thing she is though, or they're be some uncomfortable explanations for you,' _Kara thought to her.

"So, this should be developed within the next three to five years, wouldn't it?" Gwen asked. She couldn't believe something this small would be so power but most of the time size wasn't everything.

Although it did help if someone used the size correctly. Gwen wasn't going to go any further with that line of thought especially when it just placed her mind firmly in the gutter. Granted, that's where her mind spent a good deal of its time anyway, but still.

"At the very least," Kara confirmed.

Karen showed up at this point to join them, with Caitlin following them. "We hope to get that up and running much sooner than that. But you know that something like that can't be rushed."

"Especially when we don't know how dangerous it might be," Kara added. Gwen turned towards her, a raised eyebrow arching up.

"Is it dangerous?" Gwen asked.

"Anything can be dangerous when used improperly," Karen lectured her. Gwen nodded, she knew that very well. "A device like this which could power the city the size of Metropolis for fifty years with clean energy could be used to power something else."

"It could have military applications," Gwen replied.

"Harry wouldn't let that happen though, thankfully," Kara explained to her. Gwen looked at her. "He has a handy little failsafe implanted in the device. If someone uses it as they shouldn't, it gets activated and well….."

"It's pretty much a useless chunk of metal," Barbara continued.

"Wow, most people wouldn't think about that," Caitlin replied. There were a lot of people who arrogantly thought that their items would not be subject to be stolen.

"I'll thank you for the compliment."

They turned around and Caitlin could not believe it. Neither could Gwen, even though both of them thought that they would see him in person. He did own the place but not this soon into their internships would the man himself.

"Well, Harry, isn't this a pleasant surprise?" Karen asked. She walked over with a smile. She kept things mostly professional. Maybe a quick kiss, yes a quick kiss, that would do it nicely. She leaned in and swiped it from Harry.

Gwen watched, her eyebrow lifted slightly, that confirmed some rumors nicely.

"And you must be Gwen," Harry said, turning towards her.

Gwen smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Doctor Potter. I've been following your work for some time….and I have to say, it's an honor to work with you."

"It's an honor to have you on board, I figure that a bright young woman such as yourself has loads of offers from everyone," Harry said.

"Do that, Harry, and her ego won't fit through the door," Barbara said. Gwen spun around and gave Barbara the evil eye. The redhead reached over and patted her on the shoulder.

"And you must be Cailtin."

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Doctor Potter," Caitlin said. She was glad that she didn't make a fool out of herself as well. It was an excellent change of pace.

"Please, call me Harry, the two of you will be working closely with some of my work and will be seeing a lot of me sooner rather than later," Harry commented to them.

"Right, sorry, Harry," Gwen said. She looked over him.

"Is there something the matter?" Harry asked.

Gwen frowned and shook her head.

"No, it's just that you have this larger than life aura that can be intimidating," Gwen admitted. She never thought that she would meet the man himself.

"It's a reputation that's well earned though," Kara commented. "I was just working with Gwen and Barbara on the solar cell."

"The one that converts solar energy into a renewable source of energy that can power a city the size of Metropolis for fifty years," Gwen answered. Harry turned towards her, giving her a smile. "But you already knew that, didn't you?"

"Yes, Gwen, I already knew that, but thank you for reminding me," Harry said. "When you have as many ongoing projects going on, I tend to not keep track of them."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure that you're able to give everything the proper amount of attention it deserves," Gwen said. "You know, I'm looking forward to working underneath you….learning from you."

Caitlin smiled. She wasn't about to be outdone. "And the new Red Sun system is moving along nicely."

'_Move over Microsoft,' _Lois thought.

Harry decided to get to know both of his interns a bit better. He would know them even better in the coming weeks if all went according to plan.

* * *

><p>Alex thought that her entire world had been turned around something fierce with what she found out. She should have suspected it. Her relatives feared her when she was younger, even those memories faded into the back of her mind, hopefully never to resurface ever again.<p>

She was absent mindedly working on an exercise that was going to help her train her powers up. She had to admit her mind was elsewhere. The glass she tried to levitate and put back onto the shelf shattered into pieces.

A prominent sigh left her body. She curled up her fists in frustration. She was so close, so close that she thought that she had it. She wanted to slam her hands into the table.

"Take a deep breath and calm down," a voice whispered.

She turned around and saw Harry standing in the doorway. The young twelve year old witch looked at Harry.

"I didn't hear you come in," Alex said. She looked a bit sheepish about something. She should have been able to master her surroundings a little better. That was one of our greatest flaws and something she needed to work on.

"I would have liked to think that it was because I was just that good," Harry answered. Alex snorted.

'_Real modesty,' _she thought.

Harry allowed her to have her moment of amusement. When that was done, he felt that he needed to continue.

"But, we both know that's not the case," Harry answered. He stepped towards her. "Your mind was elsewhere, wasn't it?"

"Are we really like….Kryptonian?" she asked.

"Yes, we are," Harry replied. She looked at him, raising her eyebrow in a skeptical manner. "I know it's hard to believe. The reason why it's hard to believe is that you haven't really had a chance to come into your powers just yet."

She sighed. That was a nice way of saying that she was pretty slow in coming into her powers. Harry pulled out a chair beside her. Casually, like it was nothing, he levitated the pieces of glass. They adjusted themselves into one big glass.

"Normally you get some small hints when you're eleven or maybe younger, only under moments of high stress," Harry explained to her. He decided to place the glass back in front of her. "Try again."

Alex tried again. Her face screwed up in concentration the way it was might be the height of amusement. She was extremely frustrated she couldn't place the glass back exactly where she wanted it to go.

It was almost on the shelf. It slipped again and it broke.

"Fourteen is the magic age where we start coming into our powers, we hit another spike at eighteen, and a further spike at twenty one," he explained to her. Alex nodded in response. "There are a few variations of that. Everyone reacts differently, you know."

Alex nodded with him in agreement. She was going to have to take his word for it. She agreed with Harry. He tended to know about these things better than anyone else. The glass was right in front of her again.

"Try again," Harry said to her. "Repetition to the point of insanity is the best way to learn something."

"You and Zee should get together," Alex replied. She realized what she said instantly but she didn't back track out of it. "That's….the same thing she said to me, you know."

"Great minds think alike," Harry commented.

Alex frowned. The glass levitated again. She held control of it and allowed a momentary breath to escape from her body.

She was so really close to doing it. She was on the edge. The door opened and Zatanna arrived, watching her.

"I'm leaving her in good hands," Harry replied to her.

"Well, she's stubborn, but I can see where that runs," Zatanna said. She looked at Harry and smiled. "But if you asked my father, he would say the same thing about me. I frustrated him more than some of the enemies that he fought."

"Of course," Harry replied. He stepped towards her. "Thank you, she's….coming to terms with what you learned."

"And how did you come to terms when you learned what you were?" Zatanna asked.

"One day at a time, Zee, one day at a time," Harry answered. He leaned towards her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I'll talk to you later."

Zatanna smiled when he said his goodbyes. They had been out one date, although there was something that cut it short. She knew the game about as well as anyone else. If you got at least half of a date in their business without something bad happening, it was a pretty good thing.

Harry arrived and saw Faora standing there. She looked him over with a smile.

"You weirded her out the other day," Harry answered.

Faora smiled when she locked eyes with him. His gorgeous green eyes were fairly intoxicating and even someone like her found herself spell bound within their depths. "That really wasn't my intention to do so. I was just excited that I found her….and I also gained much more."

"So, are you still planning to stay in the penthouse?" Harry asked. "I can have an identity set up for you when you're ready to go in no time."

"Maybe later, I've got a lot to come to terms with," Faora said. "The information I had on this planet was about thirty years out of date when I went in the ship and now all of these years later, it's more out of date. I hope that I can learn a lot more about the planet."

"I think we're all outsiders right now," Harry replied.

"Yes, you left a world behind that didn't appreciate you and you embraced another world, but you had to leave that one," Faora said. "But you've adapted."

"That's what you have to do if you want to survive out there," Harry answered her. Faora leaned towards him, giving him a shadow of a smile.

"Point well taken," Faora agreed. She closed the gap in against him. Her lips briefly brushed against his with a momentary kiss. "Guess we're all going to have to find our way. And she's making progress. She'll be something when she comes into her powers."

"A handful?" Harry asked.

Faora gave him a smile. "Yes, but I suspect you don't have any room to talk, do you?"

"No," Harry replied honestly. "Do you?"

Faora smiled when she looked into his bright eyes. "Not the slightest."

"What are you plan on doing today?" Harry asked her.

"Well, I'm working with Alura and Lara to see what we can do with getting Lady Kathryn out of stasis," Faora said. "And then I have a misunderstanding that I need to clear up with one of your Alphas."

"I'll check back up on your later," Harry answered.

"I'm certain that you will keep that promise," Faora agreed. She wanted to check in on Alia, but now was not the time.

She would give her a bit longer to come to terms. She could see her sister lock eyes with her and give her a shadow of a smile.

Perhaps, just perhaps, it wouldn't take as long as she thought just yet. Hope did spring eternally after all.

* * *

><p>Around a week ago, Bruno Mannheim got a call from someone who planned on giving him an offer that was a once in a life time deal. The mob boss had been mulling over that offer in his head constantly. He thought about it every single moment, from the time that he got up until the time that he got to bed.<p>

Edge was putting a lot of pressure on him. Pressure Mannheim didn't really appreciate. One would argue that Morgan Edge treated him like a dog, like a lackey. He treated him like one of his coffee boys at that television station that he owned.

Mannheim busted his ass on the front line. There were people who tried to enter Metropolis from the wrong side of the tracks, from Gotham City. He knew that Maroni and Edge were getting really chummy. There were rumors, whispers that Maroni might be moving on Mannheim's own territory.

He didn't appreciate any Gotham City trash coming in on his territory. Edge thought that he was smug shit sitting up in that office. He was the head man behind Intergang even though it was Mannheim who was doing the leg work.

He should have been the one who got all the power, all of the respect. He should have gotten everything that went along with it. Instead he was spit on and cast aside like he was nothing but a piece of trash.

Mannheim wasn't about ready to take it anymore. He was going to see what this deal was all about. He knew that he didn't have much of anything left to lose.

He showed up on the docks, waiting for the meeting. A couple of his bodyguards waited by him, they stood at his side with utter and complete calmness.

Mannheim saw his bodyguards drop to the ground. He noticed a dart of some kind was blown in the side of their necks when they fell to the ground with a pair of nasty thumps.

"What the…..?" Mannheim growled. He turned around. He saw a group of black clad assassins and walking in front of them was a mysterious dark haired woman dressed in red.

"We didn't need any witnesses to this meeting, there may be someone in your circle that's reporting the results of your meeting back to Morgan Edge," the woman in red whispered.

"Who is the dirty double dealing snake?" Mannheim asked. He was going to rip the person's head off if he found out who was doing this. He didn't take too kindly to rats. His teeth gritted when he stared at the woman. "Who are you?"

"My name is not important," the woman in red informed him. She approached Mannheim. "It's what I can offer you that's important."

Mannheim looked at the woman. There was a slight amount of skepticism in his eyes when he stared back at her.

"What do you think that you can offer me?" Mannheim asked.

"I come on behalf of the Demon and the master wishes to acquire something that is in the possession of Morgan Edge," the woman in red told him. She looked towards him. The worm was obviously hooked. It was time to drag it in hook, line, and sinker. "You have the security clearance and you can acquire that for us.'

"I can, can't I?" he asked. Mannheim looked supremely smug like he was proud of himself, which he was. He was really proud of himself and what he could do.

"In return we will arm you with weapons that will allow you to take the fight to the enemies that are threatening to overtake Intergang," the woman in red continued. "These weapons will be beyond what the Penguin is selling out of the back of his club and that Black Mask has equipped his men with."

There was a moment where Mannheim looked at her. He was considering making some kind of deal with this woman. There was a small part of him which wondered if he was getting close to making some kind of deal with the devil.

"Do we have a deal Mr. Mannheim?" the woman in red asked him. She knew that she had him hooked and it was time to reel him in. "You will also have access to some of our men as well, to assist you in that endeavor."

Weapons and resources were something that the most devious men craved. Mannheim's ambitions of overthrowing Edge and taking full control of Intergang may just come to a head. After that, he was able to move in and become the Kingpin of Metropolis.

"Do we have a deal?" she asked him. She could see there was something devious dancing in his eyes.

"We have a deal, it's going to be a pleasure doing business with you," Mannheim said. He reached his hand out.

"Yes, Mr. Mannheim, it will be for you, I'm sure," she commented. She turned around.

A man dressed in a hockey mask and a blue suit appeared. He carried a large baseball bat in his hand, along with a sports bag that appeared to contain more weapons. Mannheim wondered who this Casey Jones looking mother fucker was supposed to be.

"Mr. Mannheim, this is Sportsmaster, he is one of our top agents," the woman in red commented.

"So, you're the man who is going to take control of Intergang," Sportsmaster muttered when he sized Mannheim up.

"Yeah, that's right," Mannheim said. He looked Sportsmaster right in the eye.

"I like you're style, kid, you'll go places," Sportsmaster said. "Can't say I blame you for going after Edge. The guy gives the little guy a raw deal. Hopefully you'd let me take a crack at him before you finish the job."

"Knock yourself out," Mannheim said. He was pretty sure that this was going to be a start of a beautiful partnership.

From afar, a figure looked on in the shadows. She dressed in a green hooded top with the hood pulled over her face. The shadows hid her rapidly narrowing eyes from underneath the hood. She wore a tight pair of green pants that wrapped tightly around her lower body like a second skin. She watched the Sportsmaster and some members of the League of Assassins leave.

The girl in the hood narrowed her eyes. She took out a bow and aimed an arrow with a rope tied around it. She shot the arrow.

She moved to the next rooftop with ease and kept a swift distance.

"See what you can find," the girl in the hood commented to her contact. She was not letting Sportsmaster get away, not this time.

* * *

><p>Harry thought that today was a very productive day for a number of reasons. The deal to acquire ownership of the Daily Planet was finalized even though it wouldn't be officially announced until tomorrow. He had some big plans for the Planet. While Lois and Claire will help out with running, Harry was looking into someone that would help him run the day to day operations of the Planet. He had a couple of ideas in mind.<p>

"So, you picked up another new intern," Kara said. She joined Harry and Karen when they made their way downstairs.

"Well, when you see someone with this much potential, you just have to snatch her up first before someone else does," Harry said. "She graduated high school by the age of fourteen."

"Another child prodigy," Karen commented.

"And she got in plenty of trouble when she was at school," Harry confirmed. "And she still got the best grades. That just really flies in the face of what people say that only troublemakers get bad grades."

"Well geniuses have the tendency to act up," Kara commented. She knew that fact a lot better than anyone else. She blew up half of her house by the time she was five. That prompted her mother to give her something constructive to do to keep her busy and out of trouble. She was her mother's unofficial assistant and she learned more there than she would during an entire full term at school.

And she got into so much trouble at school, because she refused to go along with the official word of what was written. Kara thought that anyone who blindly went along with books deprived themselves of an education.

"Harry, they're down here right now," Martha commented over the intercom.

"Thank you, Martha, tell them that I'll be with them in just a moment," Harry answered.

He was with them in literally a moment. He was greeted by two redheads. One of them was obviously younger, looking about sixteen or so years of age. She wore her hair tied back and her bright brown eyes stared back at him. She had an extremely fit body, amazing given that she was eating an extremely large candy bar like she hadn't had anything to eat in months. A pair of perky B-Cup, almost C-Cup breasts stretched over a red top and she had a skirt.

The older redhead wore her red hair down straight. She wore a purple blouse that covered her amazing breasts. They looked large and firm in that shirt, with a curved body. She had a pair of tight leather pants that fit around her legs. The two girls looked like they could be sisters.

"Hi, Doctor Potter," the younger girl stated. She proceeded to speak quickly, never drawing breath when she spoke. "I've read all about your work and when someone from your office called me and offered me an internship here, I was really excited, because you're so awesome and I've seen what you can do. I got all of the Red Sun products and use them all of the time and they are amazing. It's the only thing on the market that I don't what to chuck halfway across the window for being so slow, I mean everything is just so slow, it's moving on at a snail's pace, and your products are lightning fast, they're really good. I don't have no trouble, no bugs, no anything, and it has the best virus protection, best firewalls, and best data storage plans at a good cost and they're really amazing."

"Whitney, slow down," the older redhead warned with a chuckle.

"Your feedback is really appreciated," Harry commented to her.

"Sorry, I get excited when I speak….IS THAT A 3.0?" Whitney asked. She turned around and saw a prototype version.

"Yes, it's a prototype Red Sun Version 3.0," Kara said dryly. There was something extremely familiar about this girl. She couldn't figure out what it was off of the top of her head. The only thing that she figured out was that she heard it before.

"Oh, that's pretty neat," Whitney said.

The older redhead chuckled. "You might not remember me, Doctor Potter. I'm Iris West, Whitney's aunt, I applied for the job in the new television department at Daily Planet Communications…"

"Don't worry, Miss West, I know who you are, I'd never forget someone like you," Harry answered.

"Please, Iris," Iris replied.

'_And then I insist it's Harry,' _Donna commented through the bond link, much to the amusement of several girls listening in.

"Then I insist that it's Harry," Harry replied.

'_A winner is me,' _Donna sang. She pumped her fist up in excitement.

'_Oh Donna,' _Diana groaned, shaking her head in frustration. There were times where her sister exasperated her. This was one of those times.

"And you got the job by the way," Harry informed her. "Your audition stood out above the pack."

"That's great," Iris said. She tried not to look too pleased with herself.

"Kara, why don't you show Whitney around the lab?" Harry asked. He turned to Iris. "Are you staying?"

"I got to run back over to Central City to take care of a few things,' Iris said. She smiled when she looked into Harry's eyes. "When do you want me to start?"

"Any time would be good, just let me know," Harry replied.

"Don't worry, I will…and thanks for the opportunity," Iris commented.

A job in the media was a good way to get on the front line with information regarding her other job.

'_So, do you think that she'll be good League material?' _Diana asked.

'_Yep,' _Harry replied.

'_When will you tell her that you know?' _Karen asked.

'_Give it a little time,' _Harry answered.

He looked over and saw Kara looking a bit exasperated by Whitney's hyper active antics. Those two were making friends quite nicely.

He had to smile.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued On January 20<strong>**th****, 2014. **


	41. Family Affair Part One

**Chapter Forty One: Family Affair Part One.**

* * *

><p>Helena Wayne was ready to go as the Huntress and she was on Patrol in Metropolis. The dark haired crime fighter pretty much figured out that there were numerous differences between patrolling the city of Metropolis and patrolling the city of Gotham City. For starters, there wasn't that much of a breakneck pace of crime in Metropolis as there was in Gotham City.<p>

Certainly there was crime, every single city had its moments of crime. However, Metropolis seemed to have more quiet nights, when a quiet night in Gotham City was completely rare. The woman longed for some action because standing out here right now in the midst of Gotham City, all it did was make her completely bored stiff.

'_Looks like you got the easy night, didn't you?' _Karen asked.

'_That's really unfortunate,' _Helena thought.

'_Only you should think that something like that was unfortunate, where there was not a crime in sight,' _Karen replied. She was amused at her friend and her thoughts. There was a second where she thought that Helena was going to fire back with a snarky response.

'_Things have been a bit too quiet don't you think?' _Helena asked. She made one last sweep of the city. _'If I don't find something now, I think that I'm just going to call it a night. There really isn't any point.'_

'_Before midnight?' _Karen asked. She could hear Helena's heaving sigh over the bond link before the woman responded.

'_Yes, before midnight, I know, I'm not as ambitious as I used to be, but you've got to do what you've got to do,' _Helena thought. There wasn't even a botched break in. The fact that Intergang seemed to be quiet was the cause of a fair amount of concern for the woman. She frowned deeply and looked over her shoulder.

There was something strange going on but she naturally couldn't put her finger on what that might be.

'_Someone tripped an alarm somewhere,' _Barbara chimed in. She tried not to sound too hopeful but at the same time, Helena's boredom was overwhelming. It caused her to really lose her mind over this bond link.

'_Where?' _Helena asked. It was about time for the Huntress to be on the hunt.

'_Edge's office building, the main one, around the same area that the Daily Planet is,' _Barbara informed her.

That caused Karen's curiosity to be lifted up to an entirely new level. She wondered who would want to steal from Morgan Edge. _'So, who do you think is going to steal from the big bad of Metropolis? I mean, he does run Intergang.'_

'_Might be one of his many rivals that are trying to muscle in on his territory,' _Helena thought. She made her way to the rooftop across from Edge's office building. She carefully perched herself, ready for her to strike. _'Whatever is the case, there could be trouble.'_

The woman took out her grapnel and fired. She swung halfway across the way and landed herself firmly on the gargoyle that extended out from the building. The woman took a deep breath when she hung on.

She looked at the window. Someone removed it carefully. It was a master thief. Only they didn't expect the alarm where it was.

Helena looked through the window and saw the downed security guards.

'_Whoever did this, they were good,' _Helena replied. She dropped down to the ground and saw the security guards. They were left breathing but they were with their share of aches and pains, bumps and bruises, and everything that went along with that.

The woman slipped into the office building. She didn't really need to search around or do much detective work at all. The trail of guards and goons that laid out on the floor caused her to get the perfect trail.

'_Did whoever do this beat up half of Edge's staff?' _Karen asked.

Helena gave her a brief nod and swung open the office door. She walked into the office and saw something rather interesting. There was a woman dressed in a tight black outfit, bent over and working on a safe behind the desk. Helena took a moment to check out how tight her ass looked in the leather outfit.

The woman turned around and Helena saw the woman in the flesh. She had gorgeous green eyes that danced with mischief and malice. Her short black hair came down about her shoulders. She wore a skin tight black cat suit that clung carefully to pretty much every single curve she had. Her cleavage looked amazing, even though the suit was mostly zipped up.

Helena realized who she was standing face to face with. She stood and stared down with Selina Kyle. Her mother, Catwoman, at least a younger version of her, and she was regarding Helena with interest.

"Well, it seems like everyone is crashing Edge's pad tonight," Catwoman said. She sauntered towards the Huntress and looked at her with a smile. "What's your angle for this one tonight, gorgeous?"

"My angle is trying to find out what you're here to steal," Huntress commented.

"Please, you're not going to White Knight, Morgan Edge," Catwoman said. She rolled her eyes. "Not only does he treat his employees like shit, but he runs the mob scene in Metropolis and he wants to create a virtual monopoly of all media. But I'm sure that you already have picked up on that."

Catwoman was now behind the Huntress. She spun around and grabbed Catwoman's hand.

"You've got some moves," she purred. "I like it."

"What are you after?" Huntress asked.

"Well, Edge has a certain something that half of the criminal underworld in this country would love to get their hands on," Catwoman purred. She looked at Huntress with hungry eyes and smiled. "But I'm sure that you've figured out that the man is dirty, so there's no need….."

Huntress was hurled to the ground suddenly. She should have seen that one coming. Seconds later, Catwoman was on top of her, straddling her hips.

"To play so coy about what we want," she purred in her ear. Huntress struggled underneath her. "Ah, this is the most fun that I've had. Glad that I got outside of Gotham City, it's lone protector is one big old stick in the mud. You'd think that someone who dressed up like a giant bat would have a bit more of a sense of adventure, but I guess not."

She pinned the Huntress's hands behind her head. The woman held her down. There was the sound of sirens.

"Oh, another time, that's too bad," Selina commented. She got to her feet.

Huntress got to her feet and Catwoman jumped up. She nailed her with a roundhouse kick and caused her to fly into the office chair. The office chair skidded backwards and struck the wall extremely hard.

The wind was knocked out of Huntress. She should have seen that move coming but she had been distracted. Out of all of the people she had to meet, why would it have to be the alternate universe version of her mother? There was no time to worry about that. She just pulled herself up and dusted herself off.

Huntress shook off the cobwebs. She took a deep breath when she looked around. She just had a feeling that the night was just about ready to begin.

Sure enough, there was another female who dropped from the ceiling. This female dressed in a form fitting green cloak and she wore a mask over her face. It resembled a Cheshire cat.

'_I'm sensing a recurring theme tonight,' _Kara thought.

Cheshire looked around and came face to face with the Huntress.

"Wrong place, wrong time," she commented lightly. She tried to fire a kick at the Huntress.

This time she ducked it. Helena tried to catch her punch on the back swing but Cheshire twisted around. She landed onto her feet and stuck the landed. The woman raised her hand and threw a dagger at her.

The dagger only did the job of ripping through the curtain. The Huntress frowned, this wasn't going to end that easily.

She tried to dive at Cheshire. Cheshire got out of the way. She grabbed Helena's head, but Helena flipped her to the ground in response.

Cheshire landed on the ground and rolled over onto her back. There was the patter patter of footsteps.

"Sorry to cut this short, but it seems like I was pretty late to the party," Cheshire replied. She used Helena's head as a stepping stone and launched her high into the air.

She landed through the skylight where she came. Huntress shook her head. She was honestly having an off night, and the off night was about ready to get worst.

The doors burst open and some of Metropolis's finest scrambled inside.

"FREEZE!" one of the officers shouted. "Put your hands in the air and don't move."

Helena put her hands into the air. All while she dropped a miniature capsule from her glove.

The capsule burst open and created a sheet of solid ice that blocked the cops from shooting at her. She followed Cheshire out of the window, repelling her halfway up.

The woman felt like she was driven completely breathless. She was not going to allow Cheshire to get away. There was no way, no chance that she was going to allow the woman to get away.

'_Well, tonight isn't one of your better nights,' _Karen commented.

'_Yes, I know, you don't have to tell me,' _Helena grumbled. Her voice was completely short and irritable.

She launched herself across the rooftops in her pursuit of her enemy. She had a feeling that she was getting extremely close to finding her. She just needed to hit the right spot, wherever it was.

Cheshire was in her cross hairs. Huntress rushed her from the roof top. She tried to nail her with a kick. Cheshire dodged that one completely.

Both women engaged in a brief but spirited round of hand to hand. Cheshire once again slipped off into the distance.

That left Helena standing there frustrated and breathless. She wasn't about ready to let her get away, not when she was gone.

The Huntress could see her now. She took out her crossbow and took aim.

Cheshire deflected the shot but Huntress closed in on her. The two of them crossed building after building.

Suddenly, Huntress stopped. Cheshire was gone. She couldn't have gotten too far because she was right in front of her not even fifteen seconds ago.

Huntress looked up and Cheshire nailed her with both feet to the back of the head. Huntress realized that Cheshire didn't get too far, because Cheshire was still on top of her. And not on top of her in a good way either.

The battle continued and Cheshire jabbed something in the side of her neck. She grabbed her by the head and planted her head first into the hard concrete on the building that they were on.

"You're persistent, I'll give you that," Cheshire stated. She inclined her head and gave one of those sighs, shaking it in thinly veiled amusement before she slipped off into the night and left a dazed and rather confused Huntress.

Huntress gave a distress signal before she collapsed on the roof top. That was not a good place for her to be. She was still awake but there was a ringing going through her head. She couldn't access any of her bond mates and she was almost certain that none of her bond mates could access her from the position that they were in.

* * *

><p>Metropolis was a city that was well known, although not as well-known as Gotham City, for the amount of charity events that they had. This was a huge gala event where all of the stars of Metropolis would be out tonight, along with some notable names from out of town.<p>

"So, I think that she's making amazing progress, once she shuts out the distractions anyway. That tends to be a huge problem for any magic user, so I don't think that we should say that it was completely exclusive to her."

In typical fashion, Harry Potter entered the room with a beautiful woman on his arm. In this case, it was one Zatanna Zatara. The beautiful woman had her dark hair pulled back to show her gorgeous face. A shimmering black dress gave the proper combination of modesty and also was sensual enough to make things look pretty amazing for her.

"I was about the same way at her age," Harry admitted. "Of course, I didn't have a good tutor. The people who taught me magic….well….they didn't know what they were doing."

"That could be a problem," Zatanna commented. Her father taught her well thankfully. He often bemoaned how so many great magical users were wasted by inept tutors.

Some people who knew the most about magic also would agree that they might not be able to impart that knowledge about other people. Harry led Zatanna into the grand ballroom in Metropolis. It was crowded and typical to these type of events, Harry suspected that he would see a few familiar faces here.

"So, you seem to not be lacking in female attention," Zatanna replied. She hoped that she could breech this subject to Harry without seeming like she was offending him. Harry looked at her. "Well, it's not like it's odd for magical users to have multiple women, especially powerful ones. Although, on your scale, you have to admit that it's slightly unprecedented."

"Oh, do tell," Harry whispered in her ear.

Zatanna smiled when she leaned towards him. "Well, it seems like half of the women in the room are undressing you with their eyes."

"And what about the other half?" Harry asked.

"They haven't noticed that you're here yet," Zatanna replied. She allowed a breath to enter her body. All she had to do was keep it calm and more importantly keep it cool. This could be a great night if she didn't make a fool out of herself. "So…..?"

"Is this your round about way of telling me you're interested?" Harry asked her. That caused Zatanna to look like she was a dear in the headlights. "Well, I figured that you'd be interested."

"Am I that transparent?" Zatanna asked.

"No, not really, it's more like that I'm a pretty good judge at reading people," Harry told her. She nodded in response.

She wasn't quite sure if that was a good thing, or a bad thing as well. She was glad that it wasn't because she was transparent. If what Harry said was true, then his ability to read people really did mean that he wasn't going to be lied to under any means whatsoever.

She actually thought that was an admirable trait to have. With all of the deception that was going on in the world. The dark haired woman raised her arm into the air.

"Harry….Harry Potter? It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

Harry turned around and saw a beautiful redheaded woman approach him. She had her hair tied back and she was wearing a stunning black dress that hugged to every curve of her body. The woman walked with excellent grace and poise, somehow balancing herself in a nice pair of heels when she approached it.

"So, I take it that this is your latest conquest," the woman replied. That caused Zatanna to raise her eyebrow in response.

"This is Zatanna Zatara," Harry told her, giving her one of those looks that women knew that they would be in trouble if Harry gave them to them. "Zee, this is Alexandria Luthor."

"The daughter of Lionel Luthor?" Zatanna asked before she could help herself.

"So says my birth certificate," the woman answered in a calm and clear voice. She did extend her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Zatanna."

"The same, Alexandria," she commented.

"Please, call me Alexa," she responded. She gave what Zatanna was sure to be an award winning smile in some respects.

"Right, Alexa," Zatanna said. She figured out that the woman wanted to discuss something with Harry alone. Was it business, was it personal? Zatanna figured that she was better off at not knowing. "I need to go hit the restroom….."

"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on Harry, make sure he doesn't get mobbed," Alexa commented.

"Right, thanks," Zatanna said, and she slipped off.

"You seem to be attracting them, but you've had an eye for talent," Alexa commented to Harry. The two of them decided to take a nice quick walk with each other. "My father…..he fortunately couldn't make it tonight. I was drafted to represent the LuthorCorp interest. You know how much I love to be out here with some of the stuffy business douchebags in Metropolis."

Alexa decided to ensnare her arm onto Harry's shoulder.

"But, I have to admit, the fact that I've run into you does make it worth it," Alexa said. She was looking around with a smile. "My sister should be around here somewhere."

Alexa inclined her head back and she smiled. "Tess, I found him…..I thought that you got lost."

A redhead joined them, of about eighteen or nineteen years of age, to Alexa's twenty five. She walked over. She wore a red dress when she approached them.

"Oh, you found him," Tess replied. "Hi, Harry, I don't know if you remember me. I followed you around like a lost puppy dog when you visited Alexa."

"Tess, I remember you, and I see that you changed," Harry said. There was a smile on his face when he made this statement.

Lutessa Luthor could not help but grin at the attention to her crush was paying her. She had dreams about him for years.

"You can put your eyes back in, Tess, people are staring," Alexa said. Tess looked at her sister and sighed. "I told you that it was worth it tonight."

"Well, after you dragged me along," Tess replied. She crossed her arms and dared her sister to contradict her.

"Well, are you complaining because you got to see Harry?" Alexa asked. Tess looked at the ground and folded her arms.

"It's nice to see you again, Tess," Harry told her.

She couldn't wipe the smug little grin off of her face if she wanted to and to be honest, she really didn't want to. Alexa decided to steer Tess away.

"We should get together for lunch some time, if our schedules ever get less insane," Alexa said.

"I think that we can work something out, just call me, and we can set something up," Harry said.

"I'm sure the three of us can get together sometime," Tess answered.

"You know, I'm not sure that you're invited," Alexa said. "And I better go spread the LuthorCorp cheer, so I'll talk to you later, Harry."

"Same with you, Alexa," Harry told her. "I'm sure that we can get together for lunch sometime."

"Yeah, we can," Alexa agreed. She took a step back and smiled and lead Tess off.

"Bye, Harry," Tess responded. She was usually business but there was something about Harry that made her less guarded.

There was something about Harry that made a lot of girls less guarded, she noticed. Perhaps she was imagining things.

"Well, those two most certainly make things interesting, don't they?" Zatanna asked. She returned.

"It's odd that Lionel didn't show up, you figure that he would want to make an appearance," Harry muttered more to himself than anything.

He could see the one and only Morgan Edge at the other end of the room. From what Harry could piece together, Lionel and Edge were friends at one point but they had a falling out of sorts. That might be the reason why Lionel is here.

Harry could see Bruce Wayne there. He had his girl of the week, some model. She seemed to be more distracted by the pretty lights in the ballroom and not by the simulating conversation.

'_Oh the things he does to keep his mask on,' _Barbara commented.

'_He really looks a bit odd….talk about the bubbly and vapid type,' _Harry thought. He looked around and saw a few familiar faces there.

He saw Lucius Fox and a young teenage version of his daughter Tamara. He was sure that his other children and his wife might be around somewhere. Although, he only met Tamara in his world, if not a different adult version.

'_Well, at least we know some old friends exist,' _Patricia said. She was carefully side stepping the subject of the bad world. She didn't want to talk about it, and no one didn't.

Harry saw Sapphire as well, also a young teenager. She looked about as excited and engaged as Alexa did. A brief look of Alexa indicated that the woman was good at putting on a face and pretending that she liked people that she would stab.

Then again, Luthors learned deception from the cradle to the grave. Harry found himself fortunate that he was one of the few people that were able to see past the mask.

Thankfully, he got her past the slight obsession she held with Claire. Mostly because of the fact that the three of them sat down and discussed what was what. Harry could tell that Alexa might be the type to be obsessed for years with the type of obsession that twisted in odd direction.

"I say, that's no way to treat a guest, well if you want to be that way, then I'll just take my business over the other way," a loud and rude voice said. "Bloody cunt."

Something that charming could be the one and only Oswald Cobblepot, better known to many as the Penguin. Zatanna wrinkled her nose when she saw the man walk past and he was going to go into the corner with Simon Stagg, Morgan Edge, and a few other notable men of devious behavior.

Another woman made her entrance into the ballroom and she was the type of woman who made a grand entrance. She dressed in a bright green dress that matched her eyes. She wore jewels that really added to her allure and a pair of knee high boots.

She looked like a cat that was hunting a particular juicy mouth. It was a comparison that was completely apt given that she was the one and only Selina Kyle, better known as Catwoman.

She casually walked over to the table where Harry and Zatanna set up shop with each other. She acted like she was getting someone to eat.

The woman stopped and smiled. "Well of all of the people that I would have to run in, it would have to be you, wouldn't it, Harry?"

"Yes, Selina, I see that our brief meeting made an impression on you," Harry answered the woman briskly. "And….."

"Zatanna Zatara," Selina finished with a smile. "Really sorry to hear what happened to your father. He was a stand up man…..do you have any leads about who committed the murder?"

"None," Zatanna said. Harry reached underneath the table and held her hand, squeezing it tightly. That was something she appreciated.

The unsolved murder of her father was something that still got to her. There was nothing that she could have done to stop the attack from happening. Just because there wasn't anything that she could do, that did not stop her from feeling an overwhelming feeling of guilt. It spiked within the pit of her stomach and she gave a sigh.

"Well, you can't give up hope," Selina said. She knew that her mother died and she had a pretty good idea who was behind it.

Trying to work within the law proved to be disastrous, especially when it was in Gotham City. While there were a few decent cops like Gordon, the vast majority of them only cared when and where their next meal was coming. That was a sick and sad indicator of how simply fucked up everything in Gotham City was.

"And I have to say that I'm impressed at how you've elevated yourself in Metropolis," Selina said. "And that's not even figuring into account your charity work. That puts you at a greater level than pretty much most of the people here."

Selina's accusing eyes swept over them. They all thought that they were pretty smug and completely secure. She knew that she would have to come back when the party wound down and everyone was properly drunk in her other mask.

She cut it close by trying to pull that job at Edge's and lift the item. Her contacts indicated that everyone and her brother was after that one. That included the League of Assassins and that could prove to be dangerous.

"So, what brings you to Metropolis?" Harry asked.

"Networking," Selina answered. "I figured that I would get out of Gotham City for a few days. It might be home but…you know it can get rather stifling sometimes. Plus, it's refreshing not to get shot out around every single corner."

'_I have to say that I agree with her,' _Barbara replied. She smiled. Gotham was home but to be there all of the time could be extremely frustrating. _'And she's not here for reasons of networking, you know that.'_

'_Oh, I know that,' _Harry agreed with her. He wasn't someone that was going to be fooled that easily. _'She's heading over to some of the people in this room. I think that she's about to go shopping.'_

'_She already ran into Helena tonight,' _Karen thought. _'She got a pretty good shot in on her as well, and knocked her out.'_

'_Is she okay?' _Harry asked. It was pretty much odd that Helena wasn't piping in through the bond link right now.

'_She's busy chasing Cheshire, what is she doing anyway?' _Karen asked.

Before Harry could even respond, a distress signal went off. The young man frowned deeply when he turned to Zatanna.

"Trouble?" she asked him.

"You could say that, maybe we should step outside for a minute," Harry told her.

Zatanna understood perfectly where he was going for. This was not something that needed to be discussed around prying ears.

The two of them made their way onto the private balcony that overlooked the city.

"I got a distress signal from Helena, she's in trouble," Harry told her. That caused Zatanna to raise her eyebrow in honest shock and surprise.

"Wouldn't she normally pipe on through, in the bond link that the two of you have?" Zatanna asked. That pretty much was something that she couldn't piece together why.

"Unless there was something blocking it somehow," Harry replied. He did wonder what game was being played. "Let's make our way back inside, and we'll get out, teleport to where it's coming from….it isn't too far. In fact, it's right across the street."

"That's some good timing," Zatanna said.

The two of them made their way back side, brushing past the people inside the building. They all had a pretty good idea that none of them would be missed.

The two of them flashed away at the blink of light.

* * *

><p>Helena felt a throbbing sensation assault the back of her head. She wasn't quite sure what happened. The only thing that she was pretty much certain of was that she didn't like it.<p>

She realized that she was stripped out of her costume and dressed in nothing but a pair of bra and panties. She felt dizzy and could see Harry standing over her. Zatanna waited patiently from the side, tapping her foot on the ground in an even rhythm.

"You hit your head pretty hard," Harry remarked to her.

Helena shook the cobwebs from her head.

"So, I did, didn't I?" she asked. She tried to sit out but felt that there was a stiff sensation in her neck. The only thing she remembered was Cheshire getting the drop on her. It was a one in a million shot and tonight just happened to be the ultra rare, once in a blue moon fluke, the type of thing that she hated. "My head hurts like hell, you realize that, don't you?"

"I pretty much figured that one out from the beginning and she injected you with a drug that would make it very difficult to think," Harry explained.

Helena frowned. "Aren't most drugs like that by nature?"

"Yes," Harry agreed. He could see the woman shifted and sigh. It was obvious that she was not able to hold herself up properly for long. "But this one did a wonder in preventing you from accessing the bond link. I got your distress signal though."

"Good thing I was clear enough," Helena said. She saw Zatanna standing there. "Sorry for ruining your date."

"Don't be, night was wrapping up anyway," Zatanna replied.

"But, you both know what the logical conclusion was going to be," Helena said. "After Harry invited you out on the balcony, it was going to be your moment."

Zatanna frowned, she was hoping for that.

"You came first though," Zatanna said with a smile.

"Thank you," Helena responded in a grateful voice. She was feeling a little bit better now that she got the antidote to whatever poison Cheshire injected her with.

The interesting thing was that if she wanted to kill her, she would have done it right away. Helena resolved to step up her game. If nothing else, she considered this to be a warning that she was going to take heed to.

"It's not a problem," Zatanna agreed.

Helena got up to her feet and she wrapped her arms around Harry. She looked into his eyes and felt a moment of content. She had frustrations, pent up emotions, the entire nine yards that she had to work out.

She attacked him with a furious kiss, her lips pressed onto his. Harry pushed back with their liplock. His hands explored her body and she leaned into his kiss, giving him a furious and hungry lip lock. Her tongue pushed into the depths of his mouth when she continued to kiss him.

Zatanna watched the process. She supposed that she should turn away for the sake of modesty.

Only she never had a chance to turn away. Harry swooped in and grabbed her in a tight embrace. His lips pressed against hers and there was a nice smoldering kiss.

Zatanna had dreams that started like this. If by any reason she woke up, she was going to be pissed beyond all belief. This kiss, there was so much poured into it that she thought that she was going to lose her mind.

The dark haired woman closed her eyes. Harry's tongue trailed deep into her mouth and the two of them engaged again in an intense kiss.

Zatanna felt Harry's hands run down her legs and slowly, her dress was pulled off. She wore nothing but a sleek set of black lingerie. The crotch of her panties was completely soaked from what Harry was doing.

"I think that we better not delay for too much longer on this one, she's going nuts," Helena commented. There was a degree of mischief in her eyes.

"You're damn right that I'm going nuts," Zatanna said. She managed to relieve Harry of his pants quickly, he wouldn't be needing it.

"Slow down, we got all night," Harry replied. He decided to push her against the wall and keep her from going a bit too fast. "You wouldn't want to burn yourself out before we had some real fun, would you?"

Zatanna shook her head in negative. She wouldn't want to burn herself out before she had some real fun indeed. Harry kept kissing the side of her neck. Each of his kisses increased his ability to pull her underneath his thrall. She thought for the briefest second that he was going to make her lose her mind. That's what was happening. Slowly, he was making her succumb to his passions and she melted underneath his kisses.

The dark haired female could feel him move downwards and she knew that he was going in for the kill.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued On January 23<strong>**rd****, 2015.**


	42. Family Affair Part Two

**Chapter Forty-Two: Family Affair Part Two. **

* * *

><p>Cheshire thought that tonight luck was riding on her shoulders, at least a little bit. One could argue that she had a faulty definition of luck and it was for an extremely good reason. The dark haired assassin kept running until she made it back to her place.<p>

Tonight was a night that she was going to steal something extremely valuable before other parties got their hands on it, other parties that were far more dangerous. The woman took a deep breath when she walked forward. Tonight was one of those nights where every single last thing that could go wrong, obviously did.

Cheshire took half of a step forward and slumped almost to one knee. The woman ran into the Huntress and she was someone who put up an extremely vicious fight. Cheshire might have gotten the drop on her once but one could not deny that the woman got some licks in.

'_Great, of all of the people that I would run into, it would have to be her,' _she thought. She frowned underneath her mask. _'That could compromise things a little bit.'_

Cheshire made sure no one was following her. Thanks to her training with the League of Assassins, she did have this sixth sense when someone was following her. Despite that fact, there have been people who have been known to get the drop on her. Especially when one considered the fact that there were people who were better than her.

She didn't want to admit it.

It was a rainy and windy night in Metropolis. She arrived back at a dingy looking flat that she burrowed for this evening. The woman's hands worked open the door and she entered inside.

There was nothing on the way of cuts when she walked inside. Cheshire took a staggering step inside. The woman approached the inside area with great calmness. She should really breathe easily, she was almost inside.

She took off her mask to reveal her face. It had a small scratch about the area of her cheek. She frowned with her dark skin, with surprisingly soft features, was blemished in the mirror. Her green eyes looked back at her from the mirror with intensity. The woman was about ready to take off her cloak and call it a night but then she tensed up.

There was someone who was watching her. Cheshire slowly turned her head to see the person stand in the shadows, obscured, at least for the most part. Her stealth was good, but it wasn't necessarily perfect.

"So, you've decided to check up on me," she commented. Her smile briefly matched what her mask looked like. "That's precious."

"Jade, you've been up to your bad habits again, haven't you?" the figure in the shadows asked her.

Jade decided to explain this to her companion in the same way that someone would explain the birds and the bees to an over excited child. "Morgan Edge has a dangerous artifact that a few members of the League would want to get their hands on. And apparently a few mobsters. The funny thing is that he's using it for nothing else other than a glorified center piece."

The woman in the shadows shifted. While Jade could not see her face, the disgust obviously could be seen if one looked closely enough. Or at least studied their body language.

"Come on, you're not back with them are you?" the woman in the shadows asked.

"You know, it's rude that you come by and invite yourself in, and you didn't even bother to call first."

With swift precision like a cat, Jade nailed her foe with a back spin punch. Or at least she would have if she didn't already move, leaving her to hit nothing but curtain.

Jade turned around and saw the mysterious archer in the hood in front of her. She shot an arrow at Jade to try and disable her. The assassin did a cartwheel in mid-air to avoid her attack.

"You never tried to understand what I did," Jade whispered. She tried to aim a palm thrust towards her enemy. "Back off Artemis, this isn't about you, not this time."

"You said that you weren't going to go back, you said that they would kill you if you went back."

"Again, you're not understanding what I'm doing and you're making this all about you," Jade said. She went in closely and nailed Artemis right in the midsection with a nice punch. She nailed her with an elbow thrust to the neck and then kicked her in the back. She picked her up and threw her onto the couch.

Jade crawled on top of her, and Artemis struggled against her.

"This is a nice and friendly warning," Jade whispered. She tightened her hands around Artemis's throat. The archer tried her best to get out of the grip but found that to be a bit tougher than necessary. "Stay out of my way, and no one needs to get hurt."

Jade picked up her mask and left. She had other places that she could hide out.

Artemis got back off of the couch and pulled up her hood. She was not going to let her sister leave this time.

The Arrow was hooded and ready to go. She climbed out of the same window and followed Cheshire. She followed what would hopefully be her most probable trail.

Excitement went through the Arrow's body when she rushed her. There was nothing better than the thrill of the hunt.

She spotted Cheshire out of the corner of her eye. She loaded her arrow and tried to shoot it at her.

Her enemy/sister moved and Arrow cursed. She couldn't believe what was happening but at the same time, she could. Her sister had this nasty habit of figuring out all of her moves.

'_Okay, got to figure out what she's doing, I can't lose her,' _Arrow thought.

She stopped and ran into two more individuals on the rough top. She drew back her bow when she came face to face with Arcane and Huntress.

"You see rather tense," Arcane answered.

"Get out of my way," she warned them.

"Well, there's a new archer in town," Huntress said. She wasn't smiling.

"I need to go after her," she said. She drew back her bow and threatened to shoot them.

"You're really not going to shoot me, are you?" Harry asked. "After all we've been through."

"I need to stop her, she's gotten herself into something really dangerous," Arrow said. She fired one of the arrows at Harry.

Harry waved his hand and the arrow turned into a rubber ball. It bounced back at her and she had to avoid it smacking her in the face on the rebound.

"Let me pass," she commented.

"If you say so," Arcane said. "Good luck."

The Arrow was so involved in her quest to track down Cheshire that she didn't find it a bit odd that he let her go.

Huntress turned towards him, surprised that he let her go. He gave her a smile and she picked up on the significance of that pretty quickly.

"Tracking charm?" she asked.

He nodded in response. "Tracking charm. And a physical tracker as well just for good measure."

"Figured that you'd cover all of your bases," she said approvingly. They were both curious to what Cheshire's game was. The way she left the League of Assassins, she was playing a dangerous one.

The League was a group that both of them knew a lot about.

* * *

><p>Selina returned back to the seedy hotel room that she was staying at. Actually compared to some of the hotel rooms in Gotham City that were considered to be seedy, it was quite nice. She shook her head. Now wasn't the time to compare and contrast.<p>

She sank down on the bed in the hotel room. Fiasco might have been a good way to describe tonight. She had some fun granted and at the party, she picked a few overstuffed pockets. They likely weren't the wiser, with a few drinks of wine in them.

After all that, Selina felt a sense of being empty. The artifact slipped nicely out of her fingers and no matter how much she wished that she could hold it, she couldn't.

'_Well, at least tonight wasn't a total failure,' _she thought. She craned her neck until she looked into the shadows.

She saw someone in the shadows, slinking around.

"You know, you can come out now," Selina said. She gave her a smile. "I'm not going to bite. Unless you ask me really nicely, and then we can make a deal."

The one and only Cheshire slunk from the shadows. She looked like that she had been running ragged. Selina frowned when she looked out that.

"You look like something the cat dragged in," Selina informed her. She could tell that Cheshire had been through a couple of major battles. "And you've been running for a long time, haven't you?"

"What's your angle in all of this?" Cheshire demanded.

There was a momentary pause when Cheshire and Catwoman stared each other down. There was a deep frown that passed over her face.

"I don't have any idea whatsoever what you're talking about," Selina said. She stretched herself out on the bed like the cat that she was. She looked up and stared her down. "I think that you've got the wrong girl here. But if you want trouble, all you had to do was ask."

Selina got up to her feet and Jade took half of a step back. She towered over her and Jade wasn't exactly that small.

"Okay, I'm not here to fight," Jade said. She threw her hands back.

"Dressed in that garb, I'm surprised," Selina said. She was willing to give the girl the benefit of the doubt. "Why are you running scared?"

"I'm not running scared," she protested. She curled her fist up angrily when she looked at her.

Selina frowned. Despite her reassurance that she wasn't going to fight, there was something in her eyes that indicated that she could easily provoke.

"Sit down," Selina offered. She patted a spot on the bed. "I would be a rude house guest if I didn't invite you inside."

Jade sat down. She looked towards Selina.

"I'll be straight up with you," Jade said. Selina shifted and the woman looked fairly skeptical but she nodded. "I'm after the artifact Edge is using as a center piece in his office. There are some really dangerous people that are after it."

"Figured as much," Selina muttered. Her contact said that it was worth big money and that kind of money attracted some dangerous people. She couldn't even begin to piece together. "What's your angle in this?"

"I asked the same thing to you, and you gave me an evasive answer," Cheshire protested. There was a frown across her face.

If there was one thing she hated, was getting the go around with some people. She liked to be straight up, well at least as straight up as an assassin could be.

"Yes, I did," Selina agreed. She didn't bother to give the young assassin any more information. She had said way too much already and this was the type of woman who might twist that information.

Jade frowned. "Just when I thought that I was getting through to you."

"You were the one who asked me first…..the sword is very valuable…and anyone who holds it will be like a ruler," Selina said. That was from the research she had.

"You're not telling me anything that I don't already know," Jade replied. She shifted her arms underneath her chest when she spoke. "And you know that Edge is going to double his security if he knows that people are after him."

It was obvious to Selina that she was being blamed for tripping the security.

"You know, he's craftier than people give him credit for," Selina said.

"He would have to be if he survived that many assassination attempts on his life," Jade responded briskly. She tapped her foot on the ground. The pair of them eyed each other for some seconds. "So, are we just going to sit here and awkwardly eyeball each other or are we going to actually do something constructive?"

The pause was long and kind of awkward before Selina chimed in.

"What do you have in mind?" Selina asked.

"Let me help you," Jade said. "I have a pretty good idea the type of people who will be after this and they won't take too kindly to someone like you going after it."

"You know, the type of people who are going after the sword, are likely going to take a shot at you, aren't they?" Selina asked. Jade turned towards Selina and gave her a nice and long frown. "Seriously, kitten, just stay out of this until the heat is off. I'm a big girl, I can handle myself."

"Not against these guys," Jade answered.

There was only one way out of the League of Assassins. She didn't leave because she necessarily agreed with their principles. She did disagree with a couple of people that they employed in their service.

Jade knew better than anyone not to rely on anyone. But she needed Selina's help if she wanted to get this sword.

She knew that the sword would be her ticket to get the league off of her back. If it fell into the hands of Ra's Al Ghul, then so be it. There were far worse people to hold that sword throughout the annals of human history.

A knock on the door jolted Jade out of her thoughts. Selina got up.

Selina crept to the door carefully. Years of living in Gotham City caused her to be extremely cautious about any mysterious knock on the door. It was especially true when the mysterious knock on the door came this late at night.

She opened the door and there was a package. There was only one person who could deliver this late at night.

"Get down!" Selina yelled. She jumped over and grabbed Jade by the arm.

The two of them jumped as the package exploded, at the doorway. There were several innocents caught in the crossfire.

Thankfully, Selina's quick thinking managed to get them outside and just away from the blast radius. She breathed heavily.

"Okay, was that for you or for me?" she asked Cheshire.

Cheshire frowned. It was obvious who that blast was intended for. It was time to take the gloves off.

If they wanted to fight her, she would fight them. She knew who was behind this to try and exert his authority as well.

* * *

><p>Artemis Crock, better known as the Arrow, made her way back to a base of operations that was temporary in Metropolis. She actually had a couple of "Arrow Caves" set up, even though she loathed to call them that. That seemed just tacky and made it look like that she was ripping off of the bat.<p>

The young nineteen year old archer had been a vigilante for the past six years, training under the original Arrow. She was thrown into the deep end several times since she was a child. Given who her father is and who her sister is, she developed survival instincts pretty quickly.

Some individuals were surprised when she took up the guise of the Arrow. There was no one who was more surprised than her. Artemis didn't really want to become an extensive of a legacy, especially one as inconsistent as Oliver Queen. He had his good days but his bad days could be pretty embarrassing. He was killed at the hands of the League of Assassins, but not before passing the hood off to her.

Artemis didn't want his death to be in vain. He was like an embarrassing older brother to her in ways.

"I'm coming on it," Artemis said. She made her way inside.

She was a bit banged up from the fight with Cheshire. The woman walked forward and barely disguised a slight limp. She thought her teachers were rough on her. Dinah spearheaded most of her training, but she had a couple other teachers when she was younger. Her mother, before she was killed, arranged lessons with one of the greatest female martial artists of her time or any other.

Artemis managed to slump on the first chair that she found. Her eyes and ears in the city were sat towards the large computer system that was in front of her.

"No offense, but you look terrible."

"I ran into Jade tonight, you know how well that ends," Artemis said. She shifted most of the weight on her knee and closed her eyes deeply. She winced when she almost came down with her full weight on her leg. "Sorry….it's just that…"

"Well, I would offer you first aid, but you never seem to take it," the woman commented, her back against her when she faced the computer screen.

"I'll just get an ice pack and walk it off," Artemis said.

"Ice pack, are you getting soft in your old age?" the woman with her back to her asked, teasing her. "I've done some digging around about our good friend, Morgan Edge. He's had at least five break ins in the last week. Catwoman and Cheshire were just two of the latest and then the Huntress was spotted on the scene of the crime."

"You're kidding me, right?" Artemis asked.

"No, but she managed to take the cop's suggestion of freezing quite literal," she added. Her back was still at the computer. "Edge is upping his security. I don't even know if he knows that something more valuable than money is hanging above his head. Literally."

"If he knew, would he keep it as a center piece in his office?' Artemis asked. She applied the ice to her knee. "You'd think that I would know better by now than to engage Jade in battle. She kicked my ass pretty much every time since she was kids."

"Aw, the epitome of sisterly love," the woman at the computer commented. "Nothing says you care like a few nice ass kickings."

"Maybe," Artemis offered. She put a bit of weight on her knee and wrapped it. "The League is involved somewhere."

"Maybe Jade wants to use the sword as a bargaining chip?" the woman at the computer suggested.

"Chloe…..actually that might be a good idea," Artemis said. The alternative of Jade going back to the League of Assassins was more difficult to reconcile in her mind.

She swore that Jade swore that she would never step one foot back inside the League because of her father. Artemis had butted heads with her sister numerous times in the past but there was one thing that she was certain about.

The one thing that they could agree about was their opinion regarding their father. That was the only thing that they ever got along with.

Chloe still had her back against her.

"There was an explosion downtown at one of the…..of lesser repute hotels," Chloe said. She chose her words extremely carefully. "Someone who looked like your sister was believed to have slipped inside after that."

"She wouldn't have been taken out that easily," Artemis said. That was one thing that she could admire about her sister. She had a certain amount of strength and fortitude. It was almost scary how dangerous she could be when she was pushed. "Just find out where it is….."

"Going to be tough, because someone changed the encryption of the Daily Planet servers and didn't give me the key inside yet," Chloe commented.

'_Son of a bitch, Harry, you just love to give me a challenge,' _she thought.

'_Well, you know that you enjoy the challenge.'_

Chloe pretended she didn't hear that but she managed to get the information that she needed to give to Artemis.

"There's the address, I'm sure that you could do something with that, or at least figure out where she's gone off to," Chloe said. She swept her eyes over Artemis and sighed. "I don't suppose it would do any good to tell you take care, would it?"

"Not really," Artemis admitted. "But the sentiment is appreciated never the less."

The older blonde sighed. Artemis geared up and was about ready to head out the door.

Harry and Helena stood in the shadows, watching their every move.

'_So did that confirm what we already know?' _Helena asked.

'_Yes, Jade got in a really sticky situation,' _Harry answered her. _'Hence why she's acting irrational.'_

'_Well, she should be used to being in sticky situations by now, you'd think,' _Karen chimed in from afar. _'So, the League's involved.'_

'_Yes, the League's involved, we parted ways rather respectfully,' _Harry thought. Then again, Ra's obviously had a motivation to play nice with Harry for the time being.

It was a cool respect between both men. They obviously respected each other's accomplishments even though they didn't respect the way that they went about them.

'_Did you just purposely change the encryption just to dick around with Chloe?' _Lois wondered out of the blue.

'_No, it's just standard procedure, if we're taking the Planet on the RAO network, we were going to have a meeting tomorrow to talk to all of the people that needed to know,' _Harry thought. It was just unfortunate that Chloe needed use of the network tonight.

That being said, it was time for them to go after another lead in this situation.

'_I wonder if the rumors about the Canary and the Arrow are true,' _Helena said. She paused and realized something. _'You know, don't you?'_

'_Who do you think we're going to visit next?' _Harry asked.

'_I see,' _Helena thought. She had a misunderstanding with the Black Canary a couple of years ago but everything was cool now. Harry mediated that one.

He had made many connections over the years. He needed someone who would talk sense into Artemis and who better than one of her trainers.

* * *

><p>Sportsmaster made his way towards the abandoned docks in Metropolis. He hated every single second that he spent dealing with Intergang. It would be worth it in the end, he hoped. The partnership would get the artifact in the hands of the League of Assassins and their master would be able to move forward whatever plans he had.<p>

The man hoped that he personally would have gotten unprecedented respect finally as part of the League. He had been considered to be one of the lesser members of the League. He was good for these menial tasks, like making sure Mannheim kept his eye on the ball.

The woman in red approached him out of the shadows. It was obvious that she didn't like Sportsmaster from the look that she gave him. The two of them were going to play ball.

"Everyone's after the artifact, but we may have found a security hole that no one else has," Sportsmaster replied. "Catwoman was after the artifact tonight, and a couple of goons who may have been working for the Penguin busted in to snag it as well."

"No fat bird is going to keep the great one from what he desires," the woman in red stated in absolute disdain. "But you neglected to mention one party who is after the master's rightful artifact."

"I'm afraid I don't understand what you're referring to," Sportsmaster commented.

"Cheshire," the woman in red hissed. "Need I remind you how much she complicates matters? You can't keep order in your own house, and you expect respect from the League."

"I took care of the problem," Sportsmaster remarked. He looked at the woman in red, as if daring her to contradict what he said.

"Your attempt to take care of the problem has gotten the attention of people that the League doesn't want to deal with," the woman in red stated. "Do you realize that the Dreaded Dragon will be after us now?"

"I can take care of him, easily," Sportsmaster replied. He sounded a lot more brave on the outside than he really was on the inside. On the inside, he was a nervous wreck.

"Doubtful," the woman in red darkly responded. The Sportsmaster's bravado was almost amusing to her. He thought that he was honestly in control. "You can't even take care of the problems in your own house."

"I wouldn't talk about the problems that people would have in their own house, especially with your own issues regarding your own daughter," Sportsmaster said. He spoke with more bravery and bravado that he should be allowed.

The woman in red took Sportsmaster down the ground with one swift move. She withdrew two knives and held them at either side of his throat.

"If you ever talk about her again, I will cut your throat," the woman in red whispered harshly. "You better not think that you have unlimited capital for me. Remember that the Great One has a use for you. Make sure Mannheim plays the game nicely. If you slip up, if you fail, I will end your miserable existence. Is that understood?"

"Yes," the Sportsmaster whispered. The hot steel nearly plunging into his throat caused him to gasp when he squirmed underneath her grip.

The Woman in red got up to her feet.

Sportsmaster massaged his throat. He made sure that she was out of an earshot when he said what he wanted to say next.

"You crazy fucking bitch," Sportsmaster muttered. He made sure not to say it when she was around. He knew that she would carve him up and leave nothing left that could be identified by the coroner.

"You know, you shouldn't throw that word around so loosely. You never know who might hear it."

Sportsmaster looked up. He was caught off guard by Catwoman. She nailed him with a vicious kick to the face. The Sportsmaster landed hard with a thud and landed on his back. He winced when she had him tied up in one fell swoop.

"You're making a big mistake," Sportsmaster growled. He couldn't free himself from his constraints even if he wanted to. His struggle to loosen himself was an extremely futile one.

Catwoman watched him, practically bored with what he was doing. She looked like a cat that was looking over a particularly fat rat. The man tried to break himself free from the ropes but he couldn't struggle.

"You know, I wasn't the one that made this personal," she whispered. She leaned down and came face to face with the Sportsmaster. Or rather mask to mask as the situation demanded. "That was you. I was going to let whatever it could be, until you tried to blow me up."

"It wasn't you that I was after," Sportsmaster said.

Catwoman popped her claws and looked over him. She looked like she was completely bored when she stared at him.

"Oh, that's an interesting sentiment and believe me honey, I'd like you believe you," she commented. She brushed her nail down his cheek and she looked over at him. "But you know, that I have a hard trouble believing someone like you."

Catwoman had him strung upside down. He looked humiliated. She reached around and gripped his chin roughly.

"Tell me, why are you after a little trinket that some Media Mogul has on his wall?" Catwoman asked. She knew the answers but she wanted to hear it from the horse's mouth. Even though she could tell that Sportsmaster was more like talking to the horse's rear. "I mean, the jewels could fetch a pretty penny on the black market. But it's pocket change compared to someone who has the vast resources of Ra's Al Ghul."

Catwoman crouched down so she came face to face with him.

"Hmm," Catwoman muttered.

"It's power, something more promising than money, with that kind of power, you don't need much money," Sportsmaster said.

"Is the Demon Head really that vain that he would want more power than he already has?" Catwoman asked. "Or is he afraid that someone might usurp his power? It can't be the big bad bat. Sure he's bumped into you guys a few times, but that's just business. Something more personal."

Catwoman was about to get more answers. She was naturally curious. She was only after the sword for the monetary value. If someone like Ra's Al Ghul wanted it, well it ramped up a lot.

She was playing a deadly game. Walking on the catwalk, especially dealing with people like this. She frowned deeply.

"Sorry, two's company, three's a crowd, we all know how this goes," Catwoman stated. She turned around and saw Mannheim and company pointing weapons at her. She frowned when she looked at him. "Well, you boys know how to give a girl a hostile weapon don't you?"

"You walked on the wrong side of town, kitty cat," Mannheim said. He pointed a high tech blaster at her.

"Oh, well in Gotham City, there's the wrong side of the town and there's the even more wrong side of town," Catwoman said, shrugging her shoulders. "And I don't think that any of you can last five minutes."

"We'll see about that," Mannheim said. He armed the gun and pointed it at her. It was obvious that if he was given half of the chance, he would blow her brains out.

"Okay, you're nuts, but what are you going to do?" she asked her .She rolled her eyes at the irony of Mannheim stealing from his boss. "Do you realize that Edge is going to be pissed when he realizes you're trying to steal cookies from the cookie jar?"

"Yeah, well I'll be a made man because of this," he answered.

"Maybe made into a corpse when the League is done with you," Catwoman offered. She looked extremely bored.

She dodged their attempts to shoot her. The woman did a cartwheel and landed firmly into the shadows.

"Spread out!" one of them yelled. "The bitch has to be around her somewhere."

One of their guns exploded in his face, burning his hands.

Catwoman looked up. As much as she liked to take credit for this nice little action, she couldn't really do any such thing.

She whistled in amusement. The one and only Arcane turned up. He was looking mighty nice in that suit. Huntress showed up, and Catwoman's eyes focused on her ass for a good long look.

"I can't help but think of a better pair of saviors to show up and rescue me," Catwoman answered. She turned towards the two of them.

"It's a good thing that we didn't skip town completely, given what you've gotten yourself into," Arcane said.

"Honey, this is just a hot night on the town in Gotham City," Catwoman countered. She narrowed her eyes when she looked them over. "And the natives don't look too friendly, that's wonderful."

Mannheim and his men tried to get back in gear. The mobster's anger flashed through his eyes.

"Blast them!" Mannheim yelled.

A hell of a fight was beginning to start with Arcane, Huntress, and Catwoman taking on Intergang.

Artemis watched the brewing battle from her perch above. She thought about jumping in and joining the fight.

There was one thing that stopped her from doing so. Sportsmaster freed himself and was about ready to exit stage right.

"Oh, no you don't you bastard, you're not getting away, not this time," she said. She wished she could have put an arrow in his knee to slow him down but he was out of range.

"You know, I hate to be a backseat vigilante," Chloe said. Artemis sighed. "Yeah, I know, but I'm going to do it anyway."

Artemis shook her head when she approached him. She couldn't lose him.

"You should go down there and help them fight Intergang," Chloe protested. Artemis seemed to be a woman on a mission.

"I can't, he'll get away," she said. She realized that if she could hit the intersection, she might be able to cut him off.

He ran like his life depended on it and it did, as far as she was concerned.

"You know….."

"They can handle themselves, okay, Chlo," Artemis said. She frowned deeply when she thought that she lost the Sportsmaster.

She turned the communication link off, so she didn't have any distractions. It was going to be a family reunion.

Artemis's adrenaline pumped through her body. The only reason that she left them behind was that she knew Harry and Helena could both take care of themselves.

She would take the heat from Dinah later for not helping them. Right now, she needed to take down her father. He had been running from her for years. It was time to end this once and for all.

She had an arrow picked especially for him. He failed her and her sister, and especially her mother. That fact annoyed Artemis something fierce given how close that she was to her mother.

Huntress, Arcane, and Catwoman handled themselves fairly nicely. They took out the Intergang goons.

'_Goons with weapons, are still goons,' _Harry thought. He looked around. _'Sportsmaster got away.'_

He looked around and saw that Catwoman slipped off into the night as well.

'_And it seems like you don't get the sudden disappearance act from your father only,' _he thought.

Huntress saw Mannheim strung upside down and completely helpless.

"Guess you gave them what they needed, and they don't need you anymore," Huntress said.

"You better let me down, I swear to God…"

"No, he's not here to help you, not this time," Arcane interjected. He looked at his captive prisoner. His eyes flared with the power that would intimidate anyone who came across them. "You're going to tell us everything you know. I don't see you knowing much. But maybe you can have a chance to prove me wrong."

"I know more than you think," Mannheim said through gritted teeth.

"Yes?" Arcane asked. He smiled. "Prove it."

Mannheim would have liked nothing better than to squeeze the neck of this smug little prick. But his backup wasn't coming. Sportsmaster left him. He was all alone with this feared vigilante.

"I'm waiting."

* * *

><p>Artemis approached the building carefully. She was there to shoot first and ask questions later. If her father was behind the explosion, it was all that much more a reason to put an arrow through his eye.<p>

"Are you here to kill him too?"

Artemis turned around. The Arrow poised her arrow and Cheshire stood in the shadows. She could almost tell the smile underneath her mask matched the one that was on top of her mask.

"I'll have you know that I have first dibs, because I am the older one," Cheshire said. She fingered the dagger in her hand. "And he was the one who tried to blow me up tonight."

"Are you okay?" the Arrow asked. She was ready to defend herself at a moment's notice on the off chance that this was some kind of trap.

"I'll survive," Cheshire answered. She was ready to fight if she needed to fight. The two of them circled each other nervously. "I've been through far worse, you know."

"Have you?" she asked.

"Yes, I have," Cheshire agreed. "But you need to leave. I thought that me kicking your ass earlier would give you the hint. It's far too dangerous to be involved."

"I've had worse," the blonde archer said. She drew back her bow.

"You shoot that at me, and you'll have a bigger problem," Cheshire said. She could dodge all of her little archer tricks.

"This is between me and my father," Artemis said.

"Well, you arrived here, according to schedule. Predictable and sad."

The Arrow turned around and saw the woman in red. She drew back her bow and shot an arrow at her.

The woman in red caught it in her hand. She seemed almost bored by the actions. "The student seems to have a few lessons she's neglected to learn."

"Oh, I've learned from someone that has kicked your ass a couple of times," The Arrow answered. She aimed another arrow.

There were numerous assassins who surrounded them and drew their weapons. Artemis frowned when they closed in on them.

"Someone's acting like a jilted lover here, isn't she?" Cheshire asked. It couldn't

"Jade, now's not the time," Artemis warned her sister.

"Well, the Daughter of the Demon sends her regards and she….regrets what has to be done," the woman in red comments. She held a knife in her hand. "Take them out."

"Just like old times again, isn't it sis?" Cheshire asked.

"Yes, all those happy fuzzy memories," the archer retorted as the assassins closed in on them.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued On January 27th, 2015.<strong>


	43. A Family Affair Part Three

**Chapter Forty-Three: Family Affair Part Three.**

* * *

><p>It was extremely late at night in Metropolis. The city was quiet, mostly certainly more quiet that Gotham City or other cities like that were at this time of the evening. It was both quiet but at the same time it was unsettling. There was some kind of calm before the storm feel that anyone who was watching couldn't quite put their fingers on. They couldn't say why it was unsettling, only that it was unsettling.<p>

A woman paced her way down an alleyway. Her blonde hair hung down her back and her beautiful face was shown into the sunlight. She wore a tight bustier like outfit and a distinctive pair of fishnet stockings covered her legs. She wore a pair of black boots that were pulled up to about knee high level. The woman folded her arms over her chest and frowned. She rocked her head back and forth and waited. A light whistle escaped her lips.

Dinah Laurel Lance would have thought that it was extremely dangerous to stand in the middle of a street corner in Metropolis, dressed like this. At least it would be better inside Gotham City, but people might mistake her for someone else walking the streets.

That might have been the idea though. It was always a good thing to lure people into a false sense of security. She stretched out her legs.

A pair of headlights flashed into her eyes. There was a roaring of an engine. Dinah placed her arms back and leaned forward. An extremely stylish sport's car made its way there.

She stepped forward with a smile on her face. Harry Potter was driving the car and Helena Potter was sitting in the backseat.

"I thought that you two would never show up," Dinah commented.

"You should know that I always show up when I tell you that I will," Harry told her. She responded with a brisk little nod. "It just might take me a while to get there."

Dinah figured that there was a pretty good reason why Harry was late. She couldn't really put her finger on the reason, but she would find out pretty soon. The woman opened the car door and got into the seat beside Harry.

The blonde haired woman leaned towards Harry and gave him a kiss. It had been a while since she saw him.

"So, did anyone give you trouble tonight?" Harry asked her.

"Trouble for me, not really," Dinah said. She gave them a knowing mine. "It wasn't a good night for the people who were stirring up shit….."

Dinah recalled the sleazy gentlemen who showed up to start some shit with her. Her boot connected with his jaw and busted more than a few teeth out. It was not something that she made a hobby out of doing.

"So, it's been a busy night tonight for you two, hasn't it?" Dinah asked.

"Busy, Intergang has been in bed with some really dangerous people," Harry replied. Dinah raised her eyebrow. "It was the League of Assassins."

"You're kidding me, right?" Dinah asked.

Harry smiled in response. "I wish that I was. The good news is that we got Mannheim off of the street and he's on his way to prison. But the League is still out there and the Arrow is on the hunt for them. It's pretty personal for her."

Dinah shifted for a brief moment in her seat. Harry was pretty good at judging a person by their body language. It betrayed her.

"I actually hoped to get back into touch with her, if she's with the League of Assassins," Dinah said. "I don't even know how yourself out of it without any repercussions."

Harry gave her a knowing smile. Dinah could tell that he wasn't about ready to tell her exactly how he got out of the League of Assassins. He was going to make her guess. There was one thing that was true with Harry and that was that he knew how to frustrate someone to no end.

"There are a few ways to get out, and none of them are….all the easy," Harry said. Dinah raised her eyebrow. "But, I don't do easy."

"You wouldn't be in relationships with so many women if you did easy," Dinah admitted. She also had to admit that Harry found a way to make it work, somehow, someway. Perhaps he was just a tiny bit mad, but he made it work. "So….."

"Took down Mannheim and the rest of his Intergang thugs as I mentioned," Harry said.

Helena chimed in at this point. "Catwoman slipped away though. She did help us. Revenge mostly from the League trying to blow her up. We think that she was trying to get her hands on Sportsmaster."

Dinah's breath hitched and her chest raised and lowered. "That might be why Artemis is acting so obsessed."

"And Jade is involved in this," Harry informed Dinah.

Dinah wondered if they were going to have more headaches tonight. The cell phone in her purse began ranging. The fish net clad crime fighter answered the phone and she realized who was on the other end.

"Hey, Chloe, what can I do for you?" Dinah asked.

"Well, we've got a small problem, Artemis deactivated her comm link and went in to go after Sportsmaster and the League, "Chloe said. She allowed herself to breath, at least after a moment. "And that was almost two hours ago."

"So, you think that she's gotten into trouble?" Dinah asked.

"Yes, I think she's gotten into trouble," Chloe agreed. She tried not to lose her mind from the stress that she was getting herself in. It was borderline difficult to keep her sanity in check.

"It's a good thing that I slipped a tracking device on her," Harry said.

"Harry's there….of course he is," Chloe said. She could have slapped her face. He did run into Artemis earlier tonight and he wasn't going to be one that was going to let something go without a fight. "You said that you slipped a tracker on her."

"Yes, he did," Helena said. Her lips curled up into a smile. "And the tracer should still be active if we want to find her."

If Artemis ran into trouble, they had little time to waste. The League was good at tying up their loose ends. Even though Harry slipped away, he had to send several assassins back in dismembered pieces before they got the hint that he had gotten everything that he wanted, for now.

Of course, little did certain members of the League know that he had influence in other ways, but that was a different story for a different time.

* * *

><p>"That's a fine mess that you've gotten us into, Artemis," Cheshire groaned when she tried to push her way out of the bindings. The bindings wouldn't slacken and no matter how she tried, she couldn't break out.<p>

Both Jade and Artemis were tied up and under the watchful eye of Ubu.

"You were the one who stirred them up in the first place," Artemis said. "I could have sworn that I heard that Ubu was killed."

"Yes, well the Demon always has a few spares around," Cheshire replied. She once again tried to twist from her bindings, but found that they kept her nicely in place. Her breathing increased the more that she tried to break herself free from her bindings.

Jade didn't do the hopeless thing often, but even she had to admit that this situation looked to be pretty hopeless.

If they could free themselves, and they could work together, they might be able to take down Ubu. Actually there was no doubt in their mind, they were able to take down Ubu. The army of armed assassins that roamed around next to him was another matter entirely.

"Why aren't they killing us?" Artemis asked.

"You're really complaining about this,' Jade whispered. She tensed up when she heard the foot steps.

The one person she knew that would be a nightmare to fight would be the woman in red. The woman in red caused Ubu to bow, along with the rest of them. These hardened assassins feared her, but this woman was in fact the deadliest that ever lived.

"You thought that you could betray the League of Assassins, you traitorous slut," the woman in red commented.

"Hey, my sister might be a bitch, but she's not a slut," Artemis defended.

"It's good that you respect me so," Jade said dryly. She closed her eyes and looked at the woman in red. "You know, the Dreaded Dragon will not be pleased that you have put me in harm's way and have acted without his blessing in his city"

The woman in red hesitated for a brief moment at the thought of the Dreaded Dragon. Her lips curled into a smile.

"And it seems to me that Jade's loyalty isn't the only person's that have wavered from the League," Artemis inputted. She was slowly undoing the bindings, hoping to keep the woman in red distracted from what she was doing.

Little did she know that Jade was even closer to unbinding herself from the ropes. All she needed was a little more effort and she would be out. The ropes slowly, but surely started to become undone.

"Do not speak of what you do not understand…"

A loud sonic boom took out all of the assassins nearest the window. Shattered glass flew everywhere and the woman in red looked up.

Black Canary flew into the room and tried to knock the woman in red down. The woman in red deflected her kick. Black Canary flipped over to her feet and landed gracefully in front of the woman in red.

"Not bad as usual," the woman in red commented. Without a further word, she pulled out a dagger and charged Black Canary.

Black Canary flipped over the top of the head of the woman in red. This was a particularly dangerous enemy she had gone up against before and she was not taking her lightly at all.

The two women surrounded each other. The assassins stepped in to assist her. The woman in red cast them a warning look which caused them all to fall back into position.

"Good thing that your woman of the night was here to save you," Jade said. She was extremely intrigued by the fight that was at hand.

"She's not…"

"Dressed like that, one could mistake her for someone of looser morals," Jade continued in a bored tone. She tried to push her way out, but she collapsed down onto the chair. The ropes were tied tighter than she thought they were before.

Black Canary flew head long into a stack of crates. She managed to brace most of her fall. Her enemy rushed her and destroyed the crates with a furious martial arts attack. Splintered wood was sent shattering everywhere.

"You've made a grave mistake coming here, Canary," the woman in red whispered. "I'll make you pay."

"Bring it if you think that you can," Dinah said.

She squared off with the deadliest woman in the world. She ended most of the battles against her on her back, but Dinah was determined to get the better of the woman this time. Her frustration might hit a fever pitch but she had to be at her very best.

* * *

><p>Jade freed herself somehow. One of the assassins noticed that she was free, but before the assassin could raise the alarm, Jade nailed him right in the abdomen with a double fisted punch. That doubled him over and knocked all the wind out of him.<p>

Jade propelled herself up. She picked up a piece of glass and tried to stab at the assassin.

"Thanks for freeing me, Jade," Artemis said. She looked completely sour when she freed herself from the ropes.

One of the assassins tried to stab her from behind. Jade jumped over Artemis's head and kicked the assassin in the face. The assassin crashed down to the ground with a huge thud.

"There, are you happy now?" Jade asked. She rolled her eyes slightly.

One of the assassins rushed towards Jade. Jade dodged his attack and he flipped himself over onto his back. He was sent crashing down to the ground in a heap.

The battle was getting a bit too intense for their liking. Artemis and Jade stood back to back and kept doing battle with the assassins.

"Why do all of our times together end with us fighting for our lives?" Jade asked. She and Artemis took out the two assassins. They were frustrated that they could not get a jump on either of the girls due to them watching each other's backs for once in their lives.

"Hey, look on the bright side," Artemis said. She managed to disarm one of the assassins of his archer gear, given that hers was destroyed in the fight. "For once we're not at each other's throats."

Jade sighed loudly. "Yeah, that won't last."

Artemis shot an arrow, catching one of the assassins in the knee.

"Well, he used to be an assassin," Artemis said, trying to lighten the mood. "Then he took an arrow to the knee."

Jade rolled her eyes, grabbing one of the assassins roughly. She couldn't believe her sister was that much of a dork to go there.

"That joke is so played," Jade said. She choked one of them into unconsciousness.

The large Ubu rushed over, in an attempt to take the two girls out. Both of them dodged his large outstretched arms.

Ubu's lack of coordination was surprising and the large man flipped over onto his back. He got to his feet. Artemis fired a series of arrows at him that he deflected.

Jade leaped onto his back and raised one of her hands. She jabbed him right into a pressure point in the side of his neck.

He gave a gasping groan and he dropped to his knees. His heart practically stopped when he dropped down onto his face.

"And I think Ra's needs a new Ubu now."

The battle between Black Canary and the woman in red was reaching its fever pitch.

"You've improved," the woman in red commented. The two warriors exchanged attacks, neither backing off. "That makes this defeat less than pathetic. And you shall go down with honor."

Black Canary unleashed one canary cry now that she had the woman in red in position. It was unfortunate that she couldn't really pull it off without too many problems. The woman in red avoided the attack and raised her hand. Black Canary blocked one blow. The second blow nailed her in the midsection and doubled her over in absolute agony. The wind was knocked out of the woman.

The skylights from above them broke open and Arcane and Huntress appeared. The woman in red stopped her attack immediately.

Black Canary was thrown off guard. She went from wanting to kill her to just standing there. It was extremely weird to say the least.

"Tell the Demon that I disapprove of this course of action," Harry said.

The woman in red took a step back. "Dreaded Dragon, soon there will only be one."

"I know," Harry commented to her. "Send the Daughters of the Demon and the White Canary, my regards."

"It will be done," the woman in red said and she slipped into the shadows instantly.

Black Canary was about ready to go after her. Harry held her shoulder.

"Let her go, Dinah," Harry said.

"After all of that….." Dinah muttered. She turned towards Harry and raised a quizzical eyebrow towards her. "What's going on?"

Harry smiled at her. "There's a lot going on, Dinah, trust me on this one."

Dinah inclined her head and shook it. She did trust him, that might be the problem. She decided to turn her attention to Artemis, who limped away.

"Jade slipped away," Artemis said. She pulled her hood back up, even though everyone here knew her secret identity. "Not even a goodbye."

"You two haven't patched things up, yet?" Dinah asked. Artemis shrugged her shoulders.

"It's complicated," Artemis answered. She leaned herself back against the wall. "Sportsmaster wasn't even here, he was long gone."

"That's because the League tricked you into coming here,' Huntress answered. Artemis looked towards the woman.

"Yeah, thanks for pretty much stating the obvious," Artemis replied. She felt like a fool that had been duped and she didn't know what she would do next.

"I think it's time for us to leave," Arcane said. There was a sound of sirens outside.

Artemis nodded. It was especially so because of the fact that Arrow and the police didn't get along. She wasn't exactly someone who was trained in non-lethal methods to take down her opponent. That being said, she was able to loosen up her methods in years.

That seemed to be a theme for archer vigilantes.

"So, will the League go after Edge's artifact again?" Black Canary asked.

"Yes, them among others," Harry confirmed for her. "It was nice teaming up with you again."

"Yes, thanks for jumping in," Black Canary said. She shut up any protests that he had with a kiss. She broke away with a smile. "And I was the one who thought that I could handle it."

"I know that you were," Harry commented to her.

Black Canary decided to look around. Some of the assassins had disappeared into the chaos or more likely had run when Harry arrived. Others were too injured to.

"Are you okay?" Black Canary asked her girlfriend.

Arrow stretched her arms out. She shook her head. "I'm really fine…so….he's something else."

"Yes, he…" Black Canary said. She realized that Huntress and Arcane disappeared into the night about as fast as they normally arrived. "You think that after all of these years I'd be…..used to that."

Dinah sighed when she realized that Artemis pulled the same thing. She really wished that she went back to headquarters and not tried to hunt down Sportsmaster.

* * *

><p>Speaking of Sportsmaster, he looked like he had seen much better days. The woman in red ushered him down a walkway towards a throne room.<p>

"You failed to acquire the artifact," the woman in red told him. "And you're going to have to explain to the demon."

"It seems to me that your loyalty wavered back there, you were told to finish off Black Canary and Cheshire," Sportsmaster said.

"I wouldn't have any need to finish off Cheshire if you didn't raise such a disobedient daughter," the woman in red said. She held a dagger at the back of Sportsmaster's neck. If he just gave her an excuse, she could just finish him off and she wouldn't have too many problems doing it.

Sportsmaster did not appreciate being treated like a punk. He was not some punk off of the streets, he was much more than that. He was marched forward.

The woman in red stepped in front of a trio of women. Two of them had dark hair and looked as if they were sisters. That's because they were. Their features were different enough so one could see that they were their own people, but it was hard not to see that they were sisters. The third stood beside the older of the sisters. She had blonde hair and a look of innocence in her eyes, even though that innocence was the mask of deception. She was dressed all in white, with a white half face mask pulled over her face.

Lady Shiva rendered Sportsmaster unconscious so she could speak freely.

"What is it?" Shiva asked.

"Lady Shiva," the blonde haired woman said. "My sister….is she…"

"Your sister has fought bravely and allowed a chance to live for this battle," Lady Shiva commented. "And the Dreaded Dragon interceded on her behalf."

There was a visible amount of interest in the eyes of the masked woman's eyes. She only was in the League of Assassins because of the Dreaded Dragon or was it the Emerald-Eyed Dragon? The League had a couple of names for him. He rescued her when she was an inch from death and she was reborn as the White Canary. She wasn't the first to hold that mantle, but she made it her own.

She could only return to her proper place beside the rightful master of the League when she was reborn.

"Yes, it would be unwise to go against him in this current climate," Lady Shiva added.

She held up Sportsmaster and dragged him before the demon. A new Ubu already took the place of the old one.

"The artifact is still in the possession of Morgan Edge, great one," Lady Shiva said. "Mannheim has been sent to prison, but he doesn't fully understand anything. He knows very little."

"And it's my intention to keep it that way," Ra's Al Ghul said. He kept himself submerged in the shadows, allowing himself an air of mystery. "The artifact should be in the possession of its rightful owner. It is an important piece of the puzzle to allow me to purify the world."

"I ran into him, great demon," Lady Shiva whispered. Her voice dropped into an intense whisper. "I ran into the Dreaded Dragon."

"It only is fitting that you run into him, for it comes a time to think of my legacy," Ra's Al Ghul said.

"But, master, he left the League of Assassins," the newest Ubu protested.

"Yes, he did," Ra's said. He didn't look angry, but rather proud, like a delighted father. "I wish to test the Detective as well, but I feel that he's distracted by the filth that poisons Gotham city."

Ra's knew that he would have to do something about Gotham City sooner, rather than later. It polluted the world in numerous ways.

"The Dreaded Dragon is the front runner, then," Lady Shiva commented crisply.

"Yes," Ra's agreed.

There was only a couple of ways out of the League of Assassins. The easiest was death, and most had died proudly in the service of serving the Demon Head. The other way out of the League of Assassins was to defeat the one and only Ra's Al Ghul in a duel.

Few decided to go for that option, and success was minimal. That brought Ra's back to Harry Potter. He was ambitious enough to take control of the League away from Ra's and that's what he wanted as a successor. He didn't want someone who would wait for the League to be handed to him, he wanted the League to be taken from him.

He did convince Ra's to admit the White Canary back into the fold, after her treasonous past. She had been reborn and purified of all of her past sins and had passed every single test that had been put in front of her. So, perhaps there was still hope for her.

"I have a plan for Gotham City and the rest of the world, for I have mother nature on my side," Ra's said. "And leave me, so I can discuss with Sportsmaster his ability to ensure that his children are kept in line."

Shiva stepped back and Sportsmaster looked up. He was in the position no one wanted to be, underneath the disapproving eye of the Demon Head himself, Ra's Al Ghul. It was a position that few lived to tell the tale regarding.

* * *

><p>Thankfully, as far as Dinah was concerned anyway, Artemis made her way back home, without so much of a scratch on her. She leaned back in the chair in the middle of their secret lair.<p>

"And after all of that, he got away," Artemis said. She leaned back and sighed. She didn't mean to sound so frustrated, but sometimes that happens.

"Obsession can destroy the best of us," Chloe said. She turned around and checked things over. "Looks like Edge moved his little toy somewhere else."

Dinah scoffed. "That's not going to stop the League from getting their hands on it. They're going to send someone even more dangerous next time to get their hands on it."

"I don't know how more dangerous you can get than Lady Shiva," Chloe said, wincing. She had seen the record that woman had and that was the things of nightmares. Chloe shuddered at the thought of what this dangerous woman was capable of. "Unless Ra's does his dirty work himself."

Artemis threw her quiver down onto the ground. It was a lost cause, having been damaged in the battle. She chewed down on her lip fairly nervously and shifted her arms back underneath her chest.

"You're not going to be sulk about the fact that you didn't get your hand on your father, are you?" Chloe asked. "Because, I hate it when super heroes go emo. I had enough of it when Claire acted like that, I don't need any of it from you, young lady."

Artemis narrowed her eyes and shook her head. Chloe gave a nice little smile.

"So, is it just me, or should we be expecting company?" Chloe asked. She heard a knock on the door. "You know, I'm surprised he actually knocked on the door this time. He normally pops up by the side fo women to give us a heart attack."

"And disappears into the night as well, leaving us wanting more," Dinah added.

"The two of you are unbelievable," Artemis said. She made her way over. Her limp was mostly healed, although she had to be careful how she walked. She edged towards the door with a smile and opened it.

"Well, it looks like our midnight booty call is here," Chloe said.

Sure enough, the one and only Harry Potter turned up. Artemis raised her eyebrow when she looked at him.

"So, are you checking up to see if I'm okay and not out on a vendetta against my father still?" Artemis asked. Harry smiled at her. "Well, I've had enough vendetta for one day and the fact is…..well I'm sure Sportsmaster has been brought before Ra's and his night sucks."

"You're the only girl that I know that refers to her father by his super villain codename," Chloe teased her. "Then again, you are a little strange, like in that period where you used your real name as your codename. Which I suppose can throw people off just a little bit, because the last thing that people expect is to use your real name, your codename or something like that."

"Yeah, I really wasn't thinking, if I'm honest with you," Artemis replied.

"So, how is Queen Industries?" Harry asked Chloe.

Chloe smiled. "Well, after Oliver was killed on a plane by Bane, that entire mess fell into disarray. Not that his control of the company was secure. Good old Lionel tried to get his hands onto the stocks, and we know we can't allow that to happen."

"No, we can't," Harry agreed with her. "But, I helped you get your hands on it."

"Having the help of someone on the inside was good as well, and let's face it, she didn't show much interest in the company, wanting to get her life back on track and focus on her education," Chloe said. "Let's face it, typical rich girl with a lot of issues, so plenty of shit is bound to go down. And I know that Thea is one of your long term projects."

"Yes," Harry said. "But at least you're finally through the minefield."

"Yeah, I'm the owner on paper, even though it was your capital that helped me acquire the stock that was needed to take over," Chloe said. "And thankfully, I've had help, Felicity really helped pick up the slack that I wasn't able to, and…"

"I wish that I could help a lot more," Harry said.

"Don't worry about it, you got a lot on your plate right now, and even more with the League," Chloe said. She smiled. "And you and Claire finally hooked up. I swear that poor girl had the worst luck in the world."

"Did she?" Dinah asked.

"Some really unfortunate stories, I'm going to have to tell you about them later," Chloe said. She looked extremely amused regarding something. "But, I guess that's just the way things go sometimes. And I know that Harry makes it worth the wait."

"Ra's is getting closer to making his move," Harry told them. "It's between Batman and me, but he has some plan for Gotham City. I'm not quite sure what, Ra's is keeping those cards really close to his chest."

"You heard from her, didn't you?" Dinah asked.

"No, not directly, but she's there, and Nyssa would die before she allows anything to happen to her again," Harry told Dinah firmly. "And Ra's knows that the easiest way to incur my wrath is to harm someone who is under my protection."

"Isn't Cheshire underneath your protection?" Chloe asked. Harry turned towards her.

"It's a bit more complicated," Harry admitted to her. "As far as Ra's knows, Jade betrayed me, and that's why he's sending his men after her with full force. But it's all part of the plan."

"And it was her idea, wasn't it?" Artemis asked. Harry nodded and Artemis sighed. "Of course it was."

"You know how much I don't like this," Dinah said. Harry turned to her with a smile.

"It was her choice, not mine, and Sara would do anything to prove her loyalty to me," Harry said. He looked into Dinah's eyes. "Just like you would."

"Yes, just like I have," Dinah admitted.

"Just like many of us would," Artemis agreed.

"To have that kind of power over women is scary," Chloe commented briskly. Harry turned towards her, shifting his eyebrow. "I'm not complaining, just making an observation."

"I know it was," Harry confirmed. "It has been a long night."

Artemis agreed with that. Things calmed down. Even though it was more of a calm before the storm feeling than anything. She didn't know what was going to happen next, but she excitedly waited for it.

She felt Harry's arms wrap around her and he kissed her blissfully. Artemis could feel his tongue push down into her mouth. She returned fire, both of them battling for blissful domination. The blonde could feel his hands roam her body. Her heart started to race quicker than ever before when he toyed with her.

"Hey, save some for us," Chloe said with a pout.

Artemis grinned and it was obvious that they were going to get their turn. Harry was in this party with three blondes and that was a pretty good place for him to be, as far as he was concerned anyway.

He decided to give Dinah and Chloe some of the same. Then he completed the circle and returned back to Artemis.

* * *

><p>Selina Kyle was out of costume and walked her way back out of her apartment, with milk and tuna for her cats. She didn't get her hands on the mystical artifact of mystery that pretty much everyone and their cousin once removed wanted their hands on.<p>

Thankfully, this was her own personal apartment and not the one that Intergang blew up. She wouldn't be stupid enough to go back to her own apartment as Catwoman. She leased another one as a lair of sorts, but she would need to think of getting another replacement.

Mannheim was behind bars and she couldn't be happier about that. Selina opened the door and found that her cats had been properly fed.

She saw Huntress sitting on the couch, casually. One of her cats rubbed up against her leg and purred, as Huntress scratched it behind the ears.

"Well, this is an unexpected visit," Selina said. She was at ease, because her cats were at ease. "What can I do for you?"

"We need to talk," Huntress said.

"Yes, I figured that this would come soon…and what about your other half?" Selina asked.

"Arcane will be here momentarily," Huntress replied calmly.

"Don't you mean the dreaded emerald eyed dragon?" Selina asked. Huntress didn't rise to her bait. Rather she motioned for Selina to walk over and sit herself down onto the couch.

That was what Selina did when she waited and she watched. This might prove to be an interesting conversation. It would be even more interesting when all three of them joined together.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on January 30<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	44. Riddle of the Ages

**Chapter Forty-Four: Riddle of the Ages. **

* * *

><p>Barbara Gordon winced when she ducked the barrage of gunfire that was sent in her general direction. She wasn't certain that it was directly in her direction, but the crime fighter known as Batgirl tucked her head and rolled out of the way. She needed to take them down now.<p>

Thankfully her fellow crime fighter, Huntress, was able to cover her back. There were few people that she trusted more in covering said back. A cross bow bolt went through the hand of one of the gangsters. He cursed. That was the last thing that he did before Huntress was able to leap up into the air. She pivoted in midair and knocked the gangster down to the ground with a roundhouse kick. It hit the gangster right on the button and also knocked him out.

Barbara kicked one of them men low and flipped over the top of his head. She smashed him down onto the ground.

'_I swear, I've never seen a deal go this far south, this fast,' _Barbara thought. She ran up at the side of the van and she flipped over. Barbara tripped up the man.

The guns of two of the gangsters lifted out of their hands on their own accord. They stumbled forward and crashed down to the ground. It was an amazing sight to see these gangsters go face first onto the cabinet.

The shadowed figure of Arcane appeared. Another trio gangsters who had not been disarmed of their weapons tried to blow him away. Their bullets didn't come anywhere close to connecting with him.

He blasted their guns with an energy blast from his suit. Arcane removed a pellet of something from his sleeve and slammed it down onto the ground. A choking cloud of smoke blinded them all.

Arcane launched himself halfway up into the air and hooked one of them in a half nelson. He took him down, nailing a nerve ending in the back of his leg. That nerve ending forced him down onto his face.

'_This has really got all kinds of shit in a hurry,' _Kara interjected through the bond link. _'For them anyway.'_

Harry replayed what happened in his mind. It started as an ordinary observation and the two sides were doing a transaction between Rupert Thorne and the Penguin. The men themselves were quite civilized and did business together constantly.

Their employees might have been another matter entirely. One of them tried to climb into the back of the van for a rocket launcher at this point in time. Harry latched onto his ankles and reeled him in like a fish.

He forced him down onto the ground with a sickening crack. His teeth shattered. It was an ugly way to be brought down, but it was oddly practical.

'_Well, the night started easily enough,' _Barbara thought. One of the gangsters was knocked off of his perch. The numbers were finally winding down and this one wasn't getting up any time soon on account of his legs. _'Then they decided to start bitching at each other about how far they were apart on money.'_

'_Isn't that always the case?' _Lois asked. She wanted to ram her head onto her desk, but she needed her brain cells to finish up the story that she wrote. The fact Black Canary and Arrow were both in Metropolis last week and the fact that Intergang was in bed with a legendary band of assassins was news.

'_Money does make the world go around,' _Harry added to her.

He was looking behind his shoulder and making sure that there was no one who was coming around. The last thing that she needed was any surprises.

Helena popped up from behind Harry and offered him the report. "Everything is clear and there was no one hiding in the back of the van."

"Good, we don't need to open up a van and almost get our face blown up by a rocket launcher," Barbara said. She helped Harry and Helena double check.

The briefcase lying on the ground full of money was forgotten. Thorne was going to be out several million dollars tonight and the Penguin was going to lose a good shipment of weapons along with some drugs.

Harry picked up the briefcase.

"Trying to pocket some of that money?" Barbara asked, with a grin barely suppressed on her face.

"No, I'm just trying to see how much money is in here," Harry told her. He added almost as a teasing afterthought his next statement. "Although that is a good idea."

The money would either go back to Thorne or be passed around the more corrupt members of the GCPD. Harry figured that he could put that money to a better use. Much better than anything Thorne or his crew could be doing.

'_So, you do realize that you can just crack that briefcase open with magic, couldn't you?' _Donna asked.

Zatanna was the one that jumped in for Harry and reminded Donna of one clear point. _'He could crack open the briefcase with magic and that would ruin the thrill of figuring out the combination himself.'_

'_I think that sometimes Harry does things the hard way just on purpose,' _Donna commented.

Kara looked towards Donna with a teasing smile on her face. _'Oh, really, you're just figuring that out right about now, are you?'_

Donna folded her arms underneath her chest and delivered one nice atomic pout. She reared her head back and sighed. There would be some times where she hated when people were right, especially when they were right when she was wrong.

Harry fiddled with the briefcase a little bit. The combination came to him and he opened it.

He could see several notes inside and they were not money. They had question marks on them and little childish riddles on them.

"Looks like someone has beaten you…" Barbara commented. She frowned when she thought about something. "No, no, no, surely not."

Barbara encountered that particular symbol; that crooked green question mark in the past. It was the sign of someone who was an old rival of hers. And it was not a sign that she was happy about seeing again.

Helena managed to figure out the locks on the back of the van. She opened it open and opened the crates to reveal a glowing box with the same crooked green question mark on it.

The box cracked open. There was a buzzing and a recording of some sort happened.

"Riddle me this, Batman!" a voice yelled, practically taunting them. "What is something that every man is in fear of losing, despite the fact that it will be with him from his birth all the way until the moment that he dies."

"His mind," Barbara muttered, answering the riddle.

"The answer is his mind," the Riddler said. It was obvious that he was taunting them from afar. His laughter grew loudly.

"It isn't the first time that a crime like this had been committed."

Harry, Barbara, and Helena turned around to see the one and only Batman standing there in the flesh. He seemed to pop in out of nowhere. The Riddler's chilling laughter continued before the box dissolved with a loud crack.

"There have been other crimes like this, haven't there?" Harry asked.

"Yes, this is the third such one this week," Batman confirmed. "And all of the riddles are pointing to one big solution, but the question is what."

Barbara groaned, with the Riddler there was some kind of obsessive compulsion with leaving clues to his crimes.

"I should look into any other news about deals between two mob factions going down," Barbara commented. She frowned when she looked over things.

She found that information, chances are that she would find out all that she needed to know about the Riddler.

'_So, how did your meeting go with Selina the other night?' _Harry asked. He waited for Barbara to work her hacking magic and thought that now would be the best time to ask Helena. Helena raised her eyebrow and pretty much was taken aback by the question. _'I've been meaning to ask about that….'_

'_Tell you later,' _Helena thought.

Barbara's cry of triumph caused them to break that line of conversation. They would have to return to this line of conversation much latter.

* * *

><p>Underneath Gotham City, there were many secret lairs of some of the members of the Criminal Underworld. There was a large bust of William Shakespeare on a mantle place underground that wore Batman's cowl on top of it. There was also another model of a cowl that was died pink.<p>

Several other artifacts were strewn across what appeared to be a creepy stalker cave. There was a bent Baterang in the case. There was a tackboard of several newspaper clippings that described several of the events in Gotham City, dating back to the Wayne murders.

"You know, that's where everything in Gotham City went completely insane," the man whispered in the shadows.

He had his hair slicked back and wore a nice pair of glasses. He wore a nice three piece suit that was green. He carried an extremely stylish cane with the same crooked question mark.

"Who is Batman and what is it about him that makes an already insane city go more so?" he whispered. The one and only Riddler stepped out. Several more of the boxes that he prepared had been switched out for his usage for later.

He had a large computer screen that flashed across from him. It stored numerous information and his lips curled into an excited smile. He couldn't believe what was in front of him. He locked back and forth when he stared down at the screen.

Okay, he was calm. And he was happy, that was the main thing to realize. The crate which contained the high grade weapons were on the ground. The Penguin went to painstaking effort to get his hands on these weapons. Just like the Riddler went through painstaking efforts to blackmail people and cause some men on the inside of both organizations.

Now there was going to be some tension between the Penguin and Rupert Thorne. The Riddler looked pleased with himself, glad that it was down to him that he caused this much tension. He rubbed his hands together with glee and he didn't care how much it make him look like a super villain.

His laughter continued to reign in amusement. He grew somber when he got a call. The Riddler decided to switch onto his headset, and take the call.

"Do you have the goods," a gruff voice rasped over the communication device.

Riddler scoffed. "Do I have the goods….oh you do have so little faith to think that I don't have the goods. I always have the goods."

"You better not be double crossing us, Nygma," the gruff voice said on the other end.

"No, no, no, I would never double cross you, Mr. Edge," Nygma replied. "Shall I be expecting your men to come over at the usual spot to pick up the weapons?"

"We'll have them deliver you and the weapons to me personally and my boys will check them out," Morgan Edge confirmed to him. "And if everything checks out, you get to go home free."

Nygma swallowed a lump in his throat.

"And if everything doesn't check out, if one trigger is out of place, you're going to be fish bait," Edge warned him.

"You're really embracing that clichéd 1920s gangster thing, Mr. Edge," Nygma whispered. He crossed his arms, but Edge didn't laugh at his little joke. Nygma whistled. He was dealing with at tough room. "Right, I'll be sure to meet your boys and they will bring me the weapons that I obtained, thanks to my genius intellect. And you're welcome by the way for putting two of your greatest business rivals at large. I'll let you go, your media empire doesn't run itself after all."

Nygma let go of the phone with a solid click and he smiled. He enjoyed riling up Edge. It was an extremely fun activity that he relished.

He knew when to draw the line though. The greatest game was the one that he was playing with Batman. Two years ago, he busted him when he was a lowly hacker, who was blackmailing Gotham's elite.

It was meant to be, he was Batman's greatest rival. He was the only one worthy of the game and the Riddler felt tingles going down his spine. He must be losing his mind, a fitting result given his latest riddle, trying to piece together the Riddler's amazing plot.

The Riddler sat back down in his computer chair. He monitored other deals that were going on in Gotham City. Some of them was worth his time and other deals were not worth his time. He frowned when he was amused at some of the deals.

"Really, that much, you're getting a raw deal," Riddler muttered. He stirred through the information there and tapped on the screen.

A phone call caused his interest to pique. He was getting a call from one of the people that he never thought that he would.

"Lionel Luthor," Nygma said. He wondered what one of the most prestigious men in Metropolis could have wanted with him.

"I understand that you are a man that is intrigued about uncovering the mysteries of life and have the intelligence to do so," Lionel said. His voice was brisk and calm and most importantly to the point.

The Riddler's laughter was really amused. "Well, that much is guilty as charged."

The flamboyant neon lines of his Riddle cave flashed when he leaned back into the chair. He was ready to talk shop with one of the most powerful men in the free world.

"So, what can I do for you, Lionel?" the Riddler asked.

"I wish to find information regarding the RAO Corporation that I can use to stop them from going forward," Lionel informed him.

The Riddler sensed a note of desperation in Lionel's voice. "That might be a tricky deal. Their system is one of the most tricky to hack into in the world."

"I would not have gone to a person who I did not think was capable of doing so," Lionel commented. He slowly fed the Riddler's ego, making sure that he had him right where he wanted to be. "And I'm willing to pay you money that makes things more than worth your while."

The Riddler cracked his knuckles. "As an act of good faith, we can discuss terms of payment later. For now, I need to answer one riddle that is one of the ages."

The answer to the riddle of who was Harry Potter, that was one that had vexed people for quite some time. That was the information that he wanted to know and he would find out. The young man was a mystery for sure and the Riddler couldn't wait to uncover it.

* * *

><p>The mystery in Gotham City lead to one big dead end just as Harry suspected that there was. He returned to the main penthouse inside the RAO building and mulled over what the Riddler was doing. He made out like a bandit with both the money and the merchandise. There had to be a way to track it. Two of his best women, Chloe and Barbara, were on it, but it was rather slow going from here.<p>

"Harry, there's someone on the line," Lana said with a frown. "She says that you want to…."

"I'll take it, thanks, Lana," Harry said to her. He leaned forward and gave her a gracious kiss.

He had actually been expecting this call for a long time. There were several outgoing business deals and one of them was an agreement between him and LuthorCorp, at least in principle. Unfortunately, with Lionel Luthor still very much with an iron grip on his own company, that was slow going.

Harry frowned deeply when he picked up the phone. "Hey, Alexa."

"You know how you asked me to keep a close eye on any suspicious activity that was coming out of LuthorCorp and through Gotham City," Alexa said without any preamble and cutting to the point.

Harry had to admit that she was straight and to the point. "Yes, you…..you were doing that for me."

"And I found out that just within the past couple of days, there was a lot of calls coming from Lionel's private office, all the way to Gotham City," Alexa explained to him.

'_And the plot thickens,' _Karen thought. She was regarding anything that any Luthor said with a grain of salt, although Tess and Alexa were two parties that she was vouched to by Harry. _'But ot what extent, I do wonder.'_

Harry wondered about that as well. "Can you tell me who the calls are coming from?"

"Yes, I can," Alexa agreed. "There were a couple of calls going to Oswald Cobblepot and a couple of calls to Rupert Thorne as well. But those calls appear to be of business nature."

"Appearances can be deceiving," Harry reminded her.

"Right, they can," Alexa agreed. She bit down on her lip and frowned deeply. She was thinking about something and how deceiving those appearances could be. "And there was one final call that was made from an unlisted phone number in Gotham City. I have some of my best people trying to trace the call, but it's slow going."

Alexa paused and he heard that Tess was saying something to her.

"Tess says that the number bounced off several relay stations, whoever set the number up is masking their tracks quite well," Alexa explained.

'_So, is it just me or are we thinking along the same lines?' _Barbara asked.

'_If you're thinking that the Riddler is talking to Lionel, the yes, we're thinking along those same lines,' _Harry thought.

He switched back to the very live conversation that he was having with Alexa. "Yes, Alexa, I believe that I have a good idea who Lionel was calling on that unlisted number."

"Well, if you have a good enough idea, please tell me," Alexa said. There was interest in her voice. "I'm really all ears."

"It was Edward Nashton, also known as Edward Nygma, Riddler, or Enigma," Harry explained. "He is a cyber-criminal and has been leaving a series of taunting riddles and swapped them out for the items in arms deals. It has left the Gotham City Police Force baffled."

"So, has he stolen any merchandise from you?" Alexa asked him.

"No, because there's a tracker embedded where I can recover any merchandise," Harry told her. "How about with LuthorCorp?"

"The same but….yes I've heard of this criminal," Alexa informed him. Her lips curled into a slight frown, even though Harry couldn't see it. He did sense it. "He's been playing all sides for his benefit."

'_Harry, we've got a situation,' _Barbara thought.

"Alexa, I'll call you back, something has come up at one of the labs," Harry informed her.

Alexa just waved off his words. "I'll call you back if I can dig up anything more. Right now, we're just going around in circles. There isn't anything too incriminating with Lionel, not yet, but we're working on it."

"Keep me posted," Harry said. He figured out one thing and that was that Lionel was looking for just as much incriminating information on him.

The emerald eyed sorcerer took the nearest elevator and made his way down to the lab. Barbara was in front of the computer when he got there, with a determined look on her face.

"You know, you got to really take your hat off to this guy, he nearly got through the system," Barbara said. Her jaw was set when she looked over the computer. She was impressed and almost insulted as well. "You crafty bastard, I've got to give you a lot of credit."

Harry raised his eyebrow.

"Let me guess, Enigma," he muttered in a low voice.

"Yes, Enigma, he tried to hack into the RAO mainframe," Barbara explained. "He got closer than most, but not close enough to crack the surface."

Harry frowned when he looked at the redhead. He placed his hand on the edge of the chair and leaned forward.

"So, he tried to hack into the mainframe, did he?" Harry asked. "Even if he got bounced back, there must have been enough incriminating information that he left to trace him back."

"Actually, yes, that would be so," Barbara said. She wanted to slap herself for not figuring that out. "And how the RAO computers are configured….."

"It would implant a small worm into the offending computer that would allow us to track it backwards," Harry said. "If you could just….."

"Oh, I don't mind," Barbara said. She got to her feet and allowed Harry to take the seat next to her. She was really enjoying this to be perfectly honest.

It was really elementary, but it was something that people refused to do out of some misguided sense of ethics. The best way to handle a hacker is to think exactly like one. Harry's fingers flew across the keyboard at a rapid and intense speed of light. He kicked up things a notch or two or maybe it was ten. Regardless, he was making his way to the point.

"I've got it," Harry said. His face lit up with a smile.

'_It's just really amazing how you do that,' _Zatanna thought.

'_Yes, I agree,' _Diana added. She clapped her hands together and her lips curled into a smile. _'It was practically like magic.'_

'_Now that's crazy talk,' _Harry informed her. There was nothing magical about these systems that he set up. They were the sweet sophistication of science, but they were nothing magical.

"So, are you ready?" Harry asked.

"Yes, let's wrap this up," Barbara said. She moved off to get suited up.

Helena stepped into the doorway and suited up. Harry didn't doubt that Enigma thought that he had some foolproof plan to block any attempts to be hacked.

'_You think that you have a foolproof plan, well you constantly are proven to be a fool,' _Karen recited.

Patricia laughed. That was something that her father said. _'I don't think that truer words could ever be spoken if I tried.'_

'_No, they couldn't,' _Harry added. He saw that Barbara was suited up and ready to go. They didn't think that they would get close to nailing the Riddler tonight.

"So, let's do this, right?" Barbara asked. She was in full Batgirl mode and ready to go.

She didn't think that this would be much of a physical fight when they got to the Riddler. The traps leading up to the Riddler on the other hand, were another thing all together entirely. They would just have to play this one by ear.

* * *

><p>The Riddler placed his hands on the edge of the desk and he breathed deeply. He breathed in and out and in and out, to the point where his eyes were about to bulge out. He screamed at the top of his lungs.<p>

He tried every single trick in the book to get inside of the RAO Corporation main frame, but he found nothing but constant dead ends. He clutched the stress ball on his desk and slammed it down. It didn't relieve his stress at all. He snarled in disgust when he hurled it towards the glass case.

He was having a very bad day and there was a blip on his computer. The Riddler's eyes widened when he leaned over and frowned deeply. There was no way possible that this was happening.

"No, no no, this can't be happening!" The Riddler howled in agony. He breathed heavily when he spoke.

He was slowly starting to lose his mind. A taunting voice that spoke from behind him caused his sanity, questionable as it might be, to come further unraveled.

"Ah, you're having a bad day, aren't you?" the voice of Batgirl taunted.

The Riddler spun around so quickly that he was stunned. He saw Arcane, Batgirl, and Huntress standing before him.

"How….how….how….." he stuttered. He tried to get up to his feet to escape.

Huntress put him down to the ground with a whirling punch. She cracked her fist into his mouth and he dropped down onto the ground.

"Well, that was really anti-climatic," Barbara confirmed.

Huntress stepped over and saw a notebook on his desk. There were notes about various deals that were going around, both in Metropolis and Gotham City, along with a few other cities. That would really be useful for any investigation that they might undergo.

"So, that's it, isn't it?" Barbara asked.

"Edward Naston, just as we suspected," Harry informed her. Barbara smiled and nodded.

"I never did like that guy, and he got even worse now apparently, obsessive," Barbara said. "A real glass jaw though."

Helena skimmed over the contents of the crates. She looked over them with a frown on her face. Some of the crates were still there, and there were a few more of those riddle boxes that were there.

"I'm sure that he has records on his computer," Barbara said. She allowed Harry to remove the unconscious form of the Riddler from the chair.

Once the Riddler was thrown on the ground, bound, and tied, that allowed Barbara to place herself in front of the computer screen and get to work. Her fingers flew over the computer keyboard and tried to pull up some more incrimination information, along with some details that she had.

Harry just allowed her to work her magic and Helena leaned back against the wall. She knew that the Riddler wasn't going to be getting up any time soon, but that didn't stop her from taking a nice and close look down at his fallen body on the ground.

'_So, that was that,' _Kara thought. She looked on in bemusement. Even though she could only see Barbara type like a madwoman on the keyboard, it was still making her feel a little bit tired. _'You're going to just let Barbara do her thing, aren't you?'_

'_Do you think that it would be a good idea to get involved?' _Harry asked her.

Kara snorted. _'I know by now that Barbara is just best left to her own devices. Let her find out what she needs to find and she will treat you well.'_

'_You learned that the hard way,' _Donna told her.

'_No more than you did,' _Barbara reminded both of them. Donna and Kara grew sour. Both Karen and Diana laughed in amusement.

'_So, are you close to finding out anything?' _Lois asked. She had to admit that her journalistic sense was tingling. _'Because, it could be information that I can use to….'_

'_Get ahold of yourself, Lois,' _Harry reminded her. Lois folded her arms over her chest and huffed loudly. She wanted to tell Harry that she was ahold of herself, but the opportunity never quite reached itself. _'We'll figure out anything of relevance, trust me.'_

'_Yes, I trust you,' _Lois agreed. She shook her head, completely bemused. _'But that doesn't mean I have to like waiting.'_

'_Good things come to those who wait, Lois,' _Claire said. She sounded a bit relaxed when she was, she was actually resting at her apartment after a long day of rounding up criminals. She was upset that she was elsewhere when that entire Intergang mess went down.

'_You know, you can spare the lecture, Smallville,' _Lois piped in at her. She dared Claire to argue about that.

'_Now, the two of you be nice, or no nookie for you,' _Chloe said. She acted in a mocking reprimanding tone of voice.

'_Talk about going for the throat,' _Karen said with a chuckle. Her mouth curled into a frustrated expression.

'_Going for the throat, going for any part of the body, but I think that they went a little more south than the throat,' _Lois argued.

'_Yes, thanks for that visual image, but that's the truth,' _Claire added.

"And I've got all of the information that we need," Barbara explained to both Helena and Harry. Both of them turned towards her. "That little call that he had with Lionel, it was an in attempt to locate some incriminating information from you.'

'_So, Lionel is getting pretty desperate,' _Karen commented. She sounded extremely amused. _'Can't say that I'm too broken up about that.'_

Harry knew that he had a lot of things to deal with now. The Gang War in Metropolis was kicking up to another level. The fact that the Gang War was on two fronts was a problem. The level of hardware that Nygma released into the wild was something else entirely.

He had to make two calls. First was a follow up to Alexa.

"Alexa, just thought that I'd call you back," Harry said. "Nygma has been selling information about LuthorCorp to Morgan Edge."

"And my father was trying to do business with him," Alexa whispered, shaking her head.

"Well, to be fair, your father purchased some information from Nygma regarding Edge and his shadier operations as well," Harry informed her.

"So, Nygma really was playing all sides for his own benefit," Alexa commented. She had to almost admire the man, even if he was an insufferable genius and a bit of a nutcase as well. "You didn't have any trouble, did you?"

"The traps were child's play, even a pre-school child could have circumvented them," Harry informed her.

Alexa whistled in response and shook her head.

"The real question is, did you disable them all manually?" Alexa asked him.

Harry gave an amused chuckle. "Now, Alexa, are you accusing me of using dubious means and short cuts?"

"That answers my question, I guess," Alexa added. "I'll keep you posted and if you find out anything about the leaks….."

"I'll tell you in person during our next business lunch so you can plug them," Harry said. He wanted all of the leaks to be taken care of before he acquired LuthorCorp.

Lionel's descent into madness wasn't nearly as prolific as Lex's was. Lex was terrifying back in his world. Lionel seemed to think that he was still in control.

"Talk to you soon, I've got to talk to the GCPD to pick up some rubbish," Harry informed her.

"I'll see you at the usual time, then, and Tess tells me that she'll see you too as well," Alexa informed him.

X-X-X

"Get to your feet and quit blubbering like a baby."

A corpulent detective with dark greasy hair and a toothpick in his mouth made sure Nashton was secured.

"You know, I never liked this punk when he worked with us, but at least I don't have to see his face every day," the detective said.

His partner, a young Hispanic woman, turned towards him, surveying him with dark eyes. "Bullock, if you can put your grievances aside for just one second, we need to get him down town."

"Yeah, I know, I don't know what they're expecting to get out of him, with his jaw broken," Bullock said.

Nashton's eyes flashed and there was one word that was flashing into the back of his mind. He was musing about how unfair it was. He had everything settled and perfect. How could he have been humiliated in such a way?

He would have to gain his revenge. His curiosity increased even more with his utter failure.

"Might still be donuts left if we get this piece of trash in,' Bullock whispered in a gruff voice.

Barbara, Helena, and Harry walked things from a rooftop far away. The guns were destroyed and they had all of the information that they would need to hopefully start tracking down the other weapons.

Helena watched Bullock and Montoya escort the Riddler into the back of the police car. There was a small shadow of a smile on her face. "You know, I almost missed Bullock."

Barbara turned towards her with a raised eyebrow and she looked absolutely incredulous. "You know, there's a statement that I never thought that I'd hear as long as I'd live."

"Not that bad, compared to a lot of them," Helena added.

"That's damning him with faint praise, given the rest of the GCPD," Barbara offered. She stretched her limbs out and felt Harry wrap his arm tightly around her. "That was a bit anti-climactic, you know."

"Yes, but they can't all be exciting fights to the finish, Babs," Harry informed her.

'_Yeah, Babs, isn't for your entertainment or the entertainment of anyone else,' _Kara chimed in.

That caused Barbara to sigh in amusement.

"You've earned a good night's sleep I think, after what you did," Harry replied to her.

Barbara shrugged her shoulders. "I don't think that I did too entirely much. I mean…..well not as much as I normally did. It was the RAO system that booted him out and you did a lot of work as well."

"But you dug up some valuable information," Helena told Barbara. The redhead gave her an exasperated look, but Helena smiled. There was a glint in her eyes that indicated.

'_Don't argue with her, you're not going to win,' _Karen informed her.

Barbara shook her head in response. If she was anything like her alternate universe father.

"So, how did your meeting go with Catwoman?" Harry asked Helena.

Barbara's ears perked up. She would be a liar if she didn't want to hear anything about this. Her interest piqued to an entirely new level.

"Well, she was interested in you," Helena informed Harry. Harry nodded.

'_There's a big surprise,' _Lois said in a dry voice. _'But I can't blame her for good tastes.'_

'_No, you shouldn't,' _Lana agreed with her.

"She spent half of the time asking me about you," Helena told him.

"Yes, and how did she spend the other half of the time?" Barbara asked.

"Hitting on me," Helena said dryly. There was really no surprise about that. It would be an even bigger surprise if she didn't do that.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on February 3<strong>**rd****, 2015. **


	45. Seduction of the Not So Innocent

**Chapter Forty-Five: The Seduction of the Not So Innocent. **

* * *

><p>The lab in the RAO Corporation official headquarters was a place where magic happened. Not technically pure magic, but there were some things about it that just seemed to defy all human comprehension. The products the company put out dazzled people. The people behind the company smiled when they read their latest press releases and saw everything come to life around them.<p>

Harry's lips curled into a knowing smile when he looked over the latest reports. The quarterly reports beat last quarter's and Harry hoped that this quarter would be that quarter. It was a long and steady climb upward.

If you give people what they want, they will come. That was just what Harry figured anyway. His green eyes shifted over when he looked at it and returned to what he was doing, with a smile on his face.

The ancient ship they acquired in Egypt was in front of him. Harry could see it right before his very eyes, the ship of the ancient Kryptonian, the ancestor of Kara and Karen. Princess Kathryn of Kandor continued her eternal slumber.

"This legacy system is really impressive," Alura chimed in. She looked it over and her excitement brimmed. If they figured out how to get her out of stasis, then perhaps Alura could get herself out of stasis. That was the key fact. "But I can see why it went out of style all that time ago."

"Yes, you've pretty much hammered that point home," Lara answered. "Do you think that we have the capabilities to get it open?"

Harry nodded his head. The beautiful Kryptonian women smiled at him. "I'm pretty sure that we have the capabilities. All it takes is….the right maneuver to break it open."

Another simulation was up. Did Harry expect to succeed with this one? He remained optimistic, but so far he was assuming that he was just going around in circles.

There was a hum and a hiss. The crystals on the ship presented a problem. They were more likely to blow everything away if they weren't careful, then they were to open up the ship.

"Another zero," Lara said. There was something about her voice that was despondent. She really wished that she could figure out what exactly they were doing wrong.

"Look on the bright side, Lara, we're much closer than we were before," Alura said. She hoped to remain optimistic and they were going to resolve this sooner rather than later.

"Closer, but yet so far," Harry said.

'_Your guess is as good as mine what you're doing wrong,' _Kara chimed in. She spent hours upon hours racking her brain about what could be done. _'If my mother can't find her way around it, then we're pretty much just guessing."_

'_Your mother is pretty intelligent,' _Claire said.

Kara scoffed. _'Understatement much, Claire? The fact of the matter is that she makes your father look like a special needs child.'_

'_Well to be fair, my father did have a lot of flaws,' _Claire admitted. She would be the first person to admit that straight out.

'_Yes, but thankfully you don't have all of his issues,' _Lois said. Claire smiled at the backhanded compliment that Lois gave her. _'You just have enough issues that are all of your own.'_

'_Yeah, thanks a lot, Lois,' _Claire said. She closed her eyes and frowned deeply when she shook her head. _'You really know how to make a girl feel all kinds of special.'_

'_Hey, no problem, Smallville," _Lois informed her. Claire's eyebrows rose when she turned towards Lois. _'You know how I am, always here to keep you on the straight and narrow, to make sure you keep your head in the game.'_

Harry tore his attention away from the bond banter. He was really amused when the banter went on, but he did have to focus on some other problems. Namely the fact that they were still working on the ships.

"Any luck?"

Faora appeared at the edge of the door and walked over. She frowned when she looked at the charts and tack boards that were all over the room. The simulation which ran last replayed and the ship exploded when they tried to pull open. The crystals looked to have a powerful enough charge to vaporize most of Metropolis.

"Does that answer your question?" Harry asked her. Faora let out her breath in a slight whistle when she could hear the cracks.

"Yes, that answers my question," Faora said. Her eyes stared down into his eyes. "So, why don't you take a break for a while?"

Harry was about ready to protest the fact that he needed a break. His sigh was long though. "I might as well, because there's absolutely nothing that's moving forward."

"We'll keep at it, and if we find out anything, you'll be the first to know," Lara said. She could tell that Harry's latest obsession had caused him to put in some late nights.

"Thank you," Harry said gratefully. He got to his feet. While he was stronger than most, he did have his limits. Eventually, he needed to eat and sleep.

Faora gently guided him out of the lab. The two of them walked next to each other when they made their way down the hallway with each other. She turned towards him, with a shadow of a smile.

"So, Alex and Laura are coming along pretty well in their training," Faora explained to him. Harry turned towards her. "And after the….awkwardness involved when I first met her, Alex is really coming along really well."

"That's good," Harry agreed. He didn't want his two sisters to be at each other's throats. "To be fair, you did come on a little strong."

"I was just happy that I finally found her," Faora insisted. Harry looked into her eyes. "Is it really a crime to be pleased that I found her?"

Harry pondered that matter for a few seconds and shook his head.

"No, Faora, it isn't a crime," Harry said. "But, sometimes there are certain skills you might want to brush up on. And one of them is tact."

Faora's gaze locked onto his eyes. As much as she hated to admit it, Harry did have a bit of point. Her ability to tactfully go into situations did need a lot of work.

"So, both are the girls are doing well?" Harry asked her. Faora nodded in response.

"Yes, they're doing well," Faora confirmed to him. She thought about it. "They're a bit rough around the edges, but they have some room for their skills to grow. Alex especially does, if she's anything like us."

"Let's see how well she develops," Harry informed Faora. The woman's lips curled into a devious little smile.

She could not be more proud with how well her sister developed. There were a couple of things that she would have to do. Over time though, her training would increase and it would be accelerated.

"So, perhaps you can stop by and monitor one of the sparring sessions one time?" Faora suggested. She walked next towards Harry. "Maybe you can go a few rounds with one of us?"

"Maybe I can," Harry admitted. The suggestion was obvious. He took a step back and pressed her against the wall. His hot breath came down across the side of her ear. "And maybe I can see if I can pin you down to the mat or not."

"Maybe you can," Faora suggested. Her tone was increasingly breathy. Harry smiled when he backed up from her.

It only took a couple of seconds for Faora to return to her senses and realized that Harry left her hanging. As much as she hated when someone did that, when it was her brother, she couldn't do much about that.

The only thing that she would do is pout and plot. The only man worthy of her just left her in need of some relief.

'_Guess it's time for me to hit the showers,' _Faora thought to herself.

She stripped off her clothes after entering one of the showers. Her nipples grew harder when they were exposed to the cold air. Her pussy ached and she knew that there was only one thing that she could want inside her.

Faora ran her fingers over herself. Not knowing that there was someone watching her closely behind her.

'_Wow, you're really making her choke for it,' _Karen thought.

'_Good, she deserves it,' _Kara added. She supposed that Faora wouldn't be all that bad, but there was a few problems that she had with the woman in the past. _'But, I think that even I'm feeling a bit sorry for her.'_

'_Seriously?' _Karen asked. That was a statement that shocked her in surprise.

Her younger counterpart responded with a wicked little grin. _'I did say almost, but not quite.'_

'_It's really good to see that your sympathies are still intact,' _Donna replied. There was much amusement and laughter through the bond link. _'But, this should be all kinds of fun when she completely breaks. Which knowing Harry, will be soon.'_

'_Entertainment, wish that we had popcorn,' _Lois added wistfully.

* * *

><p>Harry Potter walked in an area that not many people would willingly walk in alone. He was a man without any kind of fear. He didn't have any worries of people jumping in from behind by any means.<p>

He took some really quick strides and covered much ground. If the plan was to go as planned, Harry would need to make contact. The meeting he had with the League was going to follow pretty soon.

Harry entered what appeared to be an abandoned temple. At least that's what it seemed to be on the outside. Harry knew better than anyone else exactly how appearances could be extremely deceiving.

He waited patiently.

'_Is this as nerve racking for you as it is for everyone else?' _Dinah asked.

'_Trust me when I say, it's not just you,' _Helena added. She knew that Harry could handle himself, but both women were close enough by that they could jump in in case Harry got himself into a sticky situation.

What was the chances of that happening? With Harry, the chances seemed to be pretty good. The young man rocked himself back and forth and he waited for the other shoe to drop.

Or rather the phone to ring, as it did. Harry allowed it to ring seven times, which was what he agreed on.

When the phone rang seven times, Harry snatched it up into his hand. The young man placed the phone onto his ear and smiled.

"Yes?" Harry asked.

"The Demon head has made his move," the slightly garbled voice whispered on the other end of the phone. "The plan you know of to destroy all of Gotham City, it will be enacted soon. He wishes to purge the city. Whoever is worthy between you and Batman, he will give the nod to."

"I'm surprised that he is considering another," Harry mused.

"I do admit, I share your surprise with that," the garbled voice agreed. Something crackled on the other end of the phone. "But, while the man is skilled enough, he doesn't have the stomach to do what needs to be done. That's why the Demon Head has turned his attention to Gotham City. For the world to succeed, it will need to be purged of all flaws."

"And the flaws are many," Harry agreed. He wondered what exactly Ra's had planned. "And does he have a secret weapon?"

"I trust that you've heard of a Doctor Pamela Lillian Isley," the woman on the other end of the phone said.

Harry frowned and he nodded. "The name sounds familiar…..she was in an accident, an experiment gone wrong. It mutated her."

"Yes, and she has snapped beyond all reason, wishing for revenge over those who have committed crimes against mother Earth," the woman on the other end continued. "She calls herself Poison Ivy now. And she intends to make everyone who she assumes has wronged the world suffered."

Harry whistled. That was about as wonderful as one might expect.

'_Wasn't she on the short list for potential employment at RAO?' _Lana asked. The name did ring a bell.

'_Come to think of it, she was,' _Helena thought. _'But the accident happened and she was hospitalized for several months. She then disappeared, and then resurfaced as Poison Ivy. And she ran afoul of Batman, but the last thing I remember, she was in Arkham.'_

'_Yes, because if anything Arkham is known for, is it's stable security and it's rate of rehabilitation of prisoners,' _Lois said. She sounded a bit cynical, but given the nature of Arkham, one couldn't blame her.

"And, the Demon has been in contact with her," Harry said.

"Yes," his contact agreed. "I'm not certain if he has enticed her or not, but it's a possibility that she had been enticed."

"Keep me posted as usual, and I'll return at the same spot on the day that we've agreed," Harry said. "And in time, we may have to meet in person."

"I'm certain that we will both meet in person once more, Ra's Al Ghul is determined to force the confrontation when you take control of the League of Assassins," she said. "Of course, I'm at a loss to understand why you haven't done so yet."

"You know, I never do things the way that other people expect me to do them," Harry said. He allowed an air of mystery to continue to go in his voice. "See what you can find out about his plans regarding Gotham."

"Gotham might be beyond saving at this point," his contact warned him. "And yes, I realize that you think that it's a city full of potential and I respect that. I will do what I can to uncover his plans and bring them to you at the earliest convenience."

"Yes, that would be appreciated," Harry agreed. The more idea that he had about what was going on, the better things would be. At least that was the assumption that he had. He could be entirely and completely off base about that, or perhaps he wasn't.

That being said, Harry made his way from the temple. Did he expect an attack when he left? Harry would be almost disappointed with himself if he didn't keep himself on guard and ready for some kind of attack. He would be foolish if he didn't at least think of that.

'_So what do you think?' _Harry asked, to Dinah and Helena.

'_From my understanding, things aren't going to be necessarily solved by Ra's downfall,' _Helena thought. She had a bit of a theory about what was going on, but she wasn't necessarily going to expand on it right now. _'Things are just going to get much worse than they really are, as the factions fight for power.'_

'_I'm sure that Harry has a plan that will make sure certain factions and parts of the League stay in line,' _Karen interjected. That was her theory at least anyway.

'_Yes, I've got some plans,' _Harry thought.

He joined Dinah and Helena and made their way up to the League Headquarters. Karen was there, along with Shayera and Diana. Kara showed up as well. Lois sat back as well.

"Okay, as you might have heard, the League of Assassins or rather Ra's Al Ghul is going to enact their final plan to take down Gotham City," Harry said. He really wished that Batman was here to hear about this.

"Given the increase of mysterious deaths, even for Gotham City, it is just to be expected."

Harry turned around and he saw Batman, standing there with the rest of the group.

"The encounter that you had with Arrow and Black Canary against the League appears to be only one of several such attacks," Batman said. He placed down a graphic crime scene photos.

The image in the photo was stomach turning. The person inside the photo was sliced to ribbons by some kind of blade. The blood oozed out of her body and it looked like she was beyond all misery.

"That's disgusting," Helena whispered.

"Yes, the GCPD is putting it down to a normal crime," Batman informed them. "Even if they were all on the same page, they couldn't deal with someone like the League."

Harry looked towards Batman and decided to drop a couple of bombshells on him. "They're looking to make you a successor to Ra's Al Ghul."

Batman's lips twisted into a frown. "His courting process leaves a lot to be desired. And I thought that Ra's had his eyes on you."

"Yes, he's exploring his options," Harry informed him. "I don't know exactly what he plans to do to Gotham City. One thing that I do know is that Pamela Lillian Isley is involved."

"Isley was sent to Arkham for rehabilitation," Batman said gruffly. The woman was a bright mind, but it seemed that mind shattered after the accident.

"You might want to take a closer look at that," Harry warned him. He looked Batman dead on the eye. "I know that you want to think the best of Arkham, but even you can't deny that there are a lot of problems with that place."

Batman's head inclined downwards and he nodded in agreement. He would be foolish if he didn't deny that.

"Everything else seems to be going well," Shayera suggested. She spoke for the first time, which was a rarity for her.

Diana frowned and she was reminded of something. "Cadmus though, Cadmus is something that's a bit of an enigma. After we found out about that a couple of months ago, we haven't been able to locate anything else about it."

Harry's lips curled into a "hmm" when he thought about it. Cadmus was registered as some kind of research and development company, that appeared to be nothing seedy.

That was the registered company though. The company that was behind the scenes was something else entirely.

"It's a government body that was all too interested in an alien space ship," Claire remarked. Her frown grew deeper.

"Whoever is behind this, they have some deep pockets to shield Cadmus from detection," Harry said.

Karen's lips curled and a thoughtful expression went over her face. "So, are you thinking Luthor?"

"Yes, I'm thinking Luthor," Harry agreed. "He would be one of the people who would be able to have the resources to fund a big operation and one that's a shadow organization. One that doesn't exist."

"Aren't you in close to his daughters?" Dinah reminded him.

"Yes, and they've been a huge help and they are pretty resourceful by their own means," Harry added. He frowned when he thought of something. "But the problem is that as resourceful as they are, they had to get their resourcefulness for somewhere and Lionel has forgotten more tricks than people will learn."

Of course, if Lionel was distracted by other things, it would made Harry working his way into LuthorCorp all that much easier.

"Yes, and I'm sure that they've had their own games that they're playing," Dinah said. She met both of the Luthor sisters and they were pretty devious.

"Maybe," Harry offered them both. He would have to think about this. "Actually, that's a pretty good point, Dinah."

"I'm sure that you've considered it more than once yourself," Karen answered. "That's always in the back of your mind when dealing with any member of the Luthor line. They always have their own schemes that you have to worry about."

Harry frowned, that was really true.

'_And perhaps they're up to something in their own way, but if anyone can figure out what they're up to, it's you,' _Kara said.

"Back to Ra's Al Ghul though," Batman said. He knew that Cadmus was a concern, but a madman who would destroy half of the world to purify it was also a cause for concern.

"I trust that you haven't been able to uncover any concrete information about when he's going to strike," Harry said.

Batman shook his head in response. "I haven't, every single person I've tried to nail down has wound up dead."

"Of course, Ra's would cover his tracks," Dinah said. She was a bit distracted that her sister was out there in the snake pit that was the League of Assassins, yet again. The fact that she was well trained only put Dinah mildly at ease.

"Yes, they're loyal to the death," Helena agreed.

'_But loyalty only goes so far, when someone else comes along that is better, and stronger.'_

They seemed to be going around in circles, which frustrated Harry completely. He had his meeting with one of his many contacts in the League. The funny thing was it was pretty much accepted that Harry would forcefully take control of the League one day and oust Ra's Al Ghul. The man was clinging onto life, with the pits not working as much as they did when he used them in the past.

Until that moment, all Harry had to do was wait for his moment.

* * *

><p>Laura felt herself thrown halfway across the room. She slammed against a set of black mats with a thud and winced when she connected. The blonde slowly rose herself up to a standing position.<p>

She really was excited to learn more about fighting. The problem was that she wasn't learning all that much about fighting. Laura thought that she learned more than enough about the noble art of how to get ones ass kicked.

Faora stood across from her and smiled. She was like a predator that was scoping out her prey. A wicked grin filled over her face.

"Come at me harder, with everything you got," Faora encouraged Laura.

The young blond curled up her hand into a fist. She tried to duplicate what Faora did.

The two of them fought underneath a room with red solar lamps. Their fight was not off of strength or powers, but skill and ability. Faora trained for years underneath the red sun and she pretty much looked like she could handle herself without any kind of super powers.

Laura's fist was blocked. Faora held her arm back and Laura closed her eyes. Her face screwed up when she winced hard in pain. The dark haired Kryptonian forced her down into a kneeling position.

A huge kick right to the side of the chest rocked her. Faora really put her down onto her knees.

Laura scrambled up to her feet one more time. She tried to attack her. It was at this point where Faora wasn't even fighting back.

All of Laura's best assaults just connected with Faora's outstretched arms. Punch after punch didn't connect, rather Faora held her back. The assault connected.

Faora reached forward, grabbed Laura by the hair and whipped her hair back, forcing her down to the ground on her knees before Faora.

"You're losing your cool," Faora admitted to her. "You shouldn't do that, not if you want to win."

"I can't beat you, though," Laura said. Her teeth gritted together in frustration. She charged her opponent.

Again, Laura flipped over hard and was sent crashing down to the ground. Faora kneeled down on Laura's face and held her in a dominating position. Laura struggled, the blonde losing momentum.

"Not like that you won't," Faora commented. She lifted Laura up to her feet. There were a few injuries, nothing too major. They were relatively minor when you compared them to what Faora had during her training from hell. "But that was adequate for today."

Laura was going to have to agree that she did better than she did normally. Mostly because of the fact that she didn't end the battle knocked completely unconscious. To her, that was a great victory.

The blonde took half of a step backwards and slumped onto a bench. This didn't work out the way that she wanted to and she could feel that the solar lamps still beat down onto her. It was a lesson of some sort, she assumed.

"As you might have guessed, I didn't turn the red solar lamps off, so you can understand the consequences of your injuries," Faora told her. Her voice sounded firm, but at the same time it was fair.

Laura's gaze became extremely intense.

"I hope that you weren't too harsh on her, she is just starting out."

Harry showed up and Faora looked at him with a smile. The young man entered the room and greeted her. He closed the gap between the two of them with an intense kiss. It took only seconds for Faora to realize that she was overpowered by her brother.

Laura watched the two of them and he pulled away. She looked towards Harry and shifted her neck.

"Yes, Faora can be a bit rough in battle," Harry commented to Laura. He stepped towards her and placed his hands on the side of her neck.

The young Kryptonian felt Harry's hands skim around the side of her neck. She closed her eyes when he felt his hands work over every inch of her body. This felt extremely good to feel his hands work over her. Nice and slowly, he worked circles around it.

"Is that feeling good?" Harry asked. Laura shuddered underneath his grip. It seemed obvious for anyone who was watching that Harry's magical hands were about ready to claim another girl. "Hmm, I couldn't quite make that out?"

"Yes, yes, it feels great," Laura whimpered. His hands kept roaming across the back of her neck. Her eyes closed shut and she allowed herself to take a breath when he kept rubbing on the back of her neck.

"I'm glad that I'm making you feel good," Harry said. He slowly went about healing her injuries. "You lasted longer than anyone did against Faora yet."

"I'm sure that you can last a long time against Faora," Laura said. She stopped and realized the implications of what she said. The young blonde girl's cheeks grew slightly read at what she said. "I mean…..in battle, you can last a long time with her."

"Don't worry, honey," Harry said. He slowly removed Laura's battle garments to properly get a look at her body. "That's a nasty bruise."

"Well she does hit hard," Laura admitted. She chewed down on her tongue and Harry shook his head. He cupped her face and tilted it backwards.

Faora shook her head. If she knew that Laura was going to get that much attention, she would have gotten her ass kicked.

"Please," Laura begged him. She could feel a pull towards him. "I saw what you do with Kara and Karen, and I want some of that."

"Have you been watching?" Harry asked her. He slowly stripped off Laura's clothes and pulled her back to give her a full examination.

The teenager squirmed underneath his touch and his gaze. She shook her head and breathed in. Her chest rose and it lowered. "No, it wasn't on purpose, I swear."

"Relax," Harry informed her with a smile. His fingers stroked down her stomach. "I know."

She shivered underneath his grip. His hot mouth started to kiss the side of his neck. Laura could not believe this, there were several dreams that started out like this.

"Yes, please," she begged him. Laura could feel the power flow over him and he kissed down her body.

She was about ready to be taken and Harry's mouth kept traveling closer, closer, closer.

* * *

><p>A completely lush and beautiful greenhouse was the scene that a young woman sat in. If one looked in on her about right now, they would have assumed the woman was completely calm and tranquil. She was not one that was capable of any amount of homicidal rage.<p>

The redhead woman sat dressed in a green outfit that formed around her soft curves. The woman lifted her hand and smiled.

"It's okay, baby, Mommy won't let them hurt you again," she whispered. The plants of the world had had a rough time.

Inside this greenhouse were some of the most exotic plants in the world. The woman thought that they were forced into extinction. Fortunately some of them lived and she couldn't be happier if she tried.

The woman's soothing tone continued to increase when she caressed the vine of one of the plants. Her lips curled into a smile when she rocked back and forth.

Misunderstood, that's what they were. Pamela Lillian Isley always loved plants and nature. When an accident caused her to mutate into something else, she could do more to defend the plants that had been oppressed.

She was locked away in Arkham Asylum. The woman felt frustration she was misunderstood as some of her plants were. Pamela thought about those nights, how that strange doctor tried to get inside her head. He asked all of those questions.

Pamela refused to assist them. They thought that they could cure her. She wasn't sick, she was far from sick. Everyone in the world who tormented her precious plants, they were sick.

The door in the greenhouse creaked open. Pamela didn't really acknowledge what was happening just yet. She was in her own little world, a world where her precious children could thrive and grow.

She did finally look up to acknowledge the man who approached her.

"I trust that your accommodations are more than acceptable," he commented.

Pamela's lips curled into a smile. "It's beautiful, it's really beautiful."

"Yes, yes it is," he agreed. He stood in front of her. "These plants have been rescued by those who refuse to accept the gifts that Mother Earth had given them. Rather they poison her and destroy her."

"Yes," Pamela whispered. Her tone sounded harsh.

"A bad man has harmed you, hasn't he?" he asked.

"Yes, he has, he locked me away, away where I couldn't help my precious babies," Pamela said. She spoke in a softened tone of voice, but she teetered alongside the edge of insanity. "They called me mad, insane."

"No, child, you're not mad or insane, you have a gift, and you should embrace it," the man said. "And embrace it to gain revenge on those that would oppress it. The world can be a beautiful place if you allow it to be so."

Pamela thought that this man was saying all of the right things. And he did provide her with this lush greenhouse full of beautiful plants.

"I will offer you the opportunity to remove the flaws of the world and use your gift to help bring Mother Earth to brighter pastures."

Ra's Al Ghul gave the offer, knowing that he hooked her.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on February 6<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	46. Battle of Land and Sea Part One

**Chapter Forty Six: Battle of Land and Sea Part One. **

* * *

><p>The island of Themscrycira was an extremely beautiful place. It was one of those days that were peaceful and extremely tranquil. The woman who was waiting on the island was the Queen. She looked over her fellow sisters. All of them were battling each other and some of them were relaxing. Some thought that the Amazons were only all about training.<p>

That was far from it, however. The Amazons were not just all about training. They knew when to let their hair down and relax for a few seconds. There were a lot of women on that island who could be high strung, but thankfully there were a lot more women who were able to kick back and enjoy the time that they had.

Hippolyta felt like she was looking over this island for an eternity. There was so much about it that did bring a bit of a smile to her face. She paced back and forth a bit more eagerly than normal. One could not blame her if they knew what she knew right about now.

Still, she had to admit that even Paradise had its limitations. There were times where she wanted to get away from it all. Times where even the Queen of the Amazons was going to be a bit high strung and anxious about several things. There were times where she just wanted to scream to the highest heavens. It could be very stressful watching over these many high strung women.

Hippolyta drew in a deep breath into her chest. There was no need for her to lose her mind. Finally, she was going to listen to her daughters. Donna and Diana have been trying to set her up with a wonderful young man.

The woman's experience with men had been really mixed. There were many stories during her time that could pretty much be told as cautionary tales. The Queen stood with her hand on the top of her head. Some of the more frustrating misadventures with men flickered through the back of her head.

Harry was different than many of the other men that she had to deal with. The young man was of a class of his own.

'_Amazing,' _Hippolyta thought. She tried not to daydream like a lovestruck schoolgirl. Such behavior was unbecoming of an Amazon Queen.

"He will be arriving at any second, my queen."

Hippolyta turned around and spotted Artemis. Artemis was a devoted friend of hers and was able to pick up the slack when the responsibilities of the Queen overwhelmed her.

"Yes, I know that he's arriving," Hippolyta said. She crossed her arms underneath her chest and leaned back after a couple of seconds. Her back rested on a pillar. "This will be the longest time that I will be away from the island in quite some time."

"Yes, but it will do you some good," Artemis informed her. She looked straight into her eyes. "And you can't say that you have not made a connection with Harry."

"Not saying that…"

"Mother, I thought this was all settled."

Hippolyta spun around and saw Diana and Donna standing there. Both of them looked at her. Artemis's lips curled into a smile, she was extremely amused by the duel assault of both of the sisters when they looked at Diana and Donna.

"Mother, we had a discussion, and everything was set up," Diana told her. She took a step towards her mother. Hippolyta was about ready to protest. The princess didn't want to hear any of it and cut her mother off immediately. "We've had things set up and Harry has gotten reservations to a nice place, where the two of you are going to spend time together."

Hippolyta was about ready to open her mouth, but her younger daughter cut things off in the past.

"And he's going to be here at any moment," Donna added to her. Her tone left absolutely no room for argument.

Hippolyta frowned and she had the nice outfit that she picked that would allow her to go out into Man's World without drawing too much attention. She was sure that she would be safe.

"The island…."

"Everything will be perfectly safe underneath our watch, trust me," Donna told her. Diana nodded in response and Artemis looked towards her.

"I'm certain that I can handle anything that comes our way on this island," Artemis said. She looked straight into Hippolyta's eyes. Her tone lowered a little bit as the leader of the Amazon armies spoke to the Queen of the Amazons. "Do you not trust that I have the ability to take everything under control?"

Hippolyta hated when she was backed into the corner like that. Especially when the parties who had backed her in were absolutely right, that was something that she hated.

"Am I interrupting anything?"

Hippolyta turned around and saw Harry standing there. She was momentarily distracted by him, wearing a nice and extremely form fitting suit. The Queen of the Amazons was looking at him, like she was completely rendered speechless.

'_Mother completely speechless, that's a first,' _Donna thought to herself and the rest of her bond mates. All of them sounded extremely amused by that thought.

"You look beautiful, Hippolyta," Harry told her. Hippolyta looked into his green eyes and she was completely spellbound for a moment. It took her a few seconds to gain her bearings.

Eventually, the Queen of the Amazons returned back to life. "You look really nice, Harry."

"So, I think that we're ready to go, aren't we?" Harry asked.

Hippolyta didn't have a chance to say anything. Artemis jumped straight in with some words for her own. "No, everything is pretty secure. The two of you have a nice time and I'll take care of any problems that might come along."

"And I'm here to back them up," Diana said firmly. Donna cleared her throat and the older Amazon Princess looked towards the younger one. She stood up nice and straight. "We both were."

Donna tried not to look too smug. Harry decided to wipe that smug look off of her face with a nice kiss. The Amazon Princess closed her eyes and felt Harry's talented tongue probe her mouth.

He pulled away and Diana got more of the same. With that out of the way, Harry reached forward and grabbed Hippolyta's hand.

The two of them walked hand and hand and disappeared through the gate. It was obvious that any reluctance Hippolyta had vanished the moment that she stepped through the gate. Donna, Diana, and the rest of the Amazons watched her leave. Some of them got back to work when Harry was gone.

Artemis turned to Diana and gave her a nice little smile. "You know, she does deserve that time off, and I know that Harry will show her a good time."

"He will," Diana agreed. She held her head down and decided to get some sparring in. Her gaze was turned to her sister. "So, Donna…I want to see how good your training has come along."

"Well, I haven't been slacking," Donna told her. Diana raised her eyebrow, and Donna sighed. "Yeah, I've not really slacking, but I still think that you could kick my ass. And you shouldn't get a big head because of that, you know."

The two Amazon sisters stared each other down for a brief second, neither of them backing off from their stance.

"I wasn't," Diana said. She shrugged her shoulders. The two sisters were about ready to go off for some sparring with each other.

They stopped at the side of the island. There was something that was rising out of the depths of the water. Diana looked forward, her mouth agap.

There was some kind of army that rose out of the island. Artemis's eyes fell on them and she turned to another Amazon. She spoke boldly. "Raise the alarm, we're under attack!"

* * *

><p>Out of all of the myths Atlantis had, there was nothing that was as extraordinary in the myths as there was in real life. There were large and exquisite looking villages with some of the grandest architecture in the world. There were parts of the village that seemed ancient and there were parts of the village that appeared to be more modern. The main part of the capital city was what was depicted in the myths of Atlantis, although it was much more.<p>

In the middle of the dome there was a large school that taught underwater sorcery. There were numerous students, the good majority of them females who came in and out. They seemed untroubled by the outside world. Perhaps they should be more troubled because there were rumblings that something bad was happening.

There were rebel factions in the city that did not take too kindly to surface dwellers. While most Atlantaens looked a bit down upon surface dwellers, it was a situation of the people of Atlantis would leave the surface dwellers alone, if they were left alone.

Regardless, there were some that were trying to stir up the aggression against the surface dwellers. There were many people in the underwater kingdom of Atlantis that thought that since the majority of the world was made of water, the surface dwellers should kneel before them. They were nothing but a group of glorified and unpleasant peasants.

The school was one of the places where more enlightened attitudes. The current Queen of Atlantis would not have it over way. She knew that there were other parts of the Kingdom that were harsher to get under her control. After the death of the King many years back, some people refused to acknowledge her rule.

The only reason why they didn't try and attempt a complete and utter coup was because Mera was an extremely formidable woman on her own. She had powers over the sea that could crush anyone who dared defy her.

"Make sure you get that wing repaired, it has collapsed because of a volatile whale attack."

It was unsettling that some of the grand creatures that were underneath the sea got stirred up. That was just the fact of the matter.

As for our Queen, she was present and ready to look over the people that she served. Mera's red hair hung down about her beautiful face. She wore a regal looking crown about her red hair. She was dressed in a nice form fitting green outfit that wrapped around her curves. This particular woman had a body that could stop traffic and it was completely eye catching to say the very least.

"Yes, Queen Mera."

She also needed to talk to their spell crafting experts about renewing some of the protection wards. The wars that were going on outside were getting really dangerous.

"Make sure everyone is up in their dormitories, until we know that they have moved on," Mera answered. The redhead flipped her hair back and she thought about the problems.

There was a set of footsteps that could be heard. Mera slowly turned her head and greeted another one of her staff. Her personal assistant arrived right before her. The woman got onto her knees.

She had some nice auburn red hair that hung over her face. She had a pair of bright blue eyes that flashed. The yellow top that she wore wrapped around her perky breasts that defied gravity. Her toned stomach was a sight that caught the eyes of many men and some women as well. She wore a pair of tight pants as well that fit to her. She carried a spear of some sort that was held in her hand.

"Queen Mera, it's an honor, I have news for you."

Mera knew that news in this day and age was never a good sign. That was doubly true especially given the current state of Atlantis and all of the problems that they encountered.

"Tula, you may rise to your feet, and face me," she informed the girl. The girl nodded when she looked in her eyes.

"Thank you," Tula agreed. She slowly got up to her feet and faced the Atlantis Queen. Her gaze locked onto Mera's and the two of them spoke. "My Queen, some of the rebels have been roaming around some of the inhabited islands. They're working for someone, but our sources haven't said whom."

Mera wished that this was due to matters regarding the school. When it was due to matters regarding the school, there were points where things were just a little bit easier than they really were.

"I have an idea where they might be heading," Mera said. Her expression and tone grew rather dark.

There were a few allies of Atlantis that were on land. These were allies that got Mera a lot of heat from the anti-land dweller faction. They would just have to deal with that. And they were dealing with it by provoking a role of some sort.

Tula wondered if she was overstepping her bounds by asking her Queen about what was going on. The girl found her courage and the tongue to speak. "Who are they attacking, my Queen?"

"They have decided to attack the Amazons," Mera whispered. There was a second where her voice grew very grave.

Tula's eyebrows went up to the top of her head. Mera lead her up a winding set of stairs to the study. It was evident now that Mera didn't really want anyone to overhear the conversation. While everyone who was left in the academy was beyond reproach, you couldn't be too careful.

The Aide to the Queen of Atlantis watched when her mistress applied a few security and privacy spells. She ran her hands all over the wall. Said hands double checked to ensure the spells were in proper order.

"Sorry about delaying your questions, but none of this can leave this room, until I tell you what to do," Mera said.

Tula's lips curled after a second and she nodded in understand. "Why would they attack the Amazons of all people?"

Mera's face grew extremely grim when she thought about how much to tell her aide. She decided that a good portion of the truth would be for the best right now. "There are all sorts of treasures and secrets on that particular island. We have shared resources and have been allies in the past. We do have common goals where we've isolated ourselves from the outside world. Almost foolishly in some cases. And the Amazons have numerous artifacts that could make anyone who uses them nearly invincible."

Tula really did not like the sound of that and it was for really good reason. The young Atlantean released a long sigh.

"The Amazons do have one of the greatest and best trained armies in the entire world," Mera added. That statement was given by pride. "But against the type of enemies that they might be facing, they are in for a tough battle."

Tula's eyebrows rose. The Queen's young aide thought curiously.

"What do you propose we do then?"

Mera's lips curled into a knowing smile. "There is one man that we can enlist the help of to help turn the tide. I hate to call in such a high caliber favor, but then again, I doubt that I would have to ask. He is connected with the Amazons."

Tula's eyes widened. She couldn't believe it. Was Mera alluding to who she thought that Mera was alluding to?

"You don't say that it's….?" Tula asked. Her voice trailed off. The back of her throat felt raw.

"Yes, I do say," Mera said. She placed her hand. "I will see what more than I can find out. I feel that you would be less conspicuous leaving."

Tula nodded in agreement. After all, there was a conspicuous point about the Queen of Atlantis leaving. Her aide leaving didn't mandate the same level of scrutiny.

"I will do as my queen commands," Tula said. Her tone was bold and certain of herself.

* * *

><p>It took a while, but Hippolyta was able to let her hair down. She was laughing and having a good time. One might be able to say the wine could have helped her calm herself down, but that was only a small part of it.<p>

"Some of the things my daughter gets up to ,both of them," Hippolyta said, when Harry was just telling her a story about a particular interesting adventure that Harry was on with both Diana and Donna. "Well, they are grown women. That is hard for any mother to admit."

"It's hard for any mother to admit that, yes," Harry agreed with her. Hippolyta smiled and allowed herself another drink. "But, you should be proud of yourself with what they've developed into."

Hippolyta considered his words for a brief moment and nodded in agreement.

"Yes, and if I'm proud of anything else, it is that they have such an excellent taste in men," Hippolyta said. Her eyes looked into Harry's. "Would you believe that this is the first time that I've been off of the island in a long time?"

"Diana told me that you spend a lot of time in Paradise," Harry said.

"Well, Paradise might not be Paradise if you grow accustomed to it," Hippolyta admitted. "I can see that there are other parts to the world that are not too bad."

"No, it's not too bad," Harry said. "I wouldn't claim anything to be a perfect world. But I think that we make the most out of what we can."

Hippolyta decided to take this opportunity to give credit, where credit is due. "I'm not entirely ignorant to the outside world. I do have news on the island. And the RAO Corporation is doing wonders in helping bring the world closer together."

"Well, we do what we can," Harry informed her.

'_That's the understatement to end all understatements,' _Lana said.

Claire was going to have to agree with her longtime friend and part time lover about this. _'You do more than your fair share. And you've allowed so many to reach their full potential, and it's just expanding throughout the nation and around the world.'_

'_Don't forget the universe,' _Karen thought.

'_I don't think anyone is going to forget how much this company can expand throughout the universe, and beyond,' _Faora thought. _'But why be like the rest, when you can be better than the best.'_

'_There's a company slogan that we should think about using,' _Kara thought in agreement. She was a bit more at ease with Faora now. The woman that she knew back on Krypton had calmed down and mellowed out a little bit.

Plus they had similar interests, namely Harry.

"You know, the Amazons might find a spot in the company, if you're thinking about expanding things and loosening up relations even more," Harry said. He looked towards Hippolyta and smiled at her. "Isolation only works for so long and then…"

"There is trouble, I know," Hippolyta said. Her daughters had been working on her about easing some of the things. And she had to appeal to the gods, who always hemmed and hawed about everything. There was some kind of power play game being played there. "And I'd be lying if I didn't notice how much Donna and Diana blossomed underneath your watchful eye. There could be some hope sooner than later for more Amazons to find their way there."

Harry allowed for dessert to come.

'_You know what, I'm honestly surprised that nothing bad has happened tonight,' _Kara thought.

That statement from Kara caused Barbara to sound exasperated and look exasperated to match. The redhead wished to bash her head into something regarding what Kara said. _'Oh, Kara, that's the one thing you never say. You never tempt fate like that….you just don't. You've just walked u to Murphy and spit in his face.'_

'_Sorry,' _Kara said.

"Sorry, if I'm drifting off here and there," Harry told Hippolyta. The Queen of the Amazons looked at him. "It's just that…"

"Don't worry, Diana explained a lot to me, but the fact that you're keeping up an intelligent conversation with all that's going in your head should be commended," Hippolyta answered him.

The two of them enjoyed their dessert and made some light conversation with each other. It was actually a pretty nice encounter.

When the two of them were done eating with each other, Hippolyta was looking at him with a smile on her face. Maybe it was the atmosphere, maybe it was the wine, maybe it was Harry, but regardless she was feeling a little bit daring tonight.

"Why don't we take a walk and enjoy the view?" Hippolyta asked.

'_You know, you'd think that an ocean view would be very common when you were on the island,' _Kara said.

Lois was the one who chimed in with a possible explanation. _'Well other than the obvious reasons why she wanted to spend some time with Harry to enjoy the view, it is also the fact that you get to see things with an entirely different angle.'_

'_That was only perceptive of you, Lois,' _Claire teased her. The dark haired woman raised her eyebrow when she looked at Claire.

'_I would say thank you, but I'm pretty sure that you were taking another shot at me,' _Lois said. _'And I need to remind you that there are reasons why I got a piece of Harry first.'_

'_Oh, will the two of you just get a room already?' _Chloe asked her. She shook her head. _'I got to him before either of you two.'_

'_And there's a point for Chloe,' _Lana said, she was looking rather amused by this argument.

Harry and Hippolyta stood on the balcony. The young emerald eyed wizard reached forward and rested his hand on her lower back.

"This is nice," Hippolyta whispered to him. There was a smile that crossed her face. She was in better spirits than she had been in a really long time. "This is absolutely perfect."

"I'm glad that you think that," Harry replied to her. The two of them were inches away from kissing each other.

There was a loud rumble from the water that ruined the moment. Hippolyta's eyes turned and then narrowed. There was a young redheaded woman that rose out of the water.

"What is your business here?" Hippolyta asked in a regal and haughty tone. There was a challenging tone in her voice and it was obvious that she wanted answers now.

The woman remained extremely calm. "I come here on behalf of Queen Mera of Atlantis."

Harry decided to step in front of Hippolyta. He could tell that the Queen of the Amazons looked extremely miffed, for good reasons. If he didn't act quickly, poor Tula would be the victim of a royal smack down.

"Yes, what can we do for you?" Harry asked her.

'_Har, you really are the master of diplomacy,' _Karen thought. She inclined her head down.

Tula looked towards both of them. "I need you to come with me to Atlantis and….."

Harry reached forward and grabbed her around the hand. She was surprised by this bold and brazen move. The young emerald eyed sorcerer reached around and grabbed Hippolyta around the hand.

"Just think about where exactly we need to be and I'll take you there," Harry whispered to her. Tula's nodded in response and the three of them flashed away into a blink of light.

* * *

><p>Mera growled when she slammed her hands down onto a tome. She thought that she should have patience because she was a royal and they had to deal with a lot of problems. The biggest problem was when things didn't go her way completely, she became as susceptible to breakdowns just as much as any person.<p>

The Queen of Atlantis curled her hands together and took a deep breath, mentally counting to ten. She rocked herself back and forth a tiny bit. One could indicate that she was calm enough.

Calm only lasted to a certain point. Her hands curled through her hair and she held her head back. She closed her eyes and mentally counted things underneath her breath.

"Okay, let's try and figure this out one more time," Mera said. She sensed some powerful magic in the air.

Exactly how potent this powerful magic was, it remained to be seen. Mera felt about as useful as a hamster that was running around on the wheel.

Her eyes closed when she channeled another pulse of magic. There was the invisible gate that was outside of the island. Mera hovered perilously close to the gates. She couldn't slam through it no matter how hard she tried.

The woman thumped against the gate. These Rogue Atlanteans were fighting the Amazons. It was an amazing battle. Mera wished that she could help them, but she was on the other side.

There was a strong hand that was on her shoulder. Mera turned around and held her trident, nearly slicing him through.

She paused and stopped herself. Mera thought that she was about ready to be completely embarrassed when she nearly attacked the one that she needed help from the most. She allowed a deep breath to escape her body. Her chest rose and lowered when she calmed herself.

"Are we okay now?" Harry asked her. Mera's eyes looked towards him. "You seem a little tense."

"Yes, you would be tense as well give the situation," Mera said. She hitched in a breath and allowed it to leave her body. She turned to the other woman who had been standing before her. "Queen Hippolyta, it has been a long time."

"Queen Mera," Hippolyta said. She was calmed down after the initial shock. "I wish to apologize for startling your aide when I did."

"I understand, the courtship process is one that shouldn't be interrupted, and I congratulate you on reaching that point," Mera said. She turned her attention towards Harry. Their green eyes met. "It is good to see you again, Harry."

"It's good to see you again as well, Queen Mera," Harry said.

Hippolyta raised her eyebrow. She wasn't sure what amused her more. The casual familiarity between these two raised some interesting questions. Now was not the time nor the place to ask them though.

"I wish that I could call you over here for a pleasure reunion, but I'm afraid that's not the case," Mera said. "There is no delicate way to tell you this but…."

"The island has been attacked," Hippolyta said. Her statement was given with such a chilling calmness that it caught everyone off guard.

"We'll find a way there, right now," Harry said.

He was about ready to teleport himself into the island. There was only one problem. He bounced back from the barrier.

Harry flew backwards. Tula and Mera caught him before he fell over. Both of them caught him and stood him back up.

"You can't get through?" Hippolyta asked.

Harry inclined his head and shook it. "That doesn't make any sense. I have the gates configured that it would take an extremely powerful magic user to block me."

"Well, it goes without saying that an extremely powerful magic user has blocked the way inside," Mera said. She turned towards Harry. "Do you have any theories regarding who was behind any of this?"

Harry lifted his fingers to the bridge of his nose and pinched it. He allowed himself to contemplate that. "Several….."

"That's not all," Mera chimed in. She hated to interrupt Harry. Her hands rested against her side. "Some of the soldiers in Atlantis have entered a rogue faction. I caught a glimpse of them before they were pushed back and…."

Harry placed his hands on either side of her face. She succumbed to his touch nice and slowly.

"Just relax and focus on the memories," Harry told her.

He should have noticed the warning signs that Diana and Donna were not popping up any time soon through the bond link. Harry worked extremely quickly and edged into Mera's mind. Mera relaxed herself and Harry skimmed through some thoughts in her mind.

"It's Black Manta," Harry concluded.

"Black Manta?" Tula muttered. That was a name that inspired some fear into the hearts of many people. And she wasn't the only one. There was only one problem with him being behind this. "I thought that he was dead."

"That's what many people assumed, or perhaps may people hoped," Mera muttered underneath her breath.

It would be a long, long time before any of them would forget the dangerous threat known as Black Manta. He kept attacking them several times. That provoked the wrath of the former King of Atlantis.

The final battle featuring Black Manta and Aquaman raged and it was one that left several parts of Atlantis ravished. The King fell before the feet of his subjects and his blood splattered corpse was left before their feet.

Manta was taken down as well in one last act of defiance by the King before he completely expired. Manta's body was never spotted after the explosion that claimed them. Mera suspected that there was a chance that he was still alive. That was one thing that could be confirmed. However, it was one thing that was suspected.

"You know how dangerous Black Manta is, I suspect," Mera informed Harry.

"I have a pretty good idea the type of menace a man like that has," Harry said. "And I know that his army has the ability to devastate everyone whether they will be on land or sea."

"He's the leader that the rogues need, but he's also one that could send them to their doom," Hippolyta said. "We need to find a way through the gates and make whoever blocked us out pay."

Hippolyta's eyes narrowed and she shook her head.

"Surely, not," she muttered underneath her breath. Harry, Mera, and Tula looked towards her.

She saw everything clearly right about now. There was only one person who was spiteful enough and had the abilities to lock everyone off of the island.

"I wouldn't blame yourself for anything that happened," Mera said. "She would have attacked whether or not you were on the island."

Hippolyta allowed herself to calm after that point and she slowly nodded in agreement.

"You say that I shouldn't blame myself, but yet, I do," Hippolyta said. Harry's strong hand wrapped around hers and he squeezed it.

"We need to figure out how to get around her enchantments, and not beat ourselves up," Harry said.

Mera, Hippolyta, Harry, and Tula all put their heads together. Between the four of them, they would be able to make headway on finding a way to undo the enchantments and restore Harry's ability to get to the gates.

The fact Harry couldn't hear two of the members of the bond weighed on him a little bit. He would have to break his way through the barriers and find them.

'_At least they're able to handle themselves,' _Harry thought to himself. He could say the same thing about all of the girls as well.

* * *

><p>"I can't hear Harry at all!" Donna yelled frantically. Her voice quivered a little bit. "Something really bad happened, at least we were able to seal them out from the palace."<p>

Diana's eyes narrowed when she looked towards the crack of the gate. Artemis and several of the Amazon soldiers prepared to fight them when they eventually broke through.

"For now," Diana said to her.

"Yes, for now," Artemis agreed. She was a bundle of nerves for obvious reasons. "They're after the gates."

Diana looked like she swallowed a lot of sour milk. The gates were the one place on the island where she and Donna were forbidden to go anywhere near. Their mother explained it to them why, and that destroyed their curiosity.

"No, it can't be," Donna thought. She looked extremely grim. Things looked to have gone from bad to worse.

"I need to go secure the gate, the three of you, stay here with Diana," Artemis said. She leaned towards the Amazon Princess with a frustrated look in her eyes. "I hate to impart so much responsibility on you…"

"It's fine," Diana said. She looked at her mother's old friend and sister. "It runs with the territory, believe me, I understand."

Artemis walked off and there was a loud thump when some of the Amazons dropped down to the ground.

There was a woman who appeared with a hood on. Diana's eyes narrowed when she realized who was here. Donna was surprised and taken off guard by her sister's rage. She never knew Diana to get too angry.

"CIRCE!" Diana growled.

"Hello, Princess ,it's nice to see you again," Circe said. Her lips curled into a devious grin when she stared at her. "Did you miss me?"

Circe and Diana stared each other down.

"Not particularly," Diana whispered. She stood in front of her, crossing her arms together.

"We have had….a misunderstanding, and you really want to hold it against me?" Circe asked him. "So, how is that husband of yours? I've wanted to meet up with him. I have a feeling that I would have a lot of fun."

Donna and Diana exchanged one of those uneasy looks with each other. They slowly came to terms with what was happening here.

"Yeah, because all of this is just for you to get laid," Donna said. She extended her head downwards and shook her head. "You know there is such a thing as a personal ad, perhaps you should take one out, instead of going through this convoluted thoughts."

Circe laughed and the doors opened. Manta and his troops entered the palace and stepped backwards. The troops entered inside and stepped back.

"The gates are all yours!" Circe yelled. She looked so bombastic that it was scary.

"Thank you, I'll take it from here," Manta said. He looked extremely calm when he walked forward towards the gate.

Donna looked extremely incredulous, and she frowned even more. They really had to be joking. "You really think that we're going to let you….."

Donna found herself freeze in place. Circe placed an enchantment on her that froze her in place. She did the same to the other Amazons.

"You should have no problems," Circe said. Black Manta nodded.

"I wish the Queen was here to see her at my feet," Black Manta said. He stepped away with his men. The Amazons were frozen, unable to attack.

Circe smiled when she saw Manta walk out. She needed him to open up the gates, because she certainly wasn't doing it. There was a danger that existed for her touching the gates, thanks to the goddesses. There would need to be a pawn that touched them for things to go her way.

The gates opened and Circe's lips curled as she saw a powerful flash in her gaze.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued On February 10<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	47. Battle of Land and Sea Part Two

**Chapter Forty-Seven: Battle of Land and Sea Part Two.**

* * *

><p>The great magical libraries are of Atlantis was supposed to be at the group's disposal. There was a treasure trove of information, much of it lost that they could utilize in their attempts to find a way to come back home.<p>

Mera clutched her fist in absolute frustration. The problem with this entire mess was that no matter how much she tried, she could not find a way to undo the gates. The Queen of Atlantis was feeling a great amount of personal insult. Actually, her pride indicated that she was more determined. Her eyes glowed in absolute agony.

Harry saw the warning signs. He grabbed her gently around the hand and squeezed it. Mera calmed down, mentally counting to ten. Her breathing became extremely labored when she cooled down nice and slowly. Her eyes looked up, when she took the latest book and dropped it down.

She turned to Tula and tried to keep her temper in check when she spoke. "Please tell me that you've found something."

"At the risk of getting my head ripped off, I haven't gotten much further in this mess than you have," Tula warned her. She looked to be agitated by the entire matter and who really wouldn't be considering the situation. She clutched her fist and sighed. The young magical user flipped through another magical tome, her frown deepening.

"There's got to be a way around this," Hippolyta said. She had been working on the barrier. It was almost like Circe was standing on the other side of the barrier. She taunted the Queen of the Amazons.

Harry was the calmest of the party of the four. Mostly because someone had to be calm in this entire mess, so he spent his time mostly in silence, flipping through a book on his lap. He jotted down some notes.

'_I have to agree, the runes around there look borderline impossible to break,' _Zatanna thought, when Harry was just finished relaying a nice little theory to her through the bond link. _'But don't confuse borderline impossible for actually impossible.'_

'_Especially when Harry is involved,' _Karen chimed in. Given her dabbling in Kryptonian sorcery, she thought that she knew a fair bit about magic. This might have been slightly out of her depth. The blonde frowned a lot. _'So, what do you think we're going to have to do next?'_

'_Keep hitting things from this angle,' _Harry thought to himself.

"Do you think that you got it?" Tula asked, breaking Harry out of his concentration. The young woman could see his gaze on them. Those eyes were enough to send shivers down a person's spine. Those eyes flashed of death and dismay. It was enough to terrify Tula, that much was for sure. "Sorry, but…."

"We'll know in a minute," Harry said. "The problem is…."

"We don't have a minute," Hippolyta said. She knew that her sisters could hold their own, but as their queen, she should be there, fighting beside them, through thick and thin.

"Don't blame yourself with what could happen, you didn't know," Mera said. She was trying to appease the Queen of the Amazons.

She did know that if she was in the position Hippolyta was in, she would want to fight alongside her people as well. Mera got where the woman was coming from, she really did. The woman's lips curled into one of those frowns when she kept working through the magical tombs.

"I just wish that we weren't running around in circles," Mera said. The other three members of the group looked at her. "And I have a feeling that's a sentiment that's shared…"

Mera's sentence was cut off. There was a loud rumbling outside. The Queen of Atlantis and the Queen of the Amazons both rose to their feet and could hear something.

"Something here that shouldn't be," Mera whispered. She clutched her hand over the staff that was in her hand. She was not going to allow that, especially so close to the school.

Manta's attacks had not been that brazen, at least not normally. Circe on the other hand, she was another matter entirely. She had been that brazen to be honest. The woman was really up for assaulting anyone when she attacked.

"If someone is here that shouldn't be, then it is our mission to drive them off then," Hippolyta said. The woman clasped her hands together and she assumed a battle stance.

She was about ready to head into a battle stance, but Mera was already on her way outside. She made her way towards a plate and pressed her hand on it.

She entered a room. Harry, Tula, and Hippolyta stepped next to her in that room. Harry equipped himself and Hippolyta with means to better hand the harsh underwater environment that was Atlantis. His hands also slipped with a pair of brass knuckles, ready to attack first and ask questions later.

There were large underwater creatures that walked towards them with demonic intentions in their mind. Whilst they walked like people, they were most certainly not like people. The quartet looked towards them and Mera looked particularly focused.

"You're going to now find out why it's ill advised to try to attack someone who has dominion on the water," Mera said. She closed her eyes and sent a rush of water towards them.

One of the creatures was attacked by a Stingray. A pair of sharks came in and went to chase the creatures off.

"We do need one of them alive, because we can track them back to the source," Harry said.

One of the creatures grabbed him from behind. Harry jumped over the top of his head and stuck a landing on his feet. Harry disarmed the man of the spear and flung him down to the ground with another expert movement.

Hippolyta disarmed two more of the creatures and the tentacles of an Octopus that Mera controlled plucked several of the creatures.

"Alive, but just alive, correct?" Mera asked Harry.

Harry looked towards her with a frown. "Yes, just alive, that's right."

She slammed the enemy down onto the ground and pulled him up. He was completely injured, blood dripping from his mouth. But yes, he was still alive and that was what mattered.

"You're going to talk," Harry whispered in the man's ear. He grabbed him around the throat and dangled him from his hands. "And if I don't like what I hear, there are going to be problems, do you got that."

The creature goon looked at him with contempt. It was obvious that Harry was going to have to get things done the old fashioned way. That was more than fine with him. The young man looked into the creature's eyes and prepared to yank the information out of it, piece, by piece, by piece.

* * *

><p>Circe stood off, now that the Amazons were frozen and watched the gate pry open. For as much as she used Black Manta as a puppet for her schemes, she had to admit that the man had his uses. The woman's lips curled into one of the most devious smiles a person could imagine when she watched the gate be pried open right before her very eyes. There was a nice hum when the gate swung open.<p>

Her excitement grew, along with her greed.

"Yes, it's beautiful," she commented breathlessly. She nearly held her hand out and could touch it. She retracted her hand at the last second when she realized that what she reached out for should not be touched by any means whatsoever.

Black Manta watched her. "Do you need my men to get into position to help you withdraw the item?"

"I wouldn't bother," Circe replied with a flash of maliciousness dancing in her eyes. "I've got everything under control."

Diana was really frustrated. She could see the theft going around her, even though she had been frozen in place. Her limbs could not move.

Her thought process was jammed as well. The Amazon Princess couldn't access the bond link no matter how much she tried and she tried hard. Diana screwed her eyes shut and took a long and heaving breath. It was really close for her breaking out. All she had to do was focus and she would break out.

The Amazon Princess nearly thumped her head against something. Circe turned towards her with a smile.

"Oh, poor baby, well don't worry, everyone will be put out of their misery, soon," she cooed in one of the most wicked voices a person could imagine. She stepped closer towards Diana and smiled wickedly at her.

Black Manta looked towards her. He waved for his men to back off. He reached into a satchel that was hanging from his side. He removed a glowing golden collar, with jewels on it.

"Moments from now, we'll have it, just exhibit some patience," Circe said, not bothering to look Black Manta in the eyes.

Her gaze returned to the gate and her grin got even more wicked. The woman spread her arms and soaked in the power.

There was a click and something was around her neck. Circe spun around and Black Manta turned around.

"I found this in your quarters, curious to see how you would leave something like this lying around," Manta replied.

Circe tried to break the collar off, but she was shocked by it.

"I had an associate of mine make a few modifications," Manta continued wickedly. "So, your powers are mine to command, if I choose to. And I'll need someone to enter the gates and acquire the ultimate power for me."

"Manta, you're a fool, if you think that you can get the better of me," Circe said. She went to attack him.

Her power snapped back into her and caused a ricochet effect. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head when she screamed in absolute agony. The woman dropped to both of her knees, breathing heavily.

"You can see that I'm not a fool," Manta commented towards her. He looked at the woman.

Her magic spells faded, and Diana and Donna, along with the rest of the Amazons broke free.

"Create a shield to protect us, now," Manta ordered.

Circe was about ready to protest this situation, but her hand rose against its own will. She erected a SHIELD to protect herself and Manta. The attacks bounced off of it from the Amazons trying to break through.

"Help me!" Circe yelled.

"Silence!" Manta yelled. "Unless I tell you otherwise."

Circe's mouth opened, but there were no words coming out. She hated this entire situation, a device that she intended to use on Hippolyta or one of her daughters was turned around and used on her it. It was a glorified sex toy really, but someone tampered with it and removed the pleasure elements from it.

She wondered if that someone might have been a certain Chaos Lord.

"Normally, I'd be all for that bitch being put down a peg or two," Diana said. She took down one of the rebel soldiers and smashed his shin hard onto the ground.

"Bitch deserves it, you know what she intended to use that collar for," Donna said. She dodged a pair of the attacks and kicked her enemy down across the back of the leg, smashing a foot down across the back of the leg.

"We need to find a way through that barrier, and secure the gate," Artemis said. Her eyes closed shut when she fought hard through the hordes of Manta's rebel soldiers.

Manta roughly led Circe closer towards the gate. The woman's contempt flashed through her eyes, but she didn't do anything.

"Retrieve it and present it to me," Manta whispered.

Circe looked at him, pointing to her throat. Manta responded by kicking her in the stomach and doubling her over. He grabbed her by the hair and looked her in the eyes.

"I don't think that you understand what I'm trying to tell you," Manta whispered in an extremely harsh voice.

Circe's lips curled into a disgusted frown. She tried to warn him, she really did. Now the consequences would be put on Manta's shoulders for him to bare.

She stepped into the gates and retrieved it. If he wanted the ultimate power, he could choke on it.

Black Manta smiled when Circe presented him with the power. He cast her to the side like a used tissue when he retrieved it, because he no longer needed her magic. He would be able to rule over the land, over the sea, over the air. He would be able to rule everywhere!

* * *

><p>Harry was done interrogating the goon. They were about ready to head through the gates, now they had the information that they needed to get there.<p>

There was only one problem, Harry felt dizzy suddenly. He could shake off a bout of sudden dizziness no problem whatsoever.

It was when there was a loud cracking about the area of the back of his head that really got him agitated. Something stabbed him hard and he closed his eyes, screaming in absolute agony when his head felt like he was on fire.

He saw a flicker. Harry had been through many trials. Some of these trials were the reason that left his powers to a fraction of what they were when he crossed over from dimensions the first times.

Harry saw the barrier between life and death in his mind's eyes. It represented a veil, one of the few things that world got correct. While the veil only led people to some kind of Dimensional Nexus, where they could cross worlds, one of those worlds was the realm of the dead.

Everything around Harry went in super slow motion. He could barely hold his head up. There were some frantic yells of his name.

Mera looked at him, almost apologetically and shocked him back to life. Harry's eyes snapped back and he nearly fell backwards, panting.

"Are you okay?" Tula asked. She didn't really expect what Mera did to really work, but at the same time, she was glad that it kind of did.

"Yes, I'm fine, but I can't say that much about anyone else," Harry said. He staggered to his feet after a second.

Hippolyta looked at the mate of both of her two daughters and her potential mate, with a great deal of concern dancing through her eyes. Her lips curled into a frown and she was about ready to speak.

"Perhaps I should have explained that a bit better," Harry said. He closed his eyes and drew in the deepest of deep breaths. "Actually, it's very simple, the barriers between life and death, they're falling down."

"He's entered the gates and grabbed the power," Mera whispered. She looked rather distressed and she wasn't the only one.

"The throbbing sensation in the back of my head would seem to say yes, but the good news is that he can't control it as well as he wants to," Harry said. He gave a sigh. "And the bad news is that he can't control it either."

Harry could see another flicker. There were things in the realm of the Dead that never should go into the realm of the living. Especially since Black Manta was edging all too closer to the Forbidden zone.

Normally, he would have amused himself with the fact that there were so many locations that were dubbed the Forbidden Zone. However, Harry had to believe that this particular Forbidden Zone redefined the name.

He shook his head and returned to a stance. His knees nearly buckled out from underneath him.

"Are you sure that you are able to come with us to the island to fight Manta and his troops?" Mera asked.

"His troops won't be a problem, it's Manta with his new found powers that is going to be a problem," Harry reminded the women. All of them looked at him and nodded in response. "But, yes, I'm ready. When the safety of my wives are on the line, you better believe that I'm ready."

Harry could feel a connection to the power that Manta utilized. He allowed himself to take a nice breath when he spoke.

"And are you all ready to go?"

There was really no need to answer that question. The answer was going to be yes. They found a way around the barrier. It took a lot of plotting and planning.

"Circe has been subdued by Manta," Harry added, almost as an afterthought. "That might be why we can get through now. Although the chaotic energies around the island are making it borderline difficult for us to get in and do anything."

"Circe was subdued by Manta?" Hippolyta asked. She looked completely surprised by this news and turn of events. "Might I ask how?"

"You know, that's a good question," Harry offered her. He wished that he had a good answer to go along with that good question, but all he had was so many questions and not enough answers. "We're going to have to find that out when we got there."

"Do you think that we have a chance to take down Manta with his ultimate power?" Tula asked Harry.

Harry reached towards her, touched the top of her hand with a smile. Tula flushed underneath his grip and he pulled her in towards him.

"Well, we have a chance about as much as we do when we go against anyone," Harry replied with a smile on his face.

"You have a plan," Hippolyta said.

Harry shook off more of the flashes between life and death. He turned to the Queen of the Amazons with one of those looks flashing through his eyes.

"You do recall the secret weapon, don't you?" Harry asked her. "Remember, who is staying on the island?"

"She's resting though right now," Hippolyta said. She stopped and looked around. "But, that's bound to wake her up and she won't be pleased that two of her sister wives are put in danger."

"What is this secret weapon?" Mera asked. She could not help, but be curious.

Harry smiled and he waved his hands, transporting the group as close to Themyscira as they could be allowed.

* * *

><p>Jean Grey sat in her quarters. She was enjoying a nice relaxing time on the island, but she was snapped back awake.<p>

The Phoenix within her cried in agony and anguish, with the redhead's frustrated expression going near. She saw demonic shadows surrounding her. There was a loud round of laughter, simpering as it was. The shadows closed in around them all.

The barrier between life and death was beginning to crack like an eggshell. Jean noticed the cracks and it was interfering with her powers as the Phoenix.

There was something else that caused the Phoenix to cry within her. Her heart kept racing extremely fast and beat hard against her chest. It was like some frustrating drum beat and it continued to hammer her chest over and over again, until the point where she was almost driven completely and absolutely breathless.

"No," Jean whispered. She closed her eyes and shook her head. She could feel her Harry in pain.

He must have been effected by this as much as she was ,given the unique circumstances regarding this.

Jean had awoken and she could see the troops walking around the island. They were nothing but insects to the grand scheme of the universe.

She took them out with the merest gesture of her mind. There was a lot scream when they freaked out. The power of the Phoenix was all consuming. Jean showed down, dressed in white robes that billowed in the wind when she moved.

Black Manta looked when he felt the power flowing through him. Diana and Donna exchanged a determined look with each other. Both of these Amazon sisters were going to do something that was both brave and reckless at the same time. They really had no choice, they had to jump in and do something before Manta became a problem.

Donna and Diana rushed Manta at the same time. They tried to take him down. They were deflected by Manta.

Circe rolled her eyes at this. She had to commend these girls for their fighting spirit. Their common sense on the other hand, that left a whole lot to be desired.

"I have power that people dreamed of and now the entire world is mine!" Manta crowed at the top of his lungs. "I can bring people back to life and send them spiraling back to their doom, to death, I have…"

"Great story, but it ends the same way it always does."

Manta looked at the one and only Harry Potter showing up. Circe looked at him, shaking her head.

"You were supposed to block him from coming on the island," Manta whispered in a low and dangerous voice.

Circe shrugged her shoulders and reared her head back. She lifted her hand up and pointed it towards Mera. She made a circular motion around her head.

"It doesn't matter, it…."

Jean popped up out of nowhere and sent Manta's soldiers flying in every single direction imaginable. One could see that Jean Grey was pissed and she wasn't going to take anyone's shit any more. Her eyes shifted into a dangerous glow. Her nostrils flared when she looked at them.

Black Manta got to his feet and Harry rushed forward towards him. A purple energy dagger appeared in Manta's hand.

Harry dodged the attacks. He could tell that the barriers between life and death were getting closer and closer to coming down.

Mera and Hippolyta were directing the troops back through the gate. The demonic legions from the Forbidden Zone threatened to exit the gate.

"Another hero will fall before my feet," Black Manta said. He raised his hand into the air. "Just like Aquaman and almost as arrogant as…"

Harry delivered a thunderous blow to Black Manta and cracked an attack against his throat. He pushed him backwards and continued to go at him. It was a back and forth battle where both of them continued to do the hand to hand combat thing. Neither was willing to push back for any reason whatsoever.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't quite make out what you were saying over the sound of my victory," Harry informed him.

Mera, Hippolyta, and Jean, with the help of Diana, Donna, and the other Amazons pushed the creatures closer back to the portal. They weren't going back without a fight.

Harry saw the realms about ready to become one. His hands began to twitch the more that he became one with it.

Jean surrounded Black Manta and trapped him. The power of the Phoenix bared down on him and Manta summoned even more of the forbidden power in an attempt to back her off.

He tried to channel the energy through his body in an attempt to siphon the power off of the Phoenix. His eyes glowed maliciously when he tried to push himself forward.

"I don't think that you want a taste of my power," Jean whispered. Excitement brimmed through her eyes.

Black Manta felt each and every one of his nerve endings explode.

Circe shook her head. She wished she could speak. If she could speak, she would have said that she could see that coming.

Manta's eyes dilated and Harry rushed on in. Manta blocked the attack and tried to summon even more fiends from the Forbidden Zone.

"You can't control all of this, can you?" Harry asked. He broke Manta's attacks with the greatest of ease. "You try, but no matter how hard you try, you're still running around with all of the ability of a hamster on a wheel. You have no purpose, and now…."

Manta could feel the gate trying to reclaim the power. The problem was that he absorbed so much the power that he was one with it. He tried to fight, tried to cling on to life.

Mera watched Black Manta. She could see his troops about ready to retreat, which ones that were able to stand. She summoned a huge whale which blocked them from retreating from the island.

"One day, I'll be back," Manta said, and he was sucked straight into the gate like he was absolutely nothing.

Hippolyta took a deep breath. She did a quick overview on the island and was certain that all of her sisters were safe.

"Well, that was amusing."

Circe realized that Manta's power was completely broken. The collar was still on her. Harry turned around and pressed his thumb to the collar.

"Yes, it is," Harry told her. "You can speak freely, but any attempts to attack myself or anyone under my protection will not end well for you."

Circe realized that she went from being under Manta's control, to being underneath the control of Harry Potter. She wasn't sure, but she was pretty sure that this was an upgrade.

"And as punishment, I think that I should put you underneath Hippolyta's watchful eye and control," Harry informed Circe.

Circe's good expression faltered. She was going to consider being underneath Hippolyta's guard to be a downgrade. Especially given the problems that both of them have had in the past. Her eyes liked up towards Hippolyta and she frowned.

"You know that I didn't mean….it was all in good fun," Circe said. She resembled a dog that was on her hands and knees and had been caught in the act of doing something really naughty.

Hippolyta looked at Circe. Being on her hands and knees before her was a good look. The woman smiled and turned to Artemis. "Artemis, do you think that you can bring Circe to quarters where she can rest, until I can tend to her properly?"

Artemis nodded in response, her smile never once leaving her face. "It will be done, Queen Hippolyta."

"I believe this will make your life a bit easier," Harry said. He waved his hand and a leash connected to the collar.

"Yes," Artemis agreed when she looked at Harry. The red haired Amazon took the leash in her hand with great relish. "Yes, it would."

* * *

><p>After what happened, Mera assumed that she had a mess to clean up. Some of the guards were knocked out and easily transported back. The problem was getting them back without stirring up the sympathies of their allies. They would get a fair trial, something that many of them would not give the surface dwellers if they had taken over.<p>

The Queen of Atlantis frowned deeply. She thought that things could go a lot better, but on the bright side, things couldn't get much worse. She could see Tula walking towards her from behind. Mera turned to face her aide.

"Tell them to check the gateways down at the lowest levels," Mera said. "Some of those troops, I have a feeling Manta found a way to breech our security and draft some of our worst prisoners down there."

Tula didn't question her Queen's words. It was one of those things that she just decided to do.

She passed Harry when she left. Harry stepped towards her and looked at him.

"And once again, I find myself still in your debt, something that I should be comfort in being in," Mera said. She looked over him and stepped towards him. "I believe I also owe you an apology for having your date with Hippolyta disrupted."

"Believe me, that happens far more than you think, and it would be better to disrupt the date now, then to have it disrupted later, when we have to fight for our lives," Harry informed her. He stepped closer to Mera, closing the gap in between the two of them. "And my offer to join the League, it still stands if you're interested."

Mera thought about it. She looked into those bright and vibrant green eyes. It was hard to say no to them.

"You know, I think that it's time for Atlantis to extend relations to the outside world a little bit more," Mera said. She subconsciously took a step closer to Harry. "It's long overdue in fact, perhaps we wouldn't have the problems that we had now if we just opened our gates."

"Maybe," Harry informed her. Mera looked at him, her eyebrow raised. "Maybe not, you never do know."

"That much is for certain," Mera agreed. She stepped forward and looked at him. "I do apologize that the grand libraries of Atlantis didn't do anything in helping restore your powers."

"All lessons cannot be learned through books, I'm afraid," Harry said.

"A lesson that many people fail to learn until it's too late and they are gone," Mera said.

The two of them got close to each other. Mera wrapped her arms around Harry and pulled him in tight towards her. Her tongue found its way into his mouth and the two of them kissed.

The moment that they got into this kiss, Hippolyta turned up at the edge of the room. Both of them turned from it.

"Don't stop on my account," Hippolyta said. She took a step back and allowed them a proper amount of space.

Harry detached himself from Mera and made his way over to Hippolyta. He pulled the Queen of the Amazons in close to him.

"Actually, I wanted to continue our date where it left off," Harry said. He held her in tight and could feel her breasts press against his chest. "If that's quite alright with you?"

"Yes, it would be fine," Hippolyta breathed with a smile on her face. She could feel Harry's lips inch closer to hers when she felt his power encircle her. "The real question is, is it fine for Mera?"

"Yes, it would have to be fine for me," Mera said, pressing herself against Harry and kissing the back of his neck. Her hands worked down his body. "I think that this is long overdue, wouldn't you agree?"

Hippolyta wasn't going to argue with that. Harry kissed her on the lips and his hands worked over her.

The toga was removed from her body, to reveal gorgeous skin and an extremely fit, well-toned body. The Amazon Queen was a beauty.

"I think that I should pay tribute to you," Hippolyta said with a smile. She pulled off Harry's shirt and pressed her bare breasts against his chest.

"Yes, I'll join you," Mera agreed with him, having removed her outfit and pressed her bare breasts against his back. She kneeled down behind him and removed his pants, revealing the treasure that lied beneath.

* * *

><p>The quartet laid on the bed, dripping in their own juices. Mera and Hippolyta laid on either side of Harry. Tula placed her head on his lap and he was slowly stroking his hair.<p>

"So, what do you have to report to me, Tula?" Mera asked.

"Everything is secure," Tula informed her. It was a good thing that there was no problems. Harrys essence dripped from her pussy when she shifted.

"That's good," Mera replied.

"What Harry did sealed the gate, but we should keep an eye on it," Tula agreed. She felt Harry's hands stroke through her hair. "But, I suppose I should be calling him my King after that."

"Perhaps," Mera commented, when she pressed herself up against Harry's chest. "And I think that we didn't secure the door as much as we should have."

Hippolyta smiled when she saw two young women hovering outside the door. "Diana, Donna, why don't you come on in?"

**To Be Continued on February 13****th****, 2015.**


	48. Day on the Island

**Chapter Forty-Eight: A Day on the Island. **

* * *

><p>The adventures of the previous day had been one that many would not forget. Thankfully, no one had gotten seriously hurt. Donna and Diana got a bit humiliated when Black Manta knocked them around with his powers and they weren't the only Amazons who stepped up their training. Other than those emotional injuries, pretty much everyone else was okay. Black Manta might have had a little trouble getting sucked into the gate.<p>

'_I'm going to ask the obvious question, if you don't mind me doing so,' _Chloe said.

'_Well, the obvious question is the one that we all want to ask, so I'm pretty sure that one of you should ask it,' _Harry said. He was sitting at the edge of the island, waiting for his guest to come on with him. Things actually were pretty quiet when Harry watched the sunrise come up over the side of the island.

'_Okay, obvious question might be obvious, but is there any chance that he can escape the prison that you put him in?' _Chloe asked.

Zatanna decided to helpfully jump in for Harry to field that particular line of questioning. _'There's always a chance that he'll break out. No prison lasts forever, especially a magical prison.'_

'_That's something that I think I can confirm more than anyone else,' _Harry thought.

He closed his eyes, thinking about what occurred earlier. The fact was that his powers never flared up like that. Not even when Jean was arriving and one would think that they would fire up about as much, if not more so during that time. The young man crossed his legs and tapped his foot calmly.

He watched the waves slap across the rocks on the sea. It was oddly tranquil and peaceful. Harry rocked himself back and closed his eyes. He just felt this moment on the island.

'_Deep thoughts, much?' _Karen asked. She was pretty teasing in her tone when she spoke to him.

'_The deepest,' _Harry agreed with her. He raised his finger and rubbed the side of his chin. He threw his head back and was thinking what he needed to do next. _'It just feels like the calm in between storms.'_

'_Ra's,' _Dinah muttered underneath her breath.

'_Yes, among other things,' _Harry thought. It was hard to put his finger on exactly what he was thinking, but he had a feeling that Ra's Al Ghul was just one larger piece to an even bigger puzzle. _'Until he makes his attack on Gotham, we won't know. He's keeping the exact details secret.'_

'_In a twisted way, this is his final test, to see if you will take the reigns of the League,' _Helena said.

'_It's Ra's Al Ghul, naturally he's twisted,' _Dinah thought. _'But what about…'_

'_When the time is right, all of the cards will be on the table,' _Harry told her. He didn't want to expose what his plans were completely.

He thought about everything that had happened. He had a few eyes inside the League, but the closer Ra's got to the moment, the more guarded he began.

All he knew at this moment was that Ra's wanted to wipe Gotham City off of the map. That was something that he had many supporters to. There were a lot of extremist factions who suggested sealing off Gotham City from the rest of the world so the disease in the city did not spread.

Harry looked up and he awaited his guest arriving. Kara flew over the water, her cape billowing behind her. She dropped gracefully down on the ground right in front of Harry.

"I'm sorry I'm late," she told him, in her most apologetic tone of voice. She threw her arms with Harry with a nice long kiss. The two of them pressed their lips against each other when the two of them exchanged their passionate embrace.

Harry allowed her to slip away from him. There was a momentary frown on her face. He waved off her frustrations.

"Kara, don't worry about it, I know that you got tied up," Harry said. He sat down on the rocks and he offered her a spot.

Kara sat down on his lap next to him. He wrapped his arm around her, brushing against her bare flesh.

'_Best seat in the house,' _Laura thought. There were a lot of girls who agreed with that.

'_Makes me wish that I would have been the one to fly to the island,' _Faora thought. She shook her head. She recalled that she had a lot of important things to do. _'But, I guess that Kara won that one.'_

Kara tried not to look too smug about it. She turned around to the point where she straddled Harry's lap and looked into his eyes. His hands placed on her lower back when he held her in towards him.

"So, how are things going?" Harry asked her. "I know that you were working on a process to give your mother a body."

"Yes," Kara agreed. She bit down on her lip so hard that it started to bruise. "But the problem is that it's slow going. You know that there's a lot of problems with the Kryptonian cloning process. It has to be done with care."

"Yes, I know," Harry informed her. "But your mother wouldn't do anything that would put herself or anyone else in danger."

Kara shook her head. That was the good thing about her mother was that she was not going to put people in danger. She could have rushed through the physical bodies for her and Lara, but she didn't want to wait.

"That's just it," Kara said. She used her finger to twirl around Harry's hair. She gazed into her eyes. "It's taking a while to get Princess Kathryn out of her ship."

"Your mother informed me that she was close to making a breakthrough," Harry said.

Kara shrugged. "Closer than she was, but further away than she feels that she should be, at least that's what she thinks."

"Well, I'm sure that she'll let us both know when she has a breakthrough on any account," Harry said.

Kara slid off of his lap and landed on the ground. She smiled when she saw Jean turning up there.

"Hi, Kara, how are you doing?" Jean asked.

"Fine," Kara said. She looked at the avatar of the Phoenix Force with a grin. "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing fine," Jean informed her. "I left to the island and gained some perspective that I needed."

Kara could understand how it might feel for Jean to be disconnected for so long. While her time in stasis was not nearly like what Jean went through, one could argue that it was somewhat comparative.

"Are you enjoying your time on the island?" Harry asked.

Jean turned towards him, her lips curled into a nice little smile. "Yes, I'm enjoying it, enjoying it so much that I don't really want to leave."

Harry and Kara smiled at each other. They could really understand the feeling.

"Well, I can't say that I blame you," Harry said. He looked towards Kara and she shook her head.

"It really is a beautiful place," Kara said. She sat next to Harry on one side and Jean sat down next to Harry on the other side.

The trio just enjoyed the view of the island. More importantly, they were enjoying a long calm, before a storm that they would hopefully weather. The young man stretched his legs and stretched his arms over the beautiful blonde haired woman and the beautiful redhead woman that was next to him.

* * *

><p>Harry made his rounds around the island later that day. He already passed many Amazons on his way through the island. Some of them were fighting with each other. All of them seemed to want to brush up on their skills.<p>

Donna and Diana were the two people Harry saw trying to brush up on their skills just like that. He had to admit that seeing those two girls go at each other like that just had to make him smile a little bit. It was one of those sibling rivalries where one was trying to outdo the other to get further ahead. Harry smiled at it.

'_If it drives them to better heights, then it can't be all that bad,' _Harry thought.

'_As long as you're there with the firehose to break them up before things get too out of control,' _Lois thought, bending her head down and shaking it with a long sigh.

'_You would know from experience all about that, wouldn't you, Lois?' _Claire asked her.

Chloe chimed in with laughing. _'She would, she would.'_

Harry allowed this discussion to go through to it's obvious conclusion. Lois's indignation made things fairly amusing. He made his way past the archway and entered a temple that was glowing with some kind of strong energy.

He saw some of the goddesses depicted in some elegant statues that he entered the temple. He almost sword that the statue of Aphrodite was giving him a flirty smile and a wink, but perhaps that was just his imagination.

"I don't think that it's quite to your imagination, my husband. There's a lot more to these statues than meet the eye at first."

Hippolyta swept into the room and threw her arms around Harry's waist, pulling him into a deep embrace and a deeper kiss that closed the gap between the two of them. The two of them exchanged their passionate greeting.

The Queen of the Amazons pulled away when she was overwhelmed by the larger than life young man before her. He soaked her panties with the merest gesture and he smiled deeply.

"You know, I'm going to go through more sets of panties just by you kissing me than anything else," Hippolyta said. Her eyes glazed over with lust when she was in the temple. "And the energies in this temple are higher than normal, so that might not be the best place in the world to meet."

"Is it?" Harry asked her. Hera nodded in response when she looked at him.

She thought that some kind of explanation would be for the best. "This is a temple that I can communicate with the goddesses of Olympus when they choose to. I had to come here when Donna married you, to get their blessing. Thankfully, they were charitable."

"There are a lot of myths about the goddesses, how true are they?" Harry asked her.

Hippolyta frowned. "There is some truth in some of them, but a lot of the context in the stories have been lost. A lot of Hera's more unfavorable actions for instance have come with dealing with some of Zeus's bastard spawn."

Harry nodded in response. The exploits of the King of the Gods was well known. He couldn't keep it in his pants and that lead to a lot of trouble more often than not.

"Hera did welcome in a lot of Zeus's children, but many of them sought to cause trouble," Hippolyta commented. "That was one point the myths got spot on, although one could say they grossly underestimated the spawn Zeus had."

Harry snorted. It did seem like that as outlandish as some of the stories were, the actual truth might have been even more outlandish.

Hera could see the look of amusement dancing through her king's face. "Yes, all myths do have some degree of truth to them. Even though some of them have been twisted to make certain parties seem unfavorable."

Harry thought that was about that.

'_A lot of butt hurt Demi-Gods getting their feelings hurt,' _Donna thought. She almost took Diana down, before she returned back to the fight.

'_Getting closer,' _Kara chimed in, when she watched the fight from her position. _'After all, almost is better than nothing.'_

'_Almost is closer than you were…..well any other time you sparred Diana,' _Barbara answered.

Hippolyta allowed herself to be amused by the bond banter. She had a feeling that there was a lot of that going around, but that was just a hunch that she had.

'_Do keep your cool Donna, and don't lose sense of what you're doing,' _Hippolyta warned her youngest child.

'_Yes mother, I understand,' _Donna thought. She rocked her head back and sighed. She was riding high at what happened.

"The Goddesses have been watching things rather closely," Hippolyta said. Harry's eyes turned back to the conversation. "And don't be surprised if they try and…."

"Call me to Olympus for a booty call," Harry replied dryly.

"That's not exactly how I would have put things, but yes in essence," Hippolyta informed him. She could hear an amused round of laughter.

The moment she looked up at the statues, they remained silent. It was almost like they were taunting them for reasons that she didn't know. The Queen of the Amazons frowned extremely deeply and shook her head.

"They're trying to play us, aren't they?" Harry asked her.

"The goddesses play an interesting game, they're holding their cards close to their chest," Hippolyta said. "This Circe attack might have scrambled some plans they had, but she was always a wildcard. And now she's in my hands."

"Yes, and what do you plan to do to her?" Harry asked.

"I haven't decided, but perhaps the punishment should fit the crime," Hippolyta said. "I'm more concerned about the party that crafted the collar to control her in the first place."

"I have to agree," Harry said. The truth was that he thought about that over and over again. There were a couple of magical users that could pull that off.

Black Manta must have been the epitome of all things desperate.

"We better move from the temple…..unless we want our emotions to overwhelm us," Hippolyta continued. She leaned forward and started to nibble on Harry's lips. "Aphrodite….left her personal touch with this temple….."

"Well, that much is obvious," Harry said. He ran his hands over his wife's body and pushed her into the wall of the temple.

Any thoughts to leave before they had continued one more round of love making had just faded off into the air. Hippolyta knew what was about to come next and she embraced it.

* * *

><p>Diana and Donna concluded their sparring session with each other. The Young Amazon Princess panted when Diana wrestled her down to the ground. She was so close, she was so close that she could feel it.<p>

"Not too bad, Donna, but you overwhelm yourself way too fast," Diana warned her. She allowed Donna to rise up to her feet and fold her arms together. "You got to pace yourself a bit better."

"I have a feel that no matter what I do, I'm not going to be able to beat you," Donna said.

Diana reached forward and placed her hand firmly onto her sister's shoulder. "Do you really want to defeat yourself before you even enter the arena of battle? What ever happened to being your very best?"

Donna shook her head. She had to admit that if she hated when Diana was right, then she would spend most of her time hating her sister. So she made it a habit not to hate her sister when she was right.

"I guess that you're right," Donna said.

Diana corked an eyebrow at her sister. Her lips curled into a tiny fierce grin. "You guess that I'm right."

"Yes, you're right, you're perfect, are you happy? Donna asked her.

Diana looked at her sister's bemused look with an equal amount of bemusement on her face. She couldn't even begin to shake her head. She placed her hand on her sister's shoulder and made sure their eyes locked onto each other. "Well, I wouldn't call myself perfect."

Donna snorted. She looked at Harry exiting the temple right there. It was obvious what happened between him and their mother. Donna smiled, her mother really deserved someone like Harry. She could tell by the look on Diana's face that she thought around the same lines.

"Well, she was long overdue for something like that," Diana said. She was happy for her mother.

It took many months of prodding and scheming. And things nearly fell apart because of an attack on the island at the worst possible time.

Despite all that that, things had a funny way of pulling themselves together in the end, and Diana couldn't be happier because of that.

She turned to her sister, who had a similar smile on her face. Gently, Diana nudged her sister. Donna turned around and raised her eyebrow.

"Why don't we go and spend some time with our husband?" Diana asked her. Donna raised her eyebrow.

"You mean besides the time that we spent with him last night after he ravished our mother and Queen Mera and Mera's assistant," Donna said. Diana reached forward and slapped her on the rear. "Okay, maybe I deserved that."

"We need to tell him that we repaired the gateway as well," Diana reminded her sister. "It's now connected with the main RAO penthouse and hopefully will avoid a repeat episode what happened."

Donna walked over and saw Harry reach her. She finally was glad to beat her sister at something and she got an amazing prize as well. That made everything so much better.

Diana allowed her sister to have a moment to shine. Her lips curled into a momentary smile. She made her way over.

"Donna, that wasn't too bad," Diana said. Donna pulled away from Harry's kiss absolutely breathless. "But I'm going to have to show you how it's done, once again."

Donna folded her arms underneath her chest quite playfully, giving her sister the eye. "You just have to show me up at everything, don't you?"

Diana laughed and she swooped on in. She pressed her lips onto Harry's with an extremely powerful and passionate kiss. Their tongues danced together, with Harry pushing his way into her mouth.

The Amazon Princess sighed. Kara turned up in amusement to watch what was going on.

'_All and all, I have to say that Har was the one that won that one, and not Diana and Donna,' _Faora thought. Her eyes twinkled in amusement.

Kara threw her head back and sighed. She hated to agree with Faora, but this was one of those times where she was right. The young blonde just had to roll with the punches.

Harry didn't give her much time at all to pout. He reached on in and grabbed her around the waist. He pulled her into a sizzling kiss. His tongue pushed into her mouth and met with Kara's. The two of them exchanged this passionate exchange.

Kara sighed when she felt Harry's tongue go deeper into her mouth.

"And now that's out of the way, we can spend some quality time together," Harry said. He offered all of them a comfortable bench he conjured. Donna sat down on one side of him, Diana sat down on the other side of him. Kara took the position in his lap.

"Aw, why didn't I think of that?" Diana asked.

Whilst she was not happy that she didn't either, Donna looked at Diana with smugness in her voice. "Sorry, you snooze, you lose. You taught me that."

"Never expected to have my own lessons turned around and hit me in the face," Diana informed her sister. She shifted her arms underneath her chest, leaning back with a lengthy sigh. "But I guess that's just how the ball bounces."

"Expect anything," Donna said.

Kara turned to her friend. "Was that another lesson that you picked up from your sister?"

Donna shook her head in the negative. "Actually, I picked that one up on my own. I'm capable of picking things up on my own, you know."

Harry placed his arm around Donna. It was times like this, he wished that he had more than two arms, so he can gave his girls the adequate amount of attention that they deserved. The problem was the charms weren't coming out right.

That was another story for another time.

"I'm sure you are, Donna, and you've done a pretty good job at fixing the gate," Harry said.

"How did you…"

"I do pay attention to the projects that my wives do, even though my presence might not be obvious all of the time," Harry said. He decided to shut off bond access to everyone else, but the girls on the island. "Why don't you…..why don't you test out the gate to see if it works?"

Donna frowned. She was having some serious misgivings about walking through the gate. Her heart skipped a couple of beats when she eyed the gate very nervously. She didn't really know whether or not she could work it.

"Why not, what's the worst that can happen?" Kara asked her.

Donna turned over, her glare meeting Kara's eyes. Kara shook her head.

"Forget that I ask," Kara said. She was glad that Lois or Claire or Chloe didn't chime in, warning her against saying something like that.

"Okay," Donna replied. She placed her hands against her side. She bit down on her lip and prepared herself. She braced herself for impact. "Here goes nothing."

She stepped into the portal and things flashed around her.

Donna popped right at Barbara's shoulder and caused the redhead to leap up with an indignant shriek of surprise. The woman's eyes widened in shock, and Gwen smirked at it. Whitney, who was working at something, looked on with a surprised look on her face. She proceeded to laugh her ass off.

"You could have fucking warned me," Barbara said crossly. That caused Whitney to laugh even more.

'_Hey, Harry, I think that the portal works,' _Donna thought in amusement. She popped right back onto the gateway.

Whitney's laughter continued at the bemused look on Barbara's face. Gwen shook her head and went back to work.

The things that amused them on a slow day at the lab could be really amazing.

* * *

><p>Harry was glad that the portal was in nice and working over. It was only one of the things that he hoped to test while he was here at the island. He made his way to an ancient magical library. It reeked of all kinds of powerful magic, coming off the books. Some of these tomes were very old and were rescued by the Amazons from civilizations that had been long since lost to the history of the world.<p>

As interesting as the books were, Harry was not here for the books. He was here for a simple little test to do to see how his magical reserves were coming along. His encounter with the Phoenix many months back sparked his return to power, but he was only to the level that he was before he stepped through the veil and his magical abilities grew scrambled.

Harry was content with never performing another spell, but magic was a useful weapon to have, if one wished to use it. His green eyes flashed when he drew the runes. He amused himself by thinking that once in his life, Ancient Runes were used to help him, as opposed to almost kill him. That was an interesting change of pace.

'_Yes, that is an interesting change of pace,' _Karen thought. She knew about Harry's poor luck with magical statues just as much as anyone else.

'_Do I detect that there's an interesting story that I must hear?' _Mera asked. Her lips curled into a smile when she thought about it.

'_Well, not interesting, unless you count magical statues coming to life and try to hack me to pieces as interesting,' _Harry thought. _'Constantly, to the point where it's almost a running gag. Almost as if magic itself is acting like a jilted lover and upset that I stood it up.'_

'_I'm pretty sure that's not quite what's happening,' _Zatanna teased gently. _'But it's really…..really interesting to see what's going down with that. I'm sure there's a good reason why that's happening.'_

'_Well, I'm looking forward to hearing that good reason,' _Harry thought. He slapped his palm against the side of the runes and they glowed to life.

Harry got a nice reading off of his powers. They were a little bit better. That was encouraging.

It seemed like this latest episode with the gate boosted his powers somehow. Harry couldn't explain exactly how.

He knew that there was one more test that he could run. Harry made his way down to the library in Atlantis with a flash. For some reason, Mera was laughing through the bond link at his sudden and impulsive action. Harry didn't know why, but he would find out sooner rather than later why he would be doing so.

Tula was sorting through some books. The attack in Atlantis damaged the library. A pretty young girl with brown hair and brown eyes was keeping her company. She wore a nice red bikini top that stretched over her supple breasts and she had a flat toned stomach. The more interesting thing about her was the fish tail, indicating that she was a mermaid.

"So, you really met him, didn't you?" the mermaid asked Tula. She was in another chamber outside of the library, floating in the water, whilst Tula put books back on the shelf. "The King of Atlantis."

"Well, I wouldn't…" Tula told her, but the mermaid cut her off.

"The Queen would not stop smiling, and did you see how much she was glowing?" the mermaid asked her. "I think that having someone like him as the King, might deter some people."

"We can only hope," Tula answered more to herself, than her friend. She was stacking some books on the shelf and she smiled when she was getting to work.

"Wait, you got some of him too, didn't you?" the mermaid piped up in an excited voice.

Tula's eyebrow raised when she looked at her. "Lori, I…"

There was a loud pop and Tula nearly fell backwards in surprise. She fell straight into the arms of the one and only Harry Potter.

"Your majesty, I'm sorry," Tula whispered.

Lori laughed at the look of utter bemusement on her friend's face. "Your majesty….and yet you denied that he was the king."

"King, what's this?" Harry asked, feigning ignorance. "Hello, I haven't had the pleasure of meeting you yet, Miss…."

"Lori," she commented. She looked at him like he was a particularly juicy slab of meet. The young mermaid licked her lips when she studied the gorgeous young man in front of her. "Lori Lemaris."

She wished that she could exit the chamber and touch him, but dry land and her didn't really mix.

Harry entered inside the chamber with her, underneath the water.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lori," Harry informed her. She smiled when she saw him.

She actually hoped that Harry would exit the chamber now. Especially since she could see him dripping wet when he exited. That would be really nice.

"I'm glad that you showed our queen a good time, she's been high strung as of late," Lori said. Harry looked into her eyes.

"Well, it was a long time coming," Harry informed her with a smile.

"Your eyes are so beautiful," Lori said with a smile. Her heart skipped a beat when she looked at him.

"Yes, Lori, you can ogle the eye candy later," Tula said to her. Lori looked at her friend, a frown crossing her face. She got a bit huffy and indignant about that fact.

"I am not ogling the eye candy," she replied, crossing her arms and she frowned. Tula raised her eyebrow when she looked at her. "Okay, maybe a little bit."

"So, what can I do for you?" Tula asked her.

"I need to check my levels for my magic," Harry informed her. Tula raised her eyebrow and nodded.

"Step out please, so we can do this properly," Tula said.

"Oh, do what properly?" Lori asked in a teasing voice. Tula gave her a frown. "By all means, step out of the chamber."

'_It seems like she's determined to get you dripping wet,' _Zatanna added through the bond link.

Donna laughed and she gave one of her smiles. _'That really isn't an entirely bad idea, you know.'_

'_Of course, you wouldn't think that's a bad idea,' _Diana thought. She smiled at the thought of it.

Karen jumped onto the bond link. _'I'm really not sure why you're complaining, besides, you would think of the same thing.'_

Without another word, Harry stepped out of the chamber. He was dripping wet for a moment where he exited the chamber. He closed his eyes and performed a swift drying spell after the girls got a look at him for a moment.

There was a soft sigh that Lori gave from the other side. Tula lead Harry deeper into the library, the two of them walked next to each other.

"It's a good thing that I was able to clean up things a little bit," Tula said. She reached the side of some shattered shelves and sighed. "Please forgive the mess, things are a bit of a disaster area around here, still."

"That's fine," Harry replied to her.

"I'm glad that you think that it's fine, hopefully I have this library up to standards soon, the attack threw everything off," Tula reminded him. She motioned for him to take his shirt off.

He did so as well and Tula tried her hardest not to be too distracted by the form of a shirtless Harry Potter.

The theory that she should envision someone in their underwear to ease up on the nervousness did not help her at all. Her heart drummed steadily against her chest when she leaned back against the pillar and consulted the spell book.

"Just making sure this is done right," Tula said. She closed her eyes.

The power coming off of Harry was positively panty soaking. The fact that there would be even more power coming soon blew her mind and made her want to jump him right then and there in the library. Somehow, by sheer miracle, she managed to hold herself off.

Just barely, she held herself off. It took a great deal of self-control, but Tula just managed to hold things off.

* * *

><p>Ra's Al Ghul made his sweep to one of the pits. He wanted to make sure that they were all secure. There were very few people who dared use the pits without his permission and even fewer who would manage to escape his knowledge of them using the pits for too long.<p>

The hour reached close at hand. The man thought that his latest trip into one of the pits left him strong, but that strength faded soon. The League of Assassins would descend into chaos should he not find an able successor.

The world he spent countless years trying to purify would burn and be succumbed into darkness. Ra's looked completely stoic when he looked into the pits. His invading forces were already being prepared.

Gotham City was the boil in the darkest, deepest, rat infested pits of the world. The man's eyes flickered when he looked over the pit. He didn't dare stir it up.

"Make sure those are planted, exactly," Ra's told one of his many men. The man entered the room with the pit and held an explosive charge in his hand. "Carefully now, I don't want things to be stirred up any more than they have to."

Ra's could see Talia standing at the end of one of the rooms. He frowned and stepped forward towards her.

"You shouldn't be at this place, my daughter, things are hostile," Ra's informed her.

"There are many people in the League that are concerned that this plan will only incur the wrath of the Dreaded Dragon," Talia informed her father. "Do you have any words where I can go back and appease them?"

"His ire and direct attention is exactly what this plan is to accomplish," Ra's said. "Also, the Detective is under consideration, but I'm having some misgivings regarding whether or not he's capable. There will be a fair opportunity given for him to prove his worth. We'll see how he handles adversity when his beloved Gotham City burns."

Ra's left his daughter to ponder his words. He had the final pit ready and he needed to return to the Green House.

The Greenhouse was close to the final Lazarus Pit, which made Ra's trip there to be practical. He allowed the doors to swing open and he saw numerous pods set up. The plants in the greenhouse were in various stages of growth.

"Careful, that one is in a particularly delicate stage, it's teething," Pamela said, as if she was speaking of a young child.

"Then I would not seek to disturb it," Ra's answered her. "The question is are you ready to usher in a bright new world?"

The smile across Pamela's face told the story. The grin crossing her face grew even more charming, and one of the pods broke open, with a lithe hand pushing out. "Let it grow."

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on 217/2015.**


	49. Calm Before the Storm

**Chapter Forty-Nine: Calm Before the Storm.**

* * *

><p>There was the redefinition of the term calm before the storm as far as Harry was concerned. He made his way to Atlantis and ran into some extremely interesting people on his way there. He had a few words with the Queen and now that he was done with the few things that she wanted to go over, he was back.<p>

He was back to the Amazons. One of Harry's many homes away from home. Nine times out of ten, the island was about ready to be attacked by kind of vengeful sorcerer or angry god or goddesses. The Amazons did make a lot of enemies. Sometimes those enemies were of no fault of their own.

The Amazons did a remarkable job of attracting the wrong kind of people towards the island. It was almost like a curse where the island was under siege every time a person turned around. Harry could see why they wanted to remain in the shadows for all of this time and not step into the main world.

Hippolyta's stance on that had softened. It could have had something to do with her daughters and the friends that they made when they exited on the island. Regardless of that fact, Donna and Diana encouraged their mother to step forward.

Harry had a small part, but he appreciated Diana and Donna for doing the legwork. He got a sense of Hippolyta's bad luck regarding the people in Man's World and there were instances where Harry couldn't really blame her. It was just one of those things that was what it was.

Harry hated that phrase, but at the same time, he couldn't help himself from using it. That was part of a charm, some might argue it was a curse.

The emerald eyed wizard returned to the island and sure enough, he came across Hippolyta when he arrived on the island. The woman turned her attention towards Harry and greeted him with a smile.

"I understand you wanted to discuss with me before we had a chance to be sidetracked," Hippolyta said. There was a small smile tugging against her lips and Harry couldn't deny the fact that it looked infectious.

'_Sidetracked is an interesting way to put things,' _Mera chimed in playfully through the bond link. Given her last meeting with Harry, she was in a pretty good mood all things considered. There was a smile on her face and that was a good thing, an extremely good thing.

'_Sidetracked is the perfect way to describe what you and I were doing earlier, you know,' _Harry answered her.

Mera's lips curled into a smile. _'Yes, I'm well aware. It seems that we all have this ability to get sidetracked pretty quickly.'_

'_With Harry involved, who could blame us?' _Karen asked. There was no answer to that question because there wasn't a single person in the world that could blame them. The blonde's lips curled into a smile as if to say "exactly" and she folded her arms.

"So, I understand that you wanted to have a word about what needed to be done regarding Circe," Hippolyta said.

"I'm sure that putting her under your control is fairly demeaning," Harry informed her.

"Yes, but I could not argue that it's demeaning enough give all that she's put us through," Hippolyta said. "If you hadn't been able to shut the gates, Black Manta would have caused havoc all over the island."

"Anyone could have," Harry reminded her.

Hippolyta sighed. That really was the problem. There could have been a lot of people who could have caused all kinds of havoc on the island. She knew that it didn't matter whether or not she was here; there were still people that would attack.

She did come to the conclusion that it was for the best that she was not on the island. If she was off of the island, she might have not been able to help out.

"We keep avoiding a certain topic of conversation," Harry said. He held Hippolyta in close to him.

The Queen of the Amazon's smile when her eyes flashed over Harry's, and yes she hated to admit that she was avoiding that subject, but it was true. "Yes, I know, Circe. You want to know what's being done with her, don't you?"

"It would be useful if I have an idea," Harry informed her.

"Well, I thought about it long and hard," Hippolyta said. She allowed Harry to lead her over. The two of them sat on the bench in a garden that was overlooking an extremely nice waterfall. The look down was something that caused her heart to race. "And I decided that it would be for the best if I allowed Donna and Kara to look over her."

"You thought that was for the best?" Harry asked.

'_I'm sensing something bad happening,' _Barbara thought. She shook her head. _'But it could be worse, I suppose.'_

'_Yes, it could be worse, I could have had five minutes alone with Circe,' _Diana said.

'_Isn't Donna just as vindictive though with being humiliated?' _Harry asked the Amazon princess.

Diana shrugged her shoulders in response. _'She could be very vindictive when she wants to be. But….no offense to her, I'm a bit more creative.'_

'_I don't take any offense, but you have given me the encouragement that I need to step up my game a little bit,' _Donna answered. Mirth flashed through her eyes. _'And you know that Kara is here.'_

'_There's a part of me that really feels sorry for Circe,' _Diana thought. Before anyone could question her on this, Diana added something else. _'And there's an even larger part of me who is glad that the bitch got what she had coming.'_

'_I hate to say it, but ouch,' _Kara answered. She smiled and made sure that Circe was strapped into place. _'Don't worry, we're going to have lots of fun and I'm sure that if she's a good little pet, she might get a reward.'_

'_Well, that goes without saying,' _Diana said. She wasn't sure if Circe deserved any kind of reward with what she pulled.

'_Make her practically choke for it, my daughter,' _Hippolyta suggested. One might assume that there was a vindictive spirit in the eyes of the Queen of the Amazons and they would be right. It was amazing to see how much she was able to encourage her daughter's to do such things.

'_Wow, mother, you can be a bit…..'_

That statement was trailed off; it was almost like Donna decided that she would choose her words a bit more carefully, at least this time.

* * *

><p>Harry had been on the island for a long time. It was amusing how he felt the presence of some goddesses, but they were almost out of reach. It was almost like they were sizing him up.<p>

He thought that he would seek them up in due time. The emerald eyed wizard took his long walk around the island. A morning training session with the Amazons allowed a spring in his step to be added and the day was just going to get that much better.

'_Harry, do you think you could join Donna and I?' _Kara asked. There was a tone of pleading in her voice.

'_Oh, I think that I could oblige you,' _Harry said.

'_Are we about to find out what those two are up when they had the bond access blocked off?' _Karen asked.

Helena jumped into the bond in her usual stoic tone. _'Well, it isn't as if we couldn't guess, given the fact that they've gotten the responsibility of training Circe and making sure she stays in line.'_

'_Training her, making sure that she stays in line?' _Lois asked. _'She sounds like…well it sounds like you're making sure a dog stays in line.'_

'_Well, now that you mention it…..' _Diana thought. She allowed those thoughts to rail off when she walked up beside Harry, preparing to join him.

The two of them came shoulder to shoulder with each other when they started to walk. Harry raised his hand and knocked three times on the door. It was what was agreed to by him, Kara, and Donna.

The two of them waited for someone to go to the door. They could have sworn that they heard the sounds of moaning and a whip cracking against flesh.

Those were the sounds that inspired the imaginations of anyone who had been fortunate enough to hear them. Harry looked interested and Diana looked impatient. She was about ready to raise her hand to knock on the door one more time.

There was no need to do so. Kara opened the door. She dressed in a tight red corset, with matching fingerless gloves, a thong, and stockings. She held a whip in her hand and Donna wore the same thing, only it was black.

"Harry, I know you want to see the progress that we've had training our new pet," Kara said. She grabbed Harry's ass when she pulled him in for a kiss. Her tongue pushed into her mouth.

Diana allowed the two of them to have her moment. She saw Circe swinging from the ceiling in a bit of a compromising position. There were clips on her nipples, pinching them hard. There was cream smeared all over the area of her body. Diana wasn't going to lie, she found it amusing.

"I'm sure that if you know where to dip these, you get a nice, added, taste," Donna said. She licked her lips when she rubbed the strawberries down Circe's body. "Want one?"

"Seems delightful," Diana agreed. She popped one of the strawberries in her mouth and slowly chewed down upon it. Her eyes closed when she nibbled on it. There was an erotic tone to what she was doing.

Harry left Kara breathless from the kiss. He turned around and decided to have his fun with Donna.

Donna accepted a kiss from Harry. The young Amazon practically wrapped her legs around him, until Harry swatted her on the ass in an attempt to get her to behave.

"So, how do you like how our pet has turned out?"

Harry reached over and ran his hand over Circe's body slowly. The woman's body shivered when Harry played with her.

"She struggled at first, but now she craves our touch, and she's submissive to it," Kara said. She smiled at him. "It seems like those who are the most powerful women are the most submissive."

Harry walked towards Kara and slowly closed the gap between her. Kara breathed heavily when Harry was in front of her. The blonde's eyes shifted when Harry was up close to her. His hand rested on her stomach.

"You would know, wouldn't you, Kara?" Harry asked her. Kara's smoldering gaze reached him and she nodded in response. Her heart started to race the more he gazed in her eyes. It was amazing to see what he could inspire deep within her. A fire rose high in her loins and Kara felt herself driven breathless.

"Yes, I would," Kara agreed. She felt Harry's mouth on hers and he slowly nibbled her lips. The blonde relaxed into this delicious kiss, his tongue entering hers.

"I don't think that she needs to see something this good, at least not yet," Donna said, putting on a blindfold on her. She nudged Kara out of the side. "Make her visualize it in her head."

"Sounds like a good idea," Diana said. She sat down upon the bed and slowly pealed the banana that was lying on the bed.

Kara and Donna stripped off Harry's clothing and exposed his toned body. The two girls descended down and made sure that the real fun was about ready to begin for them.

* * *

><p>The ritual was completed. While most of Circe's charming personality was intact, she was completely and utterly bound to Harry. Therefore there was no chance that she was going to betray him.<p>

It would be foolish to do away with such a potentially valuable resource.

* * *

><p>The latest trip to the island was one that was unplanned and pretty spontaneous, but Harry was pretty glad to get it in, all things considered. It was now time for him to return home and back to the RAO Corporation where there was plenty of business to be done.<p>

Gwen looked to be in pretty good spirits and her amusement knew no end when she looked at Harry. Her laughter was passionate.

"The look on Barbara's face…..it was almost like she was expected to be informed that something like that was going to happen," Gwen said. She held onto a large tray of chemicals, carefully balancing them.

Whitney and Caitlin walked out of the side lab.

"To be fair, it was spontaneous and we needed to make sure that the gate worked on their end," Harry said. "It should have given you a bit of a warning though before they popped through."

"I actually think that we were all too involved in our work for it to make a difference," Whitney commented with a slight little shrug. She lips curled into a nice little grin when she looked at Harry, resting her hands on her hips when she lazily leaned against the wall. "Although you had to admit that the look her face was priceless."

"Which I'm sure it distracted everyone from the look on your face, because you were easily as surprised," Gwen replied.

Whitney gave Gwen a cross look. "I'm just that much faster than thinking on my feet, that wall."

"Quick on your feet, quick with your hands," Gwen said. Whitney nodded in response, before she realized what Gwen was saying. "That will turn out to be useful."

Caitlin caught Harry's eye and grinned. She decided to try and to discuss some things with Harry.

"Do you think that you can come with me for a minute, Harry?" Caitlin asked. "I have a couple of things that I need your opinion on."

"I think that if Gwen and Whitney don't have any need for me, I'll be perfectly happy to speak with you," Harry said. He gave her one of those smiles and Caitlin responded by beaming at him in response.

She clapped her hands together, a nice grin flying over her face. "Great, if it's…."

"It's fine," Gwen responded to her. She looked at Whitney.

"No, I don't think that I need Harry, right now," she said. The hyperactive scientist looked at Harry. "Maybe later we can go over some things, but business first."

The redhead youth gave Harry a wink.

Kara shook her head through the bond. She placed her hands over her face and tilted her head back to sigh. _'She's not as subtle as she likes to think she is, you know.'_

Harry doubted that many of the girls were as subtle as they would have liked to think they were, but he allowed that to pass without incident. He took Caitlin firmly by the hand and led her into the next room.

The redhead smiled when she stuck next to Harry. She was really excited about what she had to show to him now. Harry could tell that she was brimming with all kinds of excitement and with a look like that; Harry couldn't help but be excited for her.

"Alex is doing a good job working down here, helping you girls out," Harry said.

"Yes, she's doing pretty well," Caitlin confirmed. She tried not to get too excited. "Excellent for someone of her age, but…"

Harry could see that Caitlin didn't want to get too critical and Harry beat her to the punch.

"She's a bit too young for some of the higher end projects, I know, but she'll get more experience with time," Harry said.

Caitlin was glad that Harry was the one that said it and not her. That made her feel a lot more at ease.

'_She seems to be one who is hovering around you,' _Dinah added. She was currently out on patrol as Black Canary. She kept to Gotham mostly, because of the increased League presence. She hoped that she might run into her sister.

So far, Dinah hadn't had any luck on that level. Was it starting to frustrate her a little bit that she was running in circles? Even though Harry assured her that Sara was doing fine, Dinah wished to see it with her own eyes.

'_I think that a few of your interns are doing a good job in hovering around you,' _Barbara added. There was a bit of a smile crossing over her face when she spoke. _'It seems to be like a three way race between Whitney, Gwen, and Caitlin about who is going to pull the trigger first.'_

'_Well if it's a race, wouldn't Whitney have a bit of an advantage?' _Chloe asked her.

'_Gwen's the one that I'm pulling for,' _Barbara told her.

'_Biased much,' _Lois teased.

Chloe shook her head in amusement. _'Well, if you think that you're so smart, Lois, which one are you pulling for?'_

Lois waved her hand in a dismissive manner. _'You know what, I'm going to have to say that it's a close enough race where I don't have a horse in it. And you know that Harry is going to ride all of the horses.'_

Harry pulled himself away from the bond link, chuckling at Lois's analogy. At least mentally he was, in the physical realm, he kept a stoic expression.

"This project is coming along rather nicely, although it's burning out before we have much use for it," Caitlin said. "The high powered rocket fuel could potentially fuel a jet to go to the moon."

"That's a pretty ambitious idea," Harry told her. Caitlin grinned at him, nodding up and down in excitement.

"But, the engine blows out before I have a chance to really use it," Caitlin said. "Maybe if you could take a look at the calculations, I can see what I'm doing wrong."

Caitlin presented a blue print with a load of calculations that would fly over the head of most people, but Harry was not most people. He was able to figure pretty much everything in front of him, bit by bit.

After a couple of thoughts, he had an idea.

"Perhaps you should start with a smaller craft and a less potent quality," Harry said.

"Maybe, I am thinking too big," Caitlin said. She frowned deeply.

There were a couple of things that Harry wanted to deal with, but there was a buzzing sound on the intercom.

"Harry, I hate to bother you," Martha said. She was working the front desk today as part of her job, although she did do other things. It was just that they needed someone to fill in, especially since Lana moved up in the world.

"No, Martha, it sounds important, there's no bother at all," Harry told her with a smile. "What's on your mind?"

"There's someone who is here to see you, it sounds urgent," Martha said. She paused as if she was trying to confirm something. "She says that her name is Talia."

"Tell her that I'll be down in the main conference room on the sub-basement level in five minutes," Harry said.

If Martha had any inquires about that statement, she certainly didn't really say anything.

* * *

><p>Talia waited patiently. She had managed to slip away under the pretext of checking out one of the ongoing projects around Metropolis. Her father's empire was something that came close to slipping from his hand.<p>

"Talia, welcome, it's been a long time."

She turned towards him and smiled. "I don't even need to ask how you knew that I was here, do I?"

"I'm pretty sure someone as intelligent as you can figure out that I know," Harry said. Talia gave him a crisp smile and she nodded. "So there's no need for formalities."

"It's a shame that you did leave the League when you did, things were…..things had gotten a bit hostile without you there," Talia answered. "There are some who wished to move against you, but my father put a stop to it."

"I both insulted and impressed Ra's Al Ghul at the same time, which takes talent," Harry said.

"There are very few who survived more than a few moments in a fight with my father and lived to tell the tale, much less defeated him in combat," Talia answered. She stepped towards him, and she wished to ask something of him. "For the longest time, I wondered since you had him dead to rights, why didn't you…"

"It didn't fit into my plans just yet," Harry interrupted her.

Talia was about ready to finish asking what his plans were. She never quite got that question out. Harry cupped her face.

Their lips pressed against each other. Talia closed her eyes, relaxing into this kiss. His tongue overwhelmed her. She sighed when she felt him delve into the depths of her mouth. Amazing didn't adequately describe what he made her feel.

Harry slowly pulled away from her, leaving her to consider the actions for a moment.

"Cheshire was in bed with you for the longest time, and I think that there is more to her betrayal than meets the eye," Talia said. Harry raised his eyebrow at her. "Meaning that her betrayal is non-existent and ruse to rush your plans forward, but I can't figure out how close you are to our operations. How close you are from jumping in and taking control of everything?"

"I'll answer that question, he's about as close as he's ever going to get without pulling the trigger."

Talia's eyes flashed through the shadows with interest. The White Canary made her way out of the shadows.

"Nyssa was concerned that you didn't return to your post and asked me to see if there was any hold up," she reported, not faltering underneath Talia's gaze.

"Which meant, you volunteered and used this as an excuse to see Harry," Talia commented. Her expression was almost teasing, at least it was almost teasing for her.

Still it would just be like her older sister to send her lover to spy on Talia and make sure she was okay.

The White Canary pulled off the bottom of her mask, revealing her soft face, with her blonde hair and blue eyes. She was not the first person that you would expect to be a hardened assassin, which was the idea.

Sara Lance pressed her lips against Harry's. She passionately kissed him, nearly trying to overwhelm him. She thought that she could get the leverage on him, but Harry turned her around and pushed her into the wall extremely hard.

The young man kissed her passionately, but Talia cleared her throat.

"Not that I mind the free show, but we do have business to attend to," Talia remarked. There was something casual and crisp about her tone of voice, it almost sounded all too casual and all too crisp when she spoke.

"Yes," Harry agreed.

'_Say what you want about the League, but they most certainly put the ass in assassin,' _Chloe offered.

Dinah looked at her with an exasperated look. _'Hey, that's my sister you're talking about there.'_

That caused Artemis to laugh in amusement. She barely broke in for bond banter. She was currently interrogating some assassin after putting an arrow in his knee.

'_Wait, you're talking about my sister as well, aren't you?' _Artemis asked when she realized.

Harry sighed and turned to Sara.

'_You might want to communicate with your sister, she's starting to get worried that you're not okay,' _Harry said.

'_I'm perfectly fine,' _Sara said. She inclined her head and shook it in response. _'Laurel, you can be such a fucking worry wart sometimes.'_

'_Hey, you were the one who died at least three or four times by now,' _Dinah fired back through the bond.

'_I only technically died once, the other times were that I was presumed dead, there's a big difference,' _Sara argued back. _'Although if you want to recreate what happened the night that you found out that I wasn't dead, again, I'm pretty sure that Harry and I will be happy to remind you what happened.'_

'_Oh, that night was a rough one,' _Artemis replied, shaking her head.

'_Wasn't it your first night wearing the hood?' _Dinah asked.

'_Yes, and thank god for Felicity knowing what the hell was going on, because I would have been tripping all over my hood trying to deal with the mess Oliver left behind,' _Artemis thought. _'But that's beside the point, I believe the Daughter of the Demon is a bit miffed. And I'm honestly surprised she doesn't have bond access just yet.' _

'_Harry has slept with her, but she could be fighting the bond for reasons all her own,' _Sara thought.

"I take it that you're interested in taking things to the next level," Harry said. "You and Sandra, or is she going by Lady Shiva these days?"

Talia was interested. Her bluff was pretty much called. She frowned when her gaze met Harry's. She inclined her neck forward.

"What do you have in mind?" Talia asked her.

She threw the ball in Harry's court, but Harry bounced it back into hers.

"What do you want out of all of this?" Harry asked. "Is your father's leadership truly what you feel is needed for the world?"

"Honestly, I believe that my father has lost his way towards his obsession in locating an heir," Talia admitted. "I respect his end goal, but his methods to achieve that end leave a lot to be desired."

Talia handed Harry the information. She eyed Sara nervously.

"Nyssa doesn't need to know anything, if Harry doesn't want her to know," Sara replied firmly. Her life debt to Harry outweighed every single other obligation she had.

"This is all the information that I can acquire on my father's plans, his plans regarding Pamela Isley being front and center among them," Talia informed him.

"I'll have people to collaborate that information," Harry told her.

Talia nodded in response. "I'd be disappointed if you didn't."

There was a pause and Harry added something. He nearly forgot about it in the chaos.

"Tell Sandra that I have the most solid lead so far regarding the whereabouts of her daughter," Harry informed her. That was something that Talia didn't expect to hear.

Sara looked rather surprised. Cain was public enemy number one regarding the League, but it appeared that he had influential friends that put him and Cassandra underground.

"Tell me this is done, and I'll pass on the information," Talia said. She frowned and added another statement, almost like an afterthought. "My father may wish to speak to you soon, his time grows short, and he requires an heir."

Harry figured as much. He had people that he could collaborate this information for.

"Return to your posts, and I'll be in touch," Harry said to both women and they nodded.

* * *

><p>"My time grows short, I need a worthy heir to my throne in the League," Ra's whispered. His voice was raspy.<p>

He sat in the main temple, pondering what he needed to do next. His oldest daughter, Nyssa, stood across from him. Every single word that he spoke about needing a worthy male heir passed through her ears. She grew more and more despondent as time passed when she heard these crude and coarse words.

Nyssa stepped forward towards her father.

"You should rest, you need your strength," she commented. Ra's turned towards her.

"The time for rest is done," Ra's replied to her. "Your sister should be returning from Metropolis soon. She had some business to deal with there, with our benefactor."

"Lionel Luthor?" Nyssa asked. She spoke in rather calm tone when she addressed her father. She didn't really want to sound too critical, but she really wanted to say something to him. "Do you think that we can trust him?"

"He is a man of likeminded goals, I believe that he could be a temporary partner," Ra's said. He didn't want to answer that he didn't trust the man completely and utterly. "But we'll see what happens. I need to enact my plans for Gotham."

"Miss Isley has arrived and she's waiting for the word to move forward with your plans," Nyssa said. "She might seem like a wildcard."

"Nyssa, if you assume that everyone is capable of betrayal, than you will never have any allies," Ra's replied. He decided to impart this bit of wisdom. "Soon, the League of Assassins will be under new leadership, one way or another. This begins my finest hour."

Ra's thought that his partnership with Lionel Luthor would lead to more Light being brought to the world. His daughter, Talia, was talking to Lionel's daughters and they were doing most of the business transactions. Lionel did have his own plans that he needed to enact, but as long as they didn't interfere with Ra's plans, he didn't really care all that much.

For now, he would have to wait and watch and see what would happen next. He was optimistic that things would work for the best.

* * *

><p>"Well, it's interesting that you came here, because something is in fact up now."<p>

Harry was currently walking down the hallways of LuthorCorp. He was partially disguised, because it would cause a bit of a stir with the wrong people that Harry Potter was walking inside the demon's den, that demon being Lionel Luthor. Next to him were Alexandria Luthor and Lutessa Luthor.

"Tell me anything odd you might have noticed, because I was on an island for the past few days, so there might have been some things that escaped my notice," Harry said.

"I'd imagine," Alexa informed him. "Well, I think that what I'm about to tell you most certainly qualifies for the odd category. There have been several high ranking politicians that have disappeared over a few days, and they reappeared. There was no memory of where they had been or what they have done."

"There's a cover up there if there ever was one, wasn't there?" Harry asked.

Alexa nodded feverishly in response. "Yes, I smell a bit of a rat there, I would have to agree."

Harry turned to Tess. "You know about Pamela, don't you?" Before the accident, because you hung around in similar circles, and had similar interests."

"Yes, that's right," Tess said. She frowned. "She was a friend, although I can't say that I've had much of a chance to speak to her after the accident."

Harry figured about that much.

"She might not be the same," Tess continued. Her frown deepened when she thought about it. "No one is after a few sessions with Hugo Strange."

'_Well, official news is that things are about ready, and Ra's is about ready to enact his mad plan,' _Artemis jumped in suddenly and quite abruptly. _'At least that's about how much I was able to get out of this guy before I offed himself.'_

Harry frowned, it was go time now.

'_Helena, are you in position?' _Harry asked her.

She replied in a calm tone of voice. _'Yes, I am.'_

It was time to do this, one way or another.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on February 20<strong>**th****, 2015.**


	50. The Demon's Quest Part One

**Chapter Fifty: The Demon's Quest Part One.**

* * *

><p>Gotham City's notorious weather was acting up something fierce. There was a loud crack of thunder that was followed by a flash of light that whipped across the sky. One could not really accuse what was going on being any kind of calm before the storm. That was the furthest thing from a person's mind. The calm was not here, although there was a huge storm brewing above them in Gotham City.<p>

The Arrow was a long way from Star City. She just had a close encounter with the League of Assassins tonight. She was meeting with two people here in Gotham City. The pitter patter of rain water down onto the sky caused shivers to blow down her spine.

Arrow turned around and saw the Huntress join her. She knew that she could count on her for back up. Batgirl showed up alongside her and Black Canary joined them. The quartet looked at each other and prepared for an intense battle.

"I doubted that you would miss this one," Arrow said.

Dinah responded with a smile when she looked at her partner, in more ways than one. "Are you kidding, I wouldn't miss this one for the world?"

"So far, all is quiet," Batgirl added. She was a bit nervous because of this fact, because everything being quiet put her at a lack of ease.

'_Barbara, you of all people better not say that things are too quiet,' _Kara thought. _'While you could make an argument of the fact that Donna and I didn't know any better a long time ago, you really should know better. You really should know about not inspiring all of the horror movie clichés.'_

'_I wasn't going to say that, I swear,' _Barbara thought. That caused Dinah to turn to the redhead with a smile on her face.

'_You were thinking of it, weren't you?' _Dinah asked her. That caused Barbara to fold her arms over her chest and stick out her lip.

The Arrow ran into that one assassin that was scouting things. She could have sworn that there were more around, but they disappeared into the shadows. She felt rather bored just waiting for anything exciting to happen. She didn't want to say that she yearned for action, but she did. Anything was better than just sitting on the rooftop and twiddling your thumbs. She stood perched on the gargoyle near her, ready to fire when someone moved wrong.

Helena cleared her throat and pointed downwards. The group looked towards a group of shady looking individuals. They were about ready to break a lock on the building.

"About time, I was getting bored waiting," Artemis replied. She thought that her arm was going to get stiff from holding the Arrow for some long.

She was about ready to fire on the thugs, but there was a flash in the distance. That caused the group to pause and wonder what was happening.

A large wooden staff came down across the back of the head of one of the thugs. Another thug swung a beefy arm forward and tried to attack the person in charge.

Helena realized what was happening. She lifted her hand into the air and was about ready to do the most epic of epic face palms.

'_He didn't….he so fucking didn't,' _Helena thought. She wanted to scream and it was a good thing that Harry was preoccupied by other things, because he wouldn't be too happy regarding this either.

The girl was dressed in a green and red combination suit. She wore a pair of green shorts and a red shirt with a green "R". She wore a red cape and a black domino mask on her face. She dropped a pair of pellets on the ground and caused a cloud of smoke to appear around her. She propelled herself up into the air. She used the heads of the thugs as some stair steps and she ran up them.

She brought the staff down onto the face of one of her enemies. There was a loud crack when the staff was brought down onto an adversary. She swung the staff again, but she was brought down to the ground hard.

Rebecca groaned when she was struck down from behind.

The Huntress jumped in and hit a leaping kick to take out one of the goons. Another thug tried to take her out, but she caught the thugs arm and bent him back at the elbow. The loud and disgusting sound of a bone breaking brought him down onto the ground.

Black Canary was in position. She let out a canary cry and caused the thugs flying into a fence. She removed a pair of batons and swung them. The sound of iron against flesh was a nasty combination.

One of the thugs tried to get away, but Artemis shot him in the back of the leg with an arrow. The thug fell down to the ground, landing face first onto the ground.

She was about ready to swoop down onto the ground and move in for the kill, but Batman swooped down and snatched him up.

The thug's predicament appeared to go from bad to worse, at least from his vantage point. Batman dangled him over the ledge and his face was nearly in that of the thugs. The thug tried to pull himself away, but Batman wasn't going to let him up.

"Why are you breaking into that building?" Batman asked.

Helena reached down and helped Rebecca up. She gratefully took her hand.

"I don't know what he was thinking putting you in the line of fire like that," Helena said. She checked Rebecca out for any injuries. It was quite fortunate that the girl wasn't injured all that much.

She shook her head in response. "I'm fine, I got this….."

Artemis got up to the building, to join Batman.

"I've got this handled," Batman replied.

"Right, sure you do," Artemis said. She launched an arrow into the side of the shoulder of the thug. "Either you tell me what you know, or when I pull this arrow out, I'm going to do it in the most painful way possible."

The thug started to foam at the mouth. She wanted to scream in frustration.

"The League pulled one over us again," Artemis said, and Helena was up on the rooftop again, to face Batman.

"What were you thinking?" Huntress asked, staring down her alternate dimension father.

"She's been trained," Batman said, getting what she was talking about right away. "And it was her choice to be out here on the field."

Helena's gaze was burning at him. If she could set fire to him with her mind, she honestly would. She was about ready to say something. The radio crackled to life and there was something happening in the bank.

"Guys, there's a problem!" Barbara yelled urgently over the communication link.

Huntress and Arrow joined Black Canary, Robin, and Batgirl on the ground. Batman joined them right away.

"Stay back," Huntress said urgently to the young sidekick. There was a second where she looked at Helena and she really frowned in response.

Inside the building, they peered through the windows. There was several large plant monsters that broke through the ground of the building, through a vault. Batman broke open the lock and entered inside.

"We also have another problem," Chloe informed Arrow through the link.

"Really, bigger than this one?" Arrow asked. She aimed her arrow and started to fire at the plants over and over again. The arrows didn't even put a dent in the plants. She was going to need something stronger.

"Arkham Asylum has been busted open," Chloe said. That was a statement that got people's full attention and rightfully so.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile at the League Headquarters, Chloe positioned herself in the mission support chair. This was a pretty amazing experience all things considered. It caused her blood to pump and her heart to rush when she looked around with everything. Impressive didn't even begin to describe what was happening around her.<p>

She thought that she would lose her mind. The woman got onto the communication link.

"The plants are popping all over Gotham City, but there's also in Star City, Central City, and Metropolis," Chloe said. She could hear some footsteps behind her.

"So, we're just going to have to find the source and take them out," Lois added. She had her ring charged and she was ready to go. Shayera and Diana joined her, as the trio of females wondered when they were going to be deployed on missions.

"If it was only that simple," Chloe said. She bit down so hard on her lip that she left an imprint on them. The woman shook her head in response. "The source….the source is something that's not anywhere near the city."

'_Shouldn't Pamela's mind be spread a bit thin, then,' _Kara thought. _'I mean, she's trying to control all of those plants.'_

'_Not if she grew satellite duplicates of herself to control then,' _Harry thought. _'The problem with that is the duplicates might think that they are the original copy. LuthorCorp managed to get their hands on a sample of one of the first plants, we're sending the readings to RAO to see if we can figure out how to find a counteragent.'_

'_We're running down to the wire if we don't have a counter agent,' _Karen said. She frowned.

'_I know we're really running down to the wire, but what are you going to do about it?' _Harry asked. _'These plants are pretty impressive, I'll say that much.'_

Harry might have been more impressed by the plants if they weren't about ready to kill them. Chloe made her way off to check on a couple of things. The elevator across from the room would lead her to the RAO tower.

'_Shayera, Diana, and Lois, back up the crew in Gotham City, that's where the main concentration of plants is,' _Harry thought. He frowned. _'The League would sooner burn Gotham City to the ground to get Batman's attention.'_

'_Believe me, they've got his attention already, no need to burn it to the ground,' _Helena thought. _'How close are we to gaining a counter agent?'_

'_Closer than most would be, but not close as we should be,' _Harry said.

Chloe arrived in the lab right now. She nearly was run over by Whitney who tripped over her own feet in an attempt to rush some notes over towards others in the building.

"Whoa, what where you're going," Chloe said. She was almost amused by this entire situation.

Whitney shook her head in a rapid fire flurry. The girl took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Oh, there's no time, wish there was more time, but there's no time, trust me on that one."

Gwen poked her head out of the lab. She was all businesslike, but nervous at the same time.

"I have some of the notes on the plant attacks, if you want them," Chloe said. She answered Gwen's unasked question.

"Thanks," Gwen said. She wasn't ignorant to what was going on here. She wasn't one of the smartest girls ever for no reason at all. "That will be a big help. There have been a couple of attacks in Metropolis, but not too many."

"That's because the man behind this is afraid of…." Chloe said. She could see a dark haired blur outside of the window. That caused Chloe's frown to deepen.

'_Claire, would it help if I asked you to be careful?' _Chloe thought. She could see the cyclone effect outside of the window that she created.

People plucked off of the ground and trafficked elsewhere. They were safely high above the ground out of the reach of the plants.

'_You told her to be careful for years, and she didn't listen,' _Lana reminded Chloe. _'And I'm sure that she'll be okay, Kara's keeping an eye on her and there's more help on the way.'_

'_We're never going to find this counter agent in time,' _Karen said in an exasperated voice. _'Harry, are you still there?'_

'_Yes, I'm here, I've got a lead of where I need to go,' _Harry thought.

'_What are you going to do, ask Poison Ivy to stop attacking?' _Barbara asked. She was half joking when she spoke. She didn't expect that to be what Harry was going to try and do.

Harry wasn't joking at all when he responded. _'That's exactly what I have in mind. Do you have a better idea?'_

'_I was half joking,' _Barbara muttered. There was some laughter, but the fact was that she was fighting the plant monsters that were trying to take her out. The redhead was starting to get extremely annoyed by this attack.

'_I don't believe it, they're retreating,' _Helena said. She managed to slap a tagger on it. There was a slight chance that they might make their way back to the source. Granted, she wasn't completely sure, but it's better than nothing.

Chloe looked at the system before her. She smiled, the added processing power in her brain allowed her to focus on everything that needed to get done. And by added processing power, she didn't mean coffee. She was glad that she was able to get things done.

'_Kara, Karen, and Diana, are you close by?' _Chloe asked.

'_Yeah, we're close by,' _Karen thought. _'Shayera is with us as well.'_

'_The four of you should go check something out, there's something really dangerous in Metropolis,' _Chloe informed them. The blonde placed her hand underneath her chin and sighed. _'Well, Claire says that she can handle it, but you know how that normally goes.'_

'_We have a pretty good idea, yes,' _Kara said. She quickened her pace and she stopped. Her heart was racing. _'Great Rao!'_

That exclamation could not be a good thing. There were heroes trafficking in and out. The attacks didn't cover too large of an area, which made Chloe a bit less frustrated. It wasn't something that was good by any means, but it was really less frustrating. She picked up the communicator that was lying on the desk.

"Progress report," Chloe said.

"We're testing the counter agent to the plants, hopefully this will put them down," Whitney said. "There's a mutation variable that's making it extremely hard to kill them. I don't think that standard weed killer would really work out all that well."

"No, I don't think so," Chloe agreed. Her frown deepened when she thought about it. "Just keep doing what you're doing, and I'll be in touch."

"Gotcha," Whitney said in agreement. "Gwen and Caitlin think that they have something and…..the one plant that you were able to get your hands on, it's putting up a fight."

Donna was down in the lab to give some relief if things got too dangerous. Chloe really did feel bad about putting these girls in danger, but sometimes you really had to do what you needed to do to succeed.

Chloe could see that Metropolis looked like a jungle out there. It was even more so than usual. The situation in Gotham City was getting far worse than it was at well. All Chloe had to do is sit back, wait and watch.

'_For the record, I think that my lead might be promising, but it's going to be a trick to get there,' _Harry thought. _'The League is on high alert.'_

'_Looks like Ra's is the one that you're going to have to worry about and not Poison Ivy,' _Artemis said. She was almost out of arrows. She doubted that she could get some here in time.

'_Yes, it looks that way,' _Harry agreed. There were things that Harry regretted, and one of them was not finishing off Ra's when he had the chance.

* * *

><p>Claire Kent was having a really awful day, to put things bluntly. There was a plant that looked to want to wipe her out. The vines shot out towards her, but she dodged them. She used her heat vision with great skill and precision to take out her plant enemies.<p>

"So, do you need a hand?" Kara asked. She spiraled in like a cannonball and stuck a landing right onto the plants.

Kara figured that it was her fault that she was wearing a skirt. The plants tried to get a bit too personal with her. That angered the alien female and she rocked snapped the vines of the plant. It gave a hiss of pain.

"There are just too many of these things," Diana remarked. She joined the fight with furious fists of fire. "What's his end game anyway?"

Shayera came down, her mace clutched in her hand. She smacked one of the pods hard. She didn't really want to answer any questions, but having something to hit, that relaxed her.

Karen looked impressed with what Shayera was doing, but she was damned if she was going to be left out of the fun and games. The blonde lifted her hands and caused a cold snap to ripple from her hands.

The roots of the plant tensed when Karen connected with them. Kara looked at Karen with reverence and the blonde's lips cracked into a smile.

"Oh, you've got to teach me that," Kara whispered. There was almost pleading in her voice when she said that.

Karen shook her head, barely able to keep the grin off of her face. "Maybe later."

Claire was now back up, driving the plants into the ground. She reached onto the ground and lifted plants high into the air. She punched at them one at a time. She never thought that she was going to fight plants like that and the weeds at the Kent Farm didn't technically count. The dark haired girl kept fighting, swinging her fists into the plant creatures.

The girls landed onto the ground. Their breath had been completely taken away.

"For the record, I did have that," Claire said. Kara folded her arms underneath her chest, hovering an inch off of the ground so he could look in her cousin's eyes. "But thank you for the assist never the less."

"You're welcome," Kara said.

'_So, how is the counter agent coming on?' _Kara inquired.

'_Whitney, Gwen, and Caitlin are almost done with it,' _Chloe thought.

'_I'll be back there to pick it up, these plants are getting stronger, and I'm not even sure if these are completely dead,' _Kara said. She could hear a rattling from the pods on the ground.

"I'll be back in a second," Kara said.

Before the girls could ask where Kara was going, she zipped off into the wind. Karen sighed and she looked over the city streets.

"Well that's going to be a hell of a mess to clean up," she remarked. Her lips curled into a tight frown.

"Well, to be fair, the mess would be even worse if we didn't intervene," Diana said. She frowned. There was something about this entire mess that seemed a bit too easy.

The Amazon Princess felt that they were at a lull. She knew enough to not say things that were too calm. All they could do is wait and watch.

The pods on the ground began to rattle suddenly. Karen stopped and held her hand up when Diana and Shayera were about ready to move. She frowned when she could hear something stirring from life from the pods.

"There's something inside," Karen whispered. Her eyes widened when she could hear something. There was a crack, there was another crack, and there was a huge smack.

Something punched through the pod. A giant fist print was left inside the edge of the pod. The other pods had the same thing.

Several fully grown men rose from the pods.

'_That looks like Ubu,' _Artemis thought. The same thing was happening in Gotham City. _'You know, Ra's number one man.'_

'_Yes, I'm well aware of who that is,' _Helena thought. She charged up a pair of brass knuckles and she swung for the fences. She cracked them into the base of the pods and caused a burst of electricity to flow from her hands.

The pods didn't even waver for a second. Helena frowned as the Ubu plant monsters were about ready to attack them.

"We've got big trouble," Karen said. She raised her hands high into the air and clapped them. She really hoped that the sonic attacks were enough.

'_Kara, please tell me that's ready,' _Claire thought. She ripped apart one of the Ubu monsters. The leafy parts of it started to rise and three more rose in its face.

"Ripping them apart doesn't seem to work well at all," Diana commented. Shayera turned towards her, an eyebrow corked and her mouth hanging halfway open. The redhead sounded flustered for obvious reason. "Yes, I know, that much is obvious."

"Yes, it is," Shayera agreed. She raised her mace high up into the air and she slammed it down onto the plant monster creature constantly.

The blood spurted out it, but it kept coming back at them. It was attacking them with a sickening vengeance.

'_Please tell me someone has some good news, and has some good news soon,' _Barbara thought. _'And Whitney was right, ordinary weed killer doesn't work on these things, it just makes them stronger. They're going to overrun the city if we're not careful.'_

Karen looked high into the air and smiled. Help was in fact on the way and she came in faster than a speeding bullet. She shot forward, causing a ripple effect on the ground. Darts grasped in her hand when she flung them down hard.

The darts struck the pods and the pods started to wilt underneath her efforts. There was a prominent and loud hiss when the plant creatures tried to break their way out.

"Good, Gwen, Whitney, and Caitlin all deserve raises," Kara said. She armed the other heroines with the dart guns. "I've got to traffic this all over to Gotham, take your shots wisely ladies."

'_It's not an arrow, but it will do,' _Artemis thought. She jumped into the air and two of the Ubus punched each other and destroyed the other in a pile of mulch. _'They're not growing back, that's good.'_

The group hoped that they were getting rather closer to solving this problem and taking out these plant monsters. At least that's what they hoped that they were doing. The difference between what they hoped and what they actually were going to do was two entirely different things when they thought about it.

* * *

><p>Talia returned to the headquarters of the League. She wasn't going to lie, things were rather tense.<p>

"So, did your business trip go well?"

Talia turned around and saw Nyssa standing before her, her arms folded. The two sisters met each other's gaze. It was an anxious moment at best and a tense moment at worst.

"Everything is in order as it should be, the distraction attack on Metropolis is occurring," Talia replied.

"Most of the attacks are directed at Gotham," Nyssa said. There was something in her eyes that indicated that she was very agitated.

"Is there something the matter?" Talia asked her.

"Nothing is wrong," Nyssa responded. Her voice was so cold and harsh that it pretty much told Talia that she would just have to drop the matter, so she did.

It was just as well that Nyssa didn't say anything. She was agitated that her father didn't even consider her to be worthy of holding his empire. He had much hoped that Harry Potter would take the reins.

Did she think of Harry Potter as unqualified to hold the empire of the League? Naturally, Nyssa respected the young man and his abilities. He was someone who was rather dangerous and that you wanted in your corner for a fight.

One should not mistake respect for a person's abilities for weakness. Nyssa thought that after all she sacrificed, she should have been next in line to run this empire. It was something she earned and something that was her birthright.

"All of these things happen for a reason," Talia informed her sister. The eyes of Nyssa locked onto Talia's. Her tone was calm and cool.

"It's time," Nyssa responded. There was nothing but a crisp and cold tone in her voice.

Talia didn't really have any argument to that. The members of their father's elite guard were walking around with each other. The two daughters of the Demon walked by, and Talia discreetly passed a note to the woman in red.

Her eyebrows rose for a brief second, but it was a gesture that pretty much no one caught in the end when she brushed past her.

Nyssa and Talia joined the other members of the League of Shadows. Lady Shiva followed straight behind them as if nothing happened. The White Canary turned up next to her.

There was Ra's Al Ghul. The man stood at the foot of a large podium where he looked down upon them all. No one dared speak to him. He didn't speak. All there was is silence before him.

Time stood still. Ra's Al Ghul walked closer and spoke. "The League of Assassins have weathered many storms throughout all time and we will continue to weather many more. We are an ancient organization that has been set up to bring order to a chaotic world."

Ra's stifled a cough. Only those who knew him best might be able to consider that something was wrong. Others didn't even bother to blink. Weakness must not be shown before the League. The man stood up even straighter when he faced his men.

"The League's trials and tribulations have brought us to this point, a point where there is no turning back," Ra's reminded them. "In the darkness, there is light, but we must stick to the shadows. For otherwise, we will be consumed by what we do not understand."

Ra's paced around like a caged animal. There was more intensity that flashed through the eyes of the Demon Head. He arched his neck backwards and gave a heaving breath when he spoke.

"No matter what those trials and those tribulations were, there is one thing that is for certain, the League grew strong," Ra's said. "Therefore, the League will continue to grow strong, whether or not I am your leader."

Ra's craned his neck forward and he smiled when he whispered.

"Time runs short," Ra's reported to them. "And time almost runs out. Each second passes will be the final second before our final test. The greatest test approaches and many of you will return. I have absolute confidence that the strongest of you will be back sooner rather than later."

His voice dropped to a hoarser whisper. Those who dared not listen hard to him would do so at their own peril. The clock winded down second by second.

"The Dreaded Dragon is the most likely to take control of operations at the League, but he will not have this handed to him, he must earn it," Ra's said. "I do admit that that there has been another that I have taken a close look at. But in the end, he has been judged and he does not have the ability to lead the League. It's a pity such talent has been wasted, given that I once took this young man underneath my hand and trained him."

Ra's looked rather forlorn.

"The Detective will get an honorable demise despite his flaws, and it will be at my hand," Ra's said. "And it will be after his beloved Gotham City burns underneath the might of the League of Assassins. The only way to destroy the disease is to scorch it off of the earth. Destruction is at hand and Gotham City will be annihilated."

There was a harsh whisper from Ra's. It was the type of voice where you had to listen closely to understand what he was saying, but you better listen when he spoke. His eyes grew rather mad when they flashed with malice.

"Believe this, my friend," Ra's informed them. "Believe in the League of Shadows and what they can do when Gotham City is decimated."

There was applause. The League made their way out. It was now time to enact the ultimate plan, the destruction of one of the most diseased areas on the planet. When Ra's Al Ghul decimated Gotham City, his grand vision could be realized.

Talia met Sara's eye and she gave a short nod. The League was too caught up in their jubilation with their leader's plans to say anything.

"The first test run is completed, now it's done for real."

* * *

><p>The storm was getting worse in the area outside of the Greenhouse. That matched the storm that was about ready to come. There was a group of dozen assassins walking outside the greenhouse. Their orders were to guard the greenhouse.<p>

"The Demon has given us our orders, no one is to disturb what's inside the greenhouse," the assassins whispered. His voice sounded raspy as if one of his vocal cords had been tampered with.

One of them scoffed in disgust. "Who is going to disturb us? I think that you're worried too much, we've got this."

"Keep your eyes open," one of the more experienced assassins said. While it wasn't ideal to travel in this weather, taking chances would be foolish.

They were close enough to Gotham City to wonder if they were caught up with whatever plan their master was cooking up. They all had faith that the Demon's word that all who were fit to survive would live in a new world.

A canister rolled onto the ground. One of the assassins stepped forward and prodded it with his staff.

Much to his surprise, nothing came out of the canister, there wasn't even a spurt of gas. The man in the shadows frowned deeply.

A flash of light appeared and two of the nearest assassins dropped to the ground.

The men staggered around. No sooner did they turn, two more were taken out. A third dropped to the ground before he could remark about what hit him.

A figure swept through the rain and the remaining assassin tried to take out his adversary. A pair of swords swung for the fences.

The enemy deflected the attacks. The swords ripped from the hands of the lone assassin. The next move was the assassin getting stabbed with his own swords.

Blood spurted to the ground. All of the male assassins were left on the ground with fatal injuries that would cause them to succumb to death if they were not healed straight away. All of the female assassins were left to breathe another day.

A pair of hands reached to the door of the green house. It was locked up tight. Not tight enough for the lock to be broken by the mysterious force.

A loud creak resounded.

'_I'm inside,' _Harry thought. He stepped around. It looked to be a perfectly normal greenhouse. It was beautiful, don't get him wrong. The plants were perfectly normal and nothing was out of the ordinary. _'And nothing too out of the ordinary just yet.'_

Harry could hear something. Those weren't assassins. There was a sound of something sobbing in the background.

The warrior prepared himself for battle. The pods were set up in the background.

'_Those are just like the pods in Metropolis and I'm sure in Gotham City,' _Kara replied.

'_The ones with the Plant-Ubu hybrids?' _Dinah asked. Harry nodded in confirmation for her.

Harry inched his way towards the plants, slowly, carefully. He could hear something rustle behind him. He thought about all of the problems that he had to deal with.

Pamela Isley had been broken when she got her powers, but naturally if she had gotten the proper treatment and rehabilitation, she might have done fine. The problem was that she was sent up the river to Arkham Asylum. It had a rather notorious track record of making prisoners worse.

Her doctor was the one and only Hugo Strange. Someone who should have been in the Asylum just as much as his patients, for that man wished to study his patients and experiment to see what made them tick.

"They will not be taken away from me, the world will burn, and they will grow," a soft voice replied.

"Pamela, I'm just here to talk," Harry said firmly. He prepared himself to be attacked by the plant hybrids. Harry was not going to lash out and attack them. Not if they gave him a reason to anyway.

There was a nice round of musical laughter. Pamela seemed to be entertaining herself for some reason.

"I wish I could believe you at face value," she commented softly. "Perhaps you are just here to talk. But you should know that there's nothing wrong with me. There's no reason why we should talk."

Harry stepped further into the Greenhouse. The fact that the plants didn't attack him was an encouraging sign and it almost disturbed him a slight bit. He passed further into the depths of the greenhouse.

His heart raced against his chest the more he stepped forward.

Harry could see her, sitting there in a Venus fly trap. Vines wrapped around her body in subjective places. One of the vines lifted up and waved Harry over. Gorgeous red hair hung down like a curtain.

She was there like the seductress to draw anyone into her web.

'_What's she waiting for,' _Kara thought.

Harry could see her there.

"You're just another one she created, to stall for time," Harry whispered to her. He could see the plant's face wilt.

"Yes, they are not very long lasting, but they will be perfected, soon, my children will grow and prosper in a perfect world," she breathed excitedly. Her smile grew even wider when she rocked back and forth. Madness was soon to follow through her eyes. "They will grow and prosper in this perfect world."

Harry stepped forward and he could see her fade away.

"You're not the one that I want, well not like that," she commented. Her tone grew rather flirty when she spoke to him. "You see, I'm after the man who was responsible for the cruel world. The man who was responsible for sending me to Arkham."

The plant clone crumbled into nothing. The mulch landed on the ground.

The Greenhouse allowed him to find a vital clue where in Gotham City the attacks would take place. Triumph flashed in his eyes.

'_I think I have it.'_

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on February 24<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	51. The Demon's Quest Part Two

**Chapter Fifty-One: The Demon's Quest Part Two. **

* * *

><p>The final assault upon Gotham was pretty much at hand and now all of the cards were on the table. Ra's Al Ghul was waiting for the members of the League of Assassins, along with their associates to get into place. He looked up and saw the moon up into the sky. The energies from it glowed eerily on this evening and it was an omen for some interesting things to come.<p>

It was amazing that the moment that the sun came up the next morning, there would be no Gotham. The smoldering ashes over the once grand city would give a chance to be reborn. And underneath those smoldering ashes, there would be a brand new Metropolis that would be born one more time.

Ra's was currently discussing matters with one of his associates, the one and only Lionel Luthor. "Yes, I do realize that our mutual friends do wonder about my intentions, but I'm certain that they would wonder about yours as well."

"Yes, but we all have are secrets, and you have had more of an opportunity to hoard more than a few of them, my friend," Lionel replied. There was a tiny bit of apprehension in his voice. It was hard to hear, but it was there. "But I do wonder about your intentions, I really do. It seems like it's the dawn of something new."

"No matter what, the Light will always burn brightly for one reason or another," Ra's reminded him. He could hear the sounds of combat in the distance. It was just beginning as far as he was concerned. The Demon Head prepared to step on in. There would be vultures that would pick off the bones of those who had been taken down by far greater.

The League of Assassins lasted for thousands of years and would last for thousands more past the departure of Ra's Al Ghul. The gifts of the Lazarus Pit sustained him and allowed him to build an empire that would allow the world to move towards a brand new age. It was a new era that was dawning.

It was just as well that those same pits would lead to a brand new dawn in this world. The Demon head could see everything become reborn before his eyes. His excitement grew the closer that they are.

"There are some loose ends that need to be tied up before we move forward," Ra's commented. "Rest assured, by this time tomorrow evening, we all know where the cards lay."

"You do have some kind of idea what is happening, don't you?" Lionel asked him. There was no question in the man's mind that Ra's was up to something, but the real question was what. He figured that he would find out about the same time as the rest of the world.

Ra's gave a shuddering breath after he said his goodbyes to Lionel Luthor. The gifts of the Lazarus Pit were not everlasting. Each time he used them, his body grew weaker faster. All of the ravages of aging caught up with him.

Ra's had business to deal with in Gotham City right now. "I will speak to you later. I understand that you're a busy man with a time table of your own and you know that for me, time is money."

"Yes, that old chestnut," Lionel agreed. He was in mostly good spirits, but there was something in his tone that was fairly calculating. He wouldn't be a Luthor if he didn't play a more impressive game than most. "Just rest assure that if you need me or any of our associates, we will be prepared to offer you that assistance. Just say the word and we'll be there."

Ra's was glad that he had allies. Time had taught him the value of having an immense criminal organization.

He exited the temple and he hit a large lump that was on the ground. It took the Demon Head only a few seconds to realize what he ran into.

It was Ubu, he had been laid out on the ground. Ra's turned around and saw the guards were down on the ground.

The Demon Head braced himself for battle. He was close by, leader of the League sensed it.

One of the only guards that had been knocked out was slumped against the wall and breathing heavily. Ra's didn't keep his back turned. He reached behind him and yanked the guard forward.

The guard was jolted out of his semi-conscious state by this one move. He was completely shaken and he staggered in his attempts to look the Demon Head straight in the eye.

"Bring me Lady Shiva, the matter is urgent," Ra's told the guard.

Any protest of the guard was lost due to the fact that the great Ra's Al Ghul had given him an order. That was something that was not to be debated no matter what. Despite the fact that his leg had been snapped, he managed to scramble into the temple to retrieve Lady Shiva, who was waiting his orders.

Ra's looked up. It was almost like he was close to him.

"So, we begin this chess game, so be it," Ra's muttered to himself. "It ends between the two of us. This time the battle is to the death."

Ra's could tell that the Dreaded Dragon stopped short of killing him the last time for a simple reason. He wanted it to sink into Ra's mind that his successor had been found. Ra's accepted his doom was nearing and he was ready for it.

Lady Shiva made her way outside of the temple. The woman in red leaned down and bowed before the current leader of the League. At least he was for the League right now.

"I wish for you to keep an eye out for him," Ra's added. "Do not allow him to fight me, at least not yet."

Shiva nodded. She knew what was going on. A battle with the Dreaded Dragon would be represent a challenge for her and it was one that she would get the better of. The Deadliest Woman alive bowed before her master.

"It will be done," Lady Shiva whispered.

"Excellent, the hour approaches," Ra's commented.

A plant sentry stepped forward to greet him. Ra's turned his attention to the Ubu-Hybrid.

"Mother Nature has planted her spawn in Gotham and she has attracted a Bat," Ubu told him.

Ra's smiled. Things were moving in a more and more favorable direction for him. Their final assault upon Gotham City was going to be at hand sooner rather than later.

Ra's didn't see the man stalking him just yet. There was no doubt.

"It's time for the Detective and I go to face to face," Ra's said.

He suited up, ready for battle. Ra's Al Ghul decided that despite the fact that Batman was not worthy, he was still worthy of a one on one battle with the Demon Head. Just to give him that last chance to prove him wrong, even though it was doubtful. The man's unwillingness to kill, even beyond all reason would prove to his undoing.

Some grew strong with adversity. Others were broken because of it. Batman appeared to have gone somewhere in the middle with some combination of both.

"It's time."

* * *

><p>Batman made his way through the jungle that was Gotham City. Each step brought him closer towards his enemy. He sensed that. Being mindful of his surroundings, the Detective pushed himself forward.<p>

There was a frustrated howl in the distance. One could see that Batman got separated from his team; at least until they remembered that it was Batman, who purposely separated himself from his team, because that was just how he did some things.

There was a large growth of plants that Batman tried to fight his way through. The more he struggled through them, the tighter the vines went around him. It almost ensnared him when Batman tried to slip between them. He found it more difficult to get through. Even the device from his belt that was supposed to cut through the plants honestly didn't work.

"Get closer and feel the misery, feel the terror, feel the power of Poison Ivy," she replied. Her excitement grew when Batman made his way inside.

Batman sprayed the counter agent and the plants retreated on their own.

There was a large root that shot out of the ground and wrapped around Batman. He was pulled up.

Batman tried to reach for his belt. Another vine rippled through and ensnared the utility belt, ripping it off of him.

"I won't fall for that one again, Batman," Poison Ivy continued. Her tone grew even harsher. Batman was brought up to face her. "Did you honestly think that it would end like this?"

Batman tried to free himself from his predicament. Without his belt, he was pretty much trapped with nowhere to go. He groaned when he was pulled up and the vines turned to make him properly face her.

"Did you really think that you could get the better of me?" Poison Ivy taunted him. "Did you really think that you could get the better of Mother Nature? Did you really think that it was all possible, Batman?"

Her tone was extremely taunting the more that he was lifted up. Batman could see Poison Ivy sitting in the pods.

Batman managed to remove a gadget from his glove and he sliced his way through the vines. Without a word, he used the vines as a method to try and get himself to Poison Ivy.

"Nice try Batman, but it won't work this time," Poison Ivy said with a taunting tone to her. "Clothes make the man or in your case, your belt makes you. Destruction will be your downfall, Dark Knight."

Batman didn't even respond. The Dark Knight Detective tried to pry himself free from his position.

"You're sick, you need help," Batman said.

"Says the man who wears a mask and dresses up like a giant bat," Poison Ivy fired back. She swooped over in front of him. Her babies got close and some of the wilder ones wanted a good meal. "I wonder if I should kill you first or just ground you into mulch."

"Do what you want, but you don't think that your babies will survive in the world that Ra's Al Ghul has created," Batman whispered. His voice came out in a raspy hiss.

Poison Ivy inclined her head and viewed him in bemusement. There was a small smile tugging on her lips when she looked down at Batman.

"What you think and what's going to happen will be two different things," Poison Ivy said. Her answer was harsher than Batman expected. She paused long enough to consider this claim. "But it doesn't matter. Ra's Al Ghul was just the means to get everything that I need. He's nothing as far as I'm concerned. Just like you'll be nothing soon, do you hear me Batman, you will be nothing!"

Her tone increased in a pained howl. No matter what happened, Batman was doomed. That was one thing that you didn't have to be the World's Greatest Detective to deduce.

In the greenhouse, Batgirl slipped her way inside. The redhead was careful not to disturb any of the plants.

'_Just keep fighting them on the outside, I'll retrieve him,' _Barbara thought.

'_I'd make him sweat for a little bit longer,' _Helena thought. There was a tone in her voice that sounded properly vindictive.

'_I know that you're angry with him, but I have a job to do,' _Barbara thought. She was acrobatic enough to avoid stepping on any of the vines and triggering any of Ivy's alarms. It took skill, but Barbara had that in abundance.

'_Perhaps you should have sent the girl with archery skills in there to make the one in a trillion shot,' _Artemis said. She didn't have that much time to be worried about this. One of the thugs tried to trample her over.

The thug was this close to running its dagger through her chest. Artemis jumped up and she slammed her hands against the back of the head of her enemy.

'_No, I'm fine, I've got a back- up plan,' _Barbara thought. She had the device that Kara gave her in her hand. _'So, does this work?'_

'_Harry created it, with help from Whitney, Caitlin, and Gwen, who tested it,' _Kara thought. There was something about her tone that seemed increasingly haughty. _'What do you think?'_

'_Point well taken,' _Barbara said. Her cowl was carefully made up with ear protection. The redhead lifted the device up and closed her eyes. All it would take was one button to be pressed.

Poison Ivy was about ready to finish Batman off. There was a loud sonic emission that went off.

"NO!" she howled in absolute pain. It was a blistering amount of agony that filled her form. There was something entered her ears and it caused her to lose all of her concentration.

Batman dropped down and got out of the way. He did see a few glimpses of Ivy's plants turning on each other and trying to hack each other to bits. The Dark Knight avoided these attacks when they kept stabbing at each other, over and over again.

Barbara now could see that Pamela was knocked down onto the ground. She wouldn't stay that way for that long, so Barbara had to move and now.

The dart hurled from her hand. It got Poison Ivy right in the shoulder, doubling her over. Her eyes dilated and she tried to step forward.

The woman landed down onto her knees onto the ground. Her breathing became extremely labored. The villainous dropped to her knees before the cowled crusader.

Batgirl waited for the other shoe to drop. The plants who had gone completely insane moments ago had grown extremely docile. They were really docile and almost cute, in a really weird way.

'_Okay, I think that everything is good right about now,' _Barbara thought. Things got oddly calm. It was like some kind of moment before the storm. The cowled crime fighter inched closer to Pamela's down body.

One toe nudged her and she didn't move. The sedation worked, and Barbara looked up. She could see Helena make her way down to this particular area.

'_Pick her up and bring her back to RAO, to see if we can do anything with her,' _Faora thought. She did have some potential, but it would need to be pointed in the right direction for Pamela to be the very best she can be.

* * *

><p>Batman pulled himself up to his feet. He climbed up onto the top of the roof of the building that he fought Poison Ivy. His armor was damaged and he could barely stand thanks to a twisted ankle. The Dark Knight took a half of a step forward and his knee nearly rolled out from underneath him. His pain was immense, but he somehow stood up.<p>

A slow and loud clapping was heard. The man standing in the mist walked forward. Batman came face to face with the fully formed form of Ra's Al Ghul.

"It's been a long time, Detective," Ra's Al Ghul remarked. "You have been durable to last this long, which is favorable. I hope that you enjoy watching your beloved Gotham City burn and something new rise from the ashes."

"Not if I take you down first," Batman growled.

He swung his fist towards Ra's. Ra's dodged his attack and knocked Batman down to the ground. He did a forward flip and landed onto the ground.

"The lessons you have been taught have not properly sank in Detective," Ra's replied. He pulled a sword from his sheath. "But, before we both leave this world, there's one more lesson that I must teach you. I hope that it properly sinks in before you are sent on your way to the next life."

The swipe of a razor sharp sword nearly hit Batman. Batman avoided the attack and stuck the landing. The breath was knocked out of his body when Ra's went to attack him.

The next attack was avoided and Ra's tried to put him out. Batman shook his head. He was getting so dangerously close to Ra's taking his head off with this sword.

"Stand and fight your ground, just like a true warrior is, I'm impressed," Ra's commented. He stabbed Batman through the chest plate. "Pain is a great teacher, is it not detective? Let's see how dangerous you are without you gadgets."

Batman caught Ra's with a glancing blow and pulled the sword from his grasp. The Detective jumped up and nailed Ra's with a series of punches. The Demon Head staggered back a few steps.

"Very good," Ra's said. He kicked Batman in the back of the leg and a pained grimace followed when Batman's knee almost went out from underneath him.

Batman returned fire, sweeping the legs of Ra's out from underneath him. Ra's landed backfirst on the ground, but he popped back up. The two of them went nose to nose, with Batman attempting to bring Ra's down.

"A short pause and we go at it again," Ra's responded. Both of them went hand to hand with each other, with the Demon Head gaining the advantage. He took down Batman and there was a loud crack when his leg went out from his side. "Come, Detective, do you really think that it would be that easy to defeat me?"

Batman popped up. There was a loud crack and a flash of lightning behind them. Both of them went hand to hand with each other. Batman backed Ra's Al Ghul off of the back of the roof.

"It has been a good battle, Detective," Ra's said. He slammed a palm strike into the throat of Batman.

Batman struggled to breathe when Ra's hand connected with him. Ra's kicked Batman in the face and brought him down to his knees.

"Gotham City will be the first to go down, when this brand new world will rise," Ra's said. He stepped over towards Batman and kept kicking him hard in the face.

Ra's lifted a dagger out and he stabbed Batman in the shoulder with it. He kicked Batman off of the side of the roof.

Time seemed to stand still when Batman flew backwards off of the roof. Ra's looked down at him. The rain continued to piss down in Gotham City. It fell just as Batman did.

Seconds before Batman would have hit the ground; there was something that slowed his descent. Ra's leaned over to see Batman not splatter into the pavement. He was let down.

Another lightning flash and Ra's turned around to see the one and only Harry Potter standing there across from him. The Demon Head looked forward towards him. The man's hands raised and he slowly, but surely started to applaud.

"You never cease to amaze me," Ra's replied. His tone was calm and cordial "But, I'm certain that many of the cards now lie in your favor."

Harry was silent. He stared down Ra's Al Ghul with cold indifference. The battle was about ready to take place.

"It's over now," Harry answered. "You wanted my attention, you have it."

"It's not done yet, there's still one more piece of business that I have to do," Ra's answered.

The one and only Lady Shiva turned up next to Harry, and she approached him.

"The pits will detonate all at once, which will cause a chain reaction that will purge the world," Ra's said. He backed off and dropped down gracefully.

Shiva rushed at Harry, and he blocked her attack.

"Make it convincing," Harry muttered.

"I know," she said through the side of her mouth. She jumped up and tried to nail him hard with a kick. It would have been a brutal strike that might have taken him out.

Harry grabbed her foot and flipped her down hard onto the ground. Shiva landed onto her feet and threw a dagger at Harry. Harry caught the dagger in his hand. Flipping over onto his feet, he hurled it back to them.

'_Ra's Al Ghul is going to detonate all of the pits, and…..' _Harry thought.

'_You're kidding me, right?' _Sara asked. She didn't have a clear idea of his plan, no one did.

'_He thinks it's going to purge the world,' _Harry added. He continued to fight hand to hand with Shiva. The interesting thing was that she was really holding his own against one of the deadliest women in the world, if not the deadliest women. Actually, Shiva would take great offense to the declaration that she was only one of the deadliest women in the world. _'But I'm guessing that all of the pits going off at once will kill most life on Earth, which is his intention. But it may cause Earth to crumble and cause many atmospheric changes.'_

'_So, how are you going to stop him?' _Kara asked. She watched the battle between Harry and Lady Shiva with interest.

She wasn't the only one who was watching the battle between Harry and Lady Shiva with interest. The two of them put on quite an amazing show with each other.

The Dreaded Dragon closed his eyes and flipped backwards off of the roof top. He landed firmly onto a roof top.

Lady Shiva jumped down from the rooftop high above from him and she stuck the perfect landing next to her. The woman's punch was swung at the hero. Harry dodged her attack, twisting her arm around and forcing her down to her knees. The woman struggled in an attempt to escape the consequences from these attacks. He wrapped her arm down behind her back and that caused her to wince when he forced her down.

"Making it convincing," Shiva reminded him. She flipped out of the attack.

A pair of daggers flung out with Harry hurling them towards her. The warrior flipped in the air and blocked the daggers in her hand.

Harry caught her with a glancing kick to the face. He shot a rope downwards and wrapped around her, tying her around a lamp post.

'_We should have a return match sometime under less dire circumstances,' _Harry informed her.

There was another crack of lightning and Harry slipped off into the night.

* * *

><p>Things had actually calmed down for the most part in Metropolis. That proved one thing. The attacks in Metropolis were just a diversion to the main event that was happening in Gotham City. Gotham would be destroyed and from the ashes something new would be born.<p>

Whitney paced up and down. Kara watched her with a combination of frustration and amusement. Her mind went back and forth.

The girl stopped and cleared her throat. It was obvious that she would wear out the floor if she wasn't careful.

"Sorry, I pace if I get nervous," Whitney replied. She made her way to the vending machine and prepared to clean it out.

"Well there goes your salary for this week," Gwen commented and her eyebrows rose when she saw the girl clear out the vending machine. "And there goes everything in the vending machine."

She cleared out everything in the vending machine, cleaning it out like it was no big deal.

Gwen turned her attention towards the woman that was trapped in the cell. She had to admit that it was pretty eerie. It was like she was suspended in time.

The intern's eyes flashed over towards a potted plant, it was really unsettling for some reason. It was almost like there was a chance for her to break out and the plants to come to life.

"Okay, relaxing, she's contained," Kara stated. She frowned when she looked at Gwen. Gwen looked back at her.

"How do you know there isn't a chance for her to break out?" Gwen asked her.

Kara looked at her, frowning deeply before she responded. "My mother created that containment case. It will hold, trust me."

Kara's tone was so firm that Gwen couldn't do anything other than trust her. Caitlin cupped a hand over her mouth and started to laugh. Gwen turned towards her and gave her one of those little looks. It was unfortunate that said look only caused Caitlin to break out into laughter and Whitney joined her in response.

Donna made her way into the lab and handed Kara something.

"What's that?" Caitlin asked. Her curiosity got the better of her.

"It's the blood sample that was extracted from her before we put her completely under," Kara explained. "And the other vial is the sample that had been extracted by one of the plants."

Whitney frowned deeply when she looked at the plant extracts and frowned. There was something about the particles that unsettled her.

She made her way over to the computer and started to type. The computer keyboard was reinforced to prevent it from breaking down from super powerful typing. Whitney whistled when she finished typing things up.

"There are parts in the plant extract that match those chemicals that are alleged to be found in the Lazarus Pits," she told them as she looked things over. She frowned. "We're talking about science of the most advanced type."

It wouldn't be the first time that Gwen's eyes shifted nervously to the seemingly innocent potted plant, nor would it be the last time today. She drummed her fingers nervously when she waited for everything to break on free.

"I wish you would stop doing that," Caitlin muttered underneath her breath.

"What is he planning anyway?" Whitney asked. Her gaze locked onto the entire group.

"He's planning to cleanse the world," Kara said.

"He's going to create some kind of big bang or something like that?" Whitney asked.

Kara eyed her and thought that was the most accurate way to describe that.

"We've got things extracted from her, so we can form an antidote where her darker side doesn't overwhelm her," Kara replied.

"Are you sure that we can do this?" Whitney asked. "I mean, her DNA is mutated beyond all comprehension and if she's exposed to the Lazarus Chemicals, you don't know how much she could have changed."

Kara looked at the young budding scientist, raising her eyebrow. "I think that we have a good idea, that's why we're not exposing her to any antidote until it's tested."

There was a chance that any antidote could cure her and there was also a chance that any antidote could turn her into a giant plant monster.

"I believe that we're on the right track."

Whitney nearly jumped halfway off of the ground when there was something that popped up. Her eyes widened when she leaned towards the person who showed up. Mouth was wide open and closed shut at the same time. Heart started racing when she looked at the shadowed figure.

"I'm sorry if I startled you," the woman on the other side commented. She looked like Kara, but she was a bit older.

'_And she laughed at me for being startled by the gate, oh this is too amusing,' _Barbara thought. She was now over that and she could really laugh about the circumstances.

"This is my mother, I don't know if any of you had met her yes," Kara replied.

Once Whitney got over her initial shock and awe, there was a wicked grin that spread over her face. To say that she was impressed would be putting things extremely mildly. She looked at her.

"How is this possible?" Whitney asked. Her superfast mind processed what she thought was a logical solution. "It's like something out of Star Trek, isn't it?"

"A lot of things we have created are," Alura stated in amusement. "We got television signals of Earth television shows to our planet."

"Oh, that's really amazing, it's too bad that Earth doesn't get any kind of alien television shows," Whitney said. She spoke as fast as she could and nearly choked on her tongue when she spoke.

Kara barely was able to keep a straight face on her face. She patted her on the back.

"There are some alien television shows, although something far more advanced," Kara admitted.

Whitney was relieved about that. She would hate to see any kind of advanced civilization that was without any kind of television. She had a million questions to ask, but then again, her mind was one that went a million miles a minute.

"Just take a deep breath, and ask the first one that comes to mind," Alura said. She looked rather amused. "In the meantime, why don't we see what we can do with this young lady?"

The group had to get to work and hopefully they could do something to help her. It went without saying that if they were able to bring Pamela mostly back to normal, they could have a valuable asset on their hands. It was time to really get to work.

* * *

><p>Ra's Al Ghul thought that in the end people would understand. Everything was in place, it was time to detonate. It was time to bring the world into greater control.<p>

He got to his knees and said a prayer for Gotham City. The poor souls that had been corrupted in the city would need it. Time was running short.

Once he was done, the Demon Head got to his feet.

"May the great creator have mercy," Ra's muttered.

He pressed the detonator in his hand, but nothing happened. It should have been an explosion with the chain reaction having started in Gotham City.

Ra's turned around and saw the Dreaded Dragon swoop down next to him. The Demon Head frowned and he tossed the detonator to his side.

"Again, you never cease to amaze me," Ra's answered. He drew a rather sharp and shiny sword from the sheath. "So, should we finish?"

"Be my guest," Harry said, inviting the Demon Head to make the first move. He placed his hands behind his back and propelled himself over the first attack from the Demon Head.

The sword sliced through one of the pillars and caused dust to fly.

"I'm surprised that you are wearing the watch for this battle," Ra's commented. He stabbed towards Harry, who avoided his attacks. "And you have come without any weapon."

"I will merely take yours from you once you are finished with it," Harry answered.

Ra's gave a satisfied smirk. He measured Harry for a swift blow, but he blocked the sword with his hands.

Harry jumped up high into the air and brought the point of his knee down onto the top of the head of the Demon Head. The enemy staggered from the impact of the blow. Harry really had the advantage and he was not letting up.

A rapid fire chain of punches kept rocking the Demon Head. He was staggered over. Punch after punch rocked him when he was bent over.

Harry cracked his arm behind his back and stuck one more attack. The sword was ripped from his hand.

It spiraled in the air and landed into Harry's hand. He caught it.

"A backup weapon," Harry commented.

The two of them rushed forward with Ra's having removed a second sword from another sheath. The two of them clashed and sent sparks flying.

"The world must be prepared for a new age to dawn, "Ra's said. "If the Ice Age hadn't occurred, would humanity have had a chance to thrive? It can grow greater with this new genesis."

The two continued to attack each other. Harry flung the sword into the air and ripped Ra's sword from his grasp.

He threw the swords off to the side and went for a palm thrust to the chest. Ra's avoided the attack.

Harry nailed him right in the side of the face. Ra's dodged another shot. He crouched down and kicked Harry's leg out from underneath him.

Ra's pulled two daggers out, and tried to stab them at him.

Harry caught them, ripped them from his hands, and sent him flying into the slightly damaged pillar. Ra's rolled over, blood dripping from his mouth. Seconds later, Harry flew over and punched him hard in the face. Over and over again, with Harry slamming him down into the ground and brutalized him.

"Do you yield?" Harry asked him.

"I still have enough fight left in my body," Ra's breathed. He threw a powder into Harry's eyes and staggered him back.

Harry took a step back. He could feel a bit winded. The Demon Head rushed towards him. Like a viper, Harry struck first.

It was at the last possible instant that Harry managed to take out Ra's Al Ghul. There was a loud snap when he was brought down to the ground.

Harry brought down Ra's Al Ghul to the ground and the swords lifted into his hand. He slammed them down onto his neck, inches away from cutting into his throat.

"I've won again," Harry said.

"You've defeated me," Ra's agreed. "You have taken your rightful place for the League."

His injuries were fatal. His body was already breaking down and he was fighting a much more durable adversary. The fact that he was able to hold his own for that long was a testament for his abilities.

Talia stepped on in, and she could see her father down on the ground. She stared down at him. "Harry's won, and you have lost."

"I have lost and will finally slip on free," Ra's muttered underneath his breath. The swords cut into the side of his neck and the pillars of the temple slowly cracked, giving way.

There was a lot hissing sound. Seconds passed before the temple was about ready to collapse. Harry met Talia's gaze and there was one thing that both of them needed to say, without even saying it.

It was time to get down. The pieces of rubble flew down. Ra's Al Ghul didn't make any attempt to extract himself from the rubble. They smashed down, each of them crushing his body.

Talia and Harry cleared the exit of the temple just as it completely fell. It buried Ra's Al Ghul underneath it.

"Not the burial he would have wanted, but the one that is fitting for what he became," Talia commented. There was something stoic about her tone, with the finality involved.

She mourned the death of her father. The man who led the League of Assassins though, she didn't even consider mourning his death for one single moment. The choking clouds of dust nearly blinded the two of them.

Talia turned around, looking at Harry. Something about his expression was not able to be read at all.

"You do realize that this will only be an inconvenience for him and his most hardened of followers," Harry answered her.

Talia didn't answer that for a moment. She looked down at the temple and paid her respects. "Yes, I realize that, but I'm certain that we can extract the body and destroy it before it becomes a concern."

Harry wondered if destroying the body would do anything. He did suspect one thing and that was that Ra's had chosen his methods to die a long time ago. It didn't go as well as he intended, but it was still what how it was done. And he was gone and the League was under new management.

'_We're ready,' _Kara informed Harry.

It was go time.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on February 27<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	52. Demon's Quest Part Three

**Chapter Fifty Two: The Demon's Quest Part Three.**

* * *

><p>The battle between Harry Potter and Ra's Al Ghul was completed. One might say that was the end of the battle and the entire League was home free. One could argue that fact, but they were completely and absolutely wrong. The battle was not over, the battle was just beginning. No one was breathing freely just yet.<p>

Sara Lance, better known as the White Canary, stood at the edge of one of the temples. She made her way forward, towards a group of armed assassins that blocked her passage forward.

She raised her hands when she backed off. They mistook it for her surrender. That was one of the last mistakes that they could have made. A series of miniature glass balls erupted, emitting knockout gas, taking them out.

Another trio of assassins made their way towards her, intent to kill. Before the White Canary had a chance to turn around and teach them a lesson because of that, the one and only Black Canary turned up with her sonic cry which put them down.

Sara turned around, coming face to face with her sister.

"You've always stepped on my toes, you know that," she commented. One Canary looked at another. There had always been a bit of tension between the two.

"Just making sure that you don't get hurt," Dinah replied.

Sara shook her head and sighed. "When did I ever get hurt, other than all of the times that, I almost died….and you should stand back, because I'm not sure what's on the other side of these doors. But I think that it's safe to say that it's not good."

There was a miniature explosion that resounded and allowed Sara to slip inside without too many problems. She waited for Dinah to join her. When that was done, the two Canaries slipped inside without a further word.

"Good thing, Harry isn't here," Sara said. Dinah raised her eyebrow. "Only time you'd ever hear those words come out of my mouth, but….well you can see."

There were enchanted statues lining down the way. Both women knew all too well Harry's luck with enchanted statues. Sara set the explosive devices in place. Her sister followed her and it was really surprising that they didn't run into any League involvement.

Dinah turned around suddenly and aimed a punch. The woman in the shadows blocked it and Lady Shiva flipped her down onto the ground with a judo throw. She stood over Dinah. Sara pulled out a staff and pointed it at her.

"Back off," Sara warned her. Shiva smiled and she stepped back.

"Just making sure both of you stay on your toes," Shiva replied. She made sure that Dinah was allowed to get to her feet. "You nearly had me this time, you're learning. But you've got a long way to go before you're the deadliest woman in the world."

"You actually think a lot of yourself, don't you?" Dinah asked.

"I don't think anything of myself," Shiva told her. "An assassin who thinks too highly of his or her capabilities…"

"Often ends up dead," Sara concluded without missing a beat. She broke open the locks and she could see the statue of Ra's Al Ghul over a Lazarus Pit. She shuddered. "Oh, I've been there before."

"The dying part or the Lazarus Pits?" Dinah asked. Sara looked over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes when she gave her sister one of those narrowed eyed gazes. Dinah shrugged in response.

"One normally followers the other," Sara stated dryly. This was a place that she had been in more times than she considered. "And trust me when I say, it's not a place that you want to be, either of them."

"Isn't the goal to bury the Lazarus Pits so deep that no one is ever going to use them again?" Dinah asked.

Sara smiled, glad that she was catching on. "That's the goal, but you know what they say about these cursed things. There are about three more where these come from."

The blonde assassin made her way. This was not the first time she had to bury a temple like this and she knew exactly what to do.

"The only person who will come through here anymore is the diehards," she commented, essentially underneath her breath. "And these diehards, they're going to diehard."

'_It's almost a cult like atmosphere,' _Helena chimed in.

'_If that doesn't describe the League adequately, I don't know what else would,' _Sara said. She was setting things up. _'How are things going on your end?'_

'_We've got most of the pits disabled, they were at the places that Talia said that they were,' _Kara thought. _'And you were able to fill in the blanks. I think that you're on the last one.'_

'_As far as I know,' _Sara thought mentally. She placed off another charge. _'It's pretty quiet what's happening…..have you heard from Harry since the fight?'_

'_He's won, he beat Ra's Al Ghul, and now the League of Assassins are his,' _Karen confirmed. There was a frown that crossed her face. She could almost hear Sara's unanswered question. _'Or at least that's the working theory. If only things could be that simple.'_

'_If only things could be that simple indeed,' _Harry replied when he chimed in. _'Just make sure that everything is in place.'_

'_Not the first time you had me bury resources,' _Sara thought. She knew what she was doing. Being Harry's attack dog, or canary rather, could have plenty of benefits and she would be foolish to deny the perks.

'_As long as you don't bury yourself, because I don't want to have to bargain with Death again,' _Harry told her.

'_Both of you got something out of it, so I didn't see the problem,' _Sara said. She rigged the final explosive charge at the base of the statue. It should be obvious. _'As for the explosives inside the chemicals….do you want to…'_

'_Listen to me very carefully, here's what you need to do.'_

Dinah was half paying attention to the conversation. She wondered how she got into the situations that she did. That was just part of the costumed life, she figured.

'_Just another day at the office,' _Dinah thought.

'_If that doesn't describe our lives, I don't know what is,' _Barbara thought, and the other girls readily agreed.

Shiva meanwhile wasn't one for conversation. She was keeping her eyes on the exit and it was obvious what she was worrying about. There would be more assassins. They always multiplied like fairly annoying bunny rabbits.

"What about the other daughter of the demon?" Dinah asked.

"Laurel, let the matter drop," Sara told her, without missing a beat. There was a sense of frustration in her voice. "Nyssa is coming to terms….that she wasn't the chosen one."

Dinah was about to answer, but Harry was the one that popped on. _'Dinah, let the matter drop. It's a really delicate situation, and I really don't want it distracting from what we're trying to do.'_

If it was anyone other than Harry, Dinah might have fought the matter a bit harder. Harry could sense the conflict going in the back of her mind. He smiled at what she was doing. _'Dinah, if you'd like, we'll discuss what's going on later. Although, I'm sure that you're going to be able to figure it out if you really think about it.'_

With that not so subtle hint, Dinah was beginning to figure it out.

"The good news is, it's done," Sara said. "The bad news is that it's going to be less than five minutes before we have to get out of here."

Shiva scoffed at this news. "I assumed that you were declaring that this was some sort of challenge. I consider this to be extremely disappointing."

"You would," Dinah muttered underneath her breath. That being said, she made her way out of the door.

It was the final temple that contained the Lazarus Pit, the last one. Well the last one that they knew of. The interesting thing regarding those Pits was that there was always going to be room for even more. That was the one thing that seemed to be a constant.

A loud explosion echoed. The rubble fell when the pit was buried deep underneath ground. The nature of the explosion would make the chemicals within the pits to be unusable.

* * *

><p>Harry was searching the area of the final battle that he had with Ra's Al Ghul. The dust slowly settled when he maneuvered his way through the rubble. There was a choking amount of dust that caused his eyes to water when he hunted for the one thing that could confirm the Demon's death. His remains, that's what he wanted to find.<p>

Talia and Helena stood on either side of him. As far as the women who were within Gotham, they were the most capable of them. Of course, he broke up the rest of the League in teams to disable the Lazarus pits.

'_So, that's it, the last one,' _Sara replied. She sounded rather tense. _'I won't say that I hope that you know what you're doing, because I know that you know what you're doing.'_

Harry didn't answer at first. The broken bodies of the assassins that were taken out were in the rubble. The problem was that he was looking for one body in particular. The smell of burned flesh, fire, and brimstone could be heard.

Talia stood against the pillar, sliding on the ground. Helena followed her when they entered inside. The trio stepped down.

"I can't believe that it ends like this," Talia said. She bowed her head down in a moment of silence towards him. She allowed herself a moment of silence from her father, who was still her father despite the madness that followed. "He thought that he could save the world by destroying it. Has madness really gripped him?"

Harry once again was silent when he kept moving his way through the rubble. Talia wasn't going to say anything, but it was oddly eerie with the fact that he didn't even speak one word.

His hand waved and the glowing rubble pieces lifted off of the ground. Harry slid backwards and nearly lost his balance. He would have lost his balance.

'_Do you think that we've seen the last of Ra's Al Ghul?' _Diana asked. She hated to be the one that asked that question, but if she was perfectly honest, she didn't want to have that particular question to be in the dark.

'_Diana, do you really want to know the answer to that question?' _Donna asked. She returned with the team that she was with, with Barbara, Tula, Kara, and Laura, having knocked down one of the pits. Harry was able to guide them through the process.

'_Is it as unsettling to you as it is to me that Harry's on mute in the bond link?' _Tula asked.

'_No, it's not just you,' _Laura agreed. She really wished that Harry was going to speak up, given them a sign that he was still among the living.

The fact that he didn't say anything was much alarming. Harry made his way deep inside. The candles splattered against the wall. Harry spotted it lying in the middle of the rubble.

"One of his swords, wasn't it?" Helena asked.

"Yes," Talia agreed, answering for Harry. "How is….."

"He'll be fine, I treated him, in the most painful way I can think of," Helena said. She was still hacked off about the entire Rebecca thing. It didn't matter how much the girl wanted it, it was still questionable.

It was questionable when Helena ran around in a similar outfit close to that age, and it was even more questionable now. Helena wasn't going to share that little bit with anyone.

Harry scanned the sword for the blood. He wished to verify that everything was one hundred percent on the level.

"Most certainly his blood," Harry murmured underneath his breath. He flipped over the sword, analyzing the metal.

'_And it speaks, there's a miracle,' _Faora said. She could tell that everyone was more interested in hearing what Har had to say, other than her sarcasm.

'_I know I'm going to get yelled out for this,' _Barbara said.

'_Well, you're going to say it anyway, so you might as well just bring it out there, because we're all thinking it,' _Chloe thought.

'_Why would you not think it's his blood?' _Lois asked. _'I mean you had this entire fight to the death thing.'_

'_Never mind then, Miss No Tact answered the question that I was going to ask,' _Barbara said and there was laughter.

'_There's Lois for you, always taking center stage,' _Claire said.

Harry looked at the sword for a few moments. The dried up blood was really unsettling to be honest. There was a taint of the Lazarus chemicals.

He craned his neck and he almost was listening out for a heartbeat of some sort. Harry wouldn't be surprised if Ra's had managed to preserve himself.

One final demented test, this was a sickening right of passage. That was just how things were done in the League. There was really nothing that could be done about it.

"If you're worried about my sister, I'm certain that she just needs some time to come to terms with what happened," Talia said. There was a moment where Harry bent down. "My father's grandstanding speeches can get a little grating, especially when he talks about the fact that he wanted a worthy heir. A worthy male heir."

Harry concluded with the few final tests of the blood on the sword. He was half paying attention to Talia's speech.

"I'm not worried about Nyssa, she's in the place of life that she's chosen to be," Harry responded. His tone was extremely cryptic and very weird. There was almost like there was some kind of double meaning to every last word he spoke.

This, to put it bluntly, threw Talia for a loop.

"But what about Sara….." Talia said. Harry spun around and locked eyes onto her.

"Not a single word further about this, please, Talia," Harry said. His tone was calm, but he was also extremely firm in his words.

Harry also made his way back to the sword and gave it another scan. The blood on it was confirmed to be Ra's Al Ghul's, but Harry wished for a little bit more confirmation. Then this matter could be put to bed.

Even a body at this point wouldn't convince the diehards of anything. Harry thought that the diehards did in fact that, they were diehards for a reason.

Eventually, Harry struck paydirt in the literal and figurative sense. Harry could see a twisted hand sticking out from the rubble. Thankfully the hand was not moving. That might have darkened the mood. Harry was able to shift through the rubble and find the mangled remains of one of the most dangerous men in the world.

Talia looked down at the man in the hole. This was confirmation of the darkest type that this was her father and he was truthfully gone. Her mouth hung halfway open when she saw what was going on.

"It's him," Talia whispered. There was a sense of sadness, but there was also a sense that there was relief as well. The Demon Head was slowly lifted from the hole before them, in his most mangled state.

Harry didn't want to say that he was too pleasantly happy about this. He bowed his head, but was glad that they got the remains of Ra's Al Ghul out of here before anyone else was able to do so.

Not finding a body would have confirmed the very worst and that very worst could be extremely bad. At least this was confirmation that he was dead.

"We're going to have to take steps to ensure that the body is placed in a spot of honor, but it's secure," Talia said. Harry turned towards her and nodded. "As you know, allowing certain members of the League access could prove to be disastrous."

Harry realized that and understood that. The two of them made arrangements with what could be done.

* * *

><p>Sometime later ,Talia thought about the legacy her father would leave behind. Would it be one that would make her proud? There was something in the back of the woman's mind that was keeping her from having complete pride in what her father might have accomplished.<p>

Pride tended to be the downfall of many people and she wondered what she could be proud of regarding her father.

"He was a great man, who fell a long way in the quest for a dream."

Talia turned around and saw Harry standing right there before her. The woman's gaze penetrated his when he stepped towards her. The woman greeted Harry.

"If that's one way to put my father, I don't know what is," Talia confirmed to him. She frowned when she leaned back against the wall. "And you're going to have to take control of the League now."

"It's already beginning, there are people who will follow the ideals of the League and people who will follow Ra's Al Ghul, to his death and after his death," Harry said.

"My father died so many times during his life that I'm certain that many people won't believe it when it actually does happen," Talia said. She amended her statement. "And it actually did happen and I can hardly believe it."

"Believe it," Harry whispered to her. He closed in closer toward her, closing in the gap between the both of them.

"Yes, I believe it," she confirmed. The two of them were closer together than even before. There were precious inches away. "But, I'm not sure that others are going to even entertain the thought."

Harry smiled when he looked at the Daughter of the Demon. "Let them entertain what they wish to entertainment. I know in the end that I will be vindicated."

Talia thought that Harry had a lot of pride in his tone and why wouldn't he have that pride in his tone. He could and had been proven to be right more times than she would even care to admit. Talia made her way closer towards Harry, closing the gap that had been created between the two of them.

His arms wrapped around her and Talia could feel a sense of security within his arms that she couldn't quite place. She would never admit this out loud because she hated admitting vulnerability. That was just the type of person that she was. Harry held her in tight towards him and was not going to let go ever.

"Do you feel this?" Harry asked her.

Talia paused and she nodded. She felt that. There was a part of her that hated what she felt as well for obvious reasons.

"This is getting entirely sappy," Talia said. "I want to let you know that…."

Harry sealed her words up with a kiss. He backed her through an open door and Talia melted into his kiss when he kept backing her up.

The Daughter of the Demon savored his touch, his lips, everything about him. His fingers slowly roamed her body and she could feel her heart racing the more that he played with her.

He undid the clasp on her outfit, but she stopped it.

"Allow me," Talia said, and she grabbed him by the shirt and pushed him back on the bed.

She had a feeling that Harry allowed her to do this and she was going to take pretty much every opportunity to have the fun that she wanted. Her busy hands worked on Harry's belt. Once she removed the belt, Talia descended to her knees before Harry, slowly stroking him on the other side of his pants.

"Now, allow me to show my devotion to you and your cause, master," Talia whispered hotly in her lover's ear. She could hardly wait for what was going to occur next. She kept playing with his throbbing manhood through the edge of his pants and wanted to bring it out to greater prominence so she could really touch it.

Harry allowed her hands to pull his pants down and the next action she took was pure bliss.

* * *

><p>A shadowed figure showed up and watched from the shadows. She was seeing the fun exchange between Talia and Harry. Her tongue licked over her lips and her nipples hardened at the thought of what was happening.<p>

She thought about joining in, but she was going to let Talia have her fun. Good things come to those who wait after all. Talia was being ravished again and again.

The woman in the shadows smiled. She was pretty certain that she wasn't the only one that was keeping a close watch on what was happening. She would be moving on to get a taste of everything before too long.

She figured that she could get away without any problems. The woman decided to keep a close watch on what was happening and watch Harry take Talia all over again. Her excitement increased when she watched it.

Perhaps one more round of observation couldn't hurt things. Perhaps she could stick around for one more round. There was plenty of time to stick around to watch, especially since the Dreaded Dragon had his way and drew things out fairly nicely.

* * *

><p>Nyssa was deep in thought regarding what happened. She made her way to a facility where she was meeting with Lionel Luthor. The moment the guards saw what she was doing, they backed away from her.<p>

The dreaded daughter of Ra's Al Ghul was not a woman to be trifled with, especially in the state that she was in now. Her mood appeared to be very sour these days after the disappointment she had recently.

She looked to be a woman on a mission as well. Nyssa walked to the door and knocked on it. The door opened up when Lionel exited on the other side.

"First of all, I wish to offer my condolences on the death of your father," Lionel said seriously. "I may have only worked with him for a short time, but his assistance allowed me to prepare the next phase of the plan."

"Your plan or the plans of our mutual friends?" Nyssa asked him.

Lionel smiled when he looked towards the daughter of the Demon. "Wouldn't our plans not be mutually exclusive?"

Nyssa was not going to argue with that point. She allowed Lionel to lead him forward.

"So, the Dreaded Dragon is the one who takes over the League of Assassins," Lionel stated. He could see Nyssa's gaze. "I trust that you do not approve of that."

"I think that the Dreaded Dragon will get everything that he deserves shortly," Nyssa answered. She made her way down the hallway when Lionel took her on a short tour around the facility. "And the rest of the Justice League…"

"Leave the League to our mutual friends," Lionel said to her. "They are a force that is useful, but also a force that is too dangerous to be left alone without checks and balances."

It was one of those moments of paradoxes as Lionel tried to figure out what precisely the League's game was. He was dealing with a master chess player the likes of which he had not faced in a long time and that was a fact that inspired Lionel. There was no use fighting someone who he had easy to defeat.

"I must leave to attend to certain matters," Nyssa replied. "I know that you'll be in touch with me."

"If I cannot reach you, I will send a message through Alexandria, I'm certain that you two remain in touch," Lionel said.

Nyssa didn't say anything. There was a swift little smile across her face when she parted ways with Lionel.

Speaking of Lionel, he turned his back on the situation and continued to edge his way down the hallway. He activated a keypad on the wall.

He waited for the doors to slide open. The moment that Lionel slipped inside, he was inside an elevator. It scanned Lionel's retina and once it was done, he was allowed access to a second panel. Lionel punched in the coordinates.

The coordinates activated the elevator and made its way down to the depths of the building. Lionel leaned back and waited for his arrival to the main lab to take place.

There was a solid ding and the elevator door opened up. Lionel stepped out of the elevator and walked into a lab.

He was in one of the outposts for Cadmus labs. It was right underneath LuthorCorp's main headquarters. It was not the only outpost though, but it was one that he was looking to meet with one of the chief scientists in.

Lionel passed a tank that contained genetically engineered spiders that were about ready to be moved for observation to the facility underneath Smallville. The facility underneath Smallville was not as large as what Lionel wanted, after his plan was completely derailed.

'_You bounce back,' _Lionel thought.

"Doctor Warren, just the man that I was hoping to run into down here," Lionel said.

The man looked to be the type that was up to some extremely shady doings. He looked normal enough from a distance, but when you got up close, you could see that there was something calculating about his demeanor. He had dark hair, dark eyes, and wore a lab coat. His hands were curled over each other. That scheming look caused Lionel to suspect that there were some problems.

"Yes, Mr. Luthor, what do you need?" Warren asked.

Miles Warren thought that he could get the break of his life working down here. He could work for a man who appreciated his genius, without too many questions being asked. All he had to do.

"Your talents are required for another facility, which you'll be moved to by the end of this week," Lionel informed. "The genetic weapon project is nearly at hand. The League has their own super powered soldiers and our friends in the government want there's."

"What about these spiders?" Warren asked.

"A start, they will be moved to the lab that you're working out of," Lionel responded.

Warren nodded. The spiders were his life's work and they were extremely useful. Other than the obvious fact that they could create some super strong silk that would be able to create some military grade battle suits. They were much more and Warren could see the future. They would be one step closer to replicating the super soldier project that had been lost a long time ago.

"When do I start?" Warren asked. He was eager to see what Lionel had in store for him.

"By the end of the week as I said, our good friend Mr. Wilson will inform you more," Lionel replied. He decided that he would give Warren some more information. The man's interest was obviously already piqued. "You will have an entire team at your disposal to do everything and anything that you want with. Just say the word, and they'll be with you."

Miles Warren thought that everything was turning up nice. He moved past the tank containing a star fish creature that they were also studying. It could prove to be an extremely valuable weapon as well.

* * *

><p>Gwen made her way into the lab, along with Whitney. She was eating a really large candy bar and this was about the eighth one that Gwen saw her eat in a row.<p>

"I swear you go through that many snacks and you still don't gain a pound," Gwen said. She looked into Whitney's eyes who grinned. "How the hell do you do it?"

"I run a lot," Whitney replied with a cheeky grin on her face.

Harry cleared his throat and the two girls spun around. They very nearly ran into him.

"And again, you sneak up on me, how do you do that?" Whitney asked.

"We all have our secrets," Harry said in a mysterious voice. Whitney shook her head and sighed.

"I guess I should have known that you weren't going to let me in on that, that easily," Whitney replied. "So, I guess you want the progress report on Doctor Isley?"

"Yes, that would be nice, if you have it," Harry told her.

"Yeah, yeah, I do," Whitney said. She was bobbing her head up and down and she looked extremely excited. Gwen turned to Harry, raising her eyebrow and she ducked her head down, looking very amused with the laughter that was about ready to come from her mouth.

"Oh, do you?" Harry asked her.

"Oh, yeah, right, sometimes I speak a lot faster than I think, or is the other way around?" Whitney asked. She shook her head to clear the cobwebs out of her brain; they were growing pretty fast from where she stood. Her heart raced faster when she tried to figure out where she wanted to go next.

"Just take a deep breath and calm yourself down, that works out pretty well," Gwen suggested.

"She's doing well, although I'm sure that you want to speak with her yourself, just to make sure," Whitney said. "I did notice that her pheromone control is able to ensnare both men and women, although they're much stronger on the weaker willed. Although there enough to clam people down regardless of how weak willed they are."

Harry muttered underneath his breath. "That's really interesting."

'_And from the sound of that interesting, I'm pretty sure that you're already trying to figure out a way to use that to your advantage,' _Helena thought.

'_You think?' _Claire asked.

"I'll visit her in a little bit, thanks for monitoring the situation for me, Whitney," Harry told her.

Harry made his way into the lab right next to him. He stopped and saw Karen, Faora, Alura, and Lara at work against the pod. Faora seemed to be jubilant.

"After months of research, this has to be it," Faora said. "If this isn't it, I'm not going to be very happy."

Karen looked rather stoic when she looked at Faora. "Well, whatever you do, don't trash my lab again."

"I came out of the box, what did you expect was going to happen?" Faora countered towards her. Karen didn't have any snappy retort to that one and she looked smug. "But you do realize that this one has been in the box so much longer, and she's likely to be more feral."

"She's right," Lara agreed.

'_Do you need my help in there?' _Claire asked Harry. _'Diana and I are close by, should we…..'_

'_It wouldn't hurt to have you stand by,' _Harry admitted. He was glad to have one of those all hands on deck situation.

This was it, the moment that Harry and many others in that lab had been waiting for. To say that he was tense, that would be underestimating the matters just a tiny bit. Harry had long since gone past tension, he was in one of those areas where his tension passed onto a completely new level.

"She's going to be out, and this time we have a better idea of what to expect when we open that ship."

Kara was the first one to get there, followed by Claire and Diana. Harry looked over his shoulder and he thought that it would be best if all of them just stood back. He didn't want to alarm the ship's occupant with too many hands on deck.

"Deactivating stasis locks," Lara announced.

"Stasis locks are deactivated, ready to bring subject out of stasis," Alura replied. She was looking towards her ancestor with a great deal of apprehension.

As primitive as Earth was during the present time compared to the rest of the universe, it was pretty much a non-factor during Princess Kathryn's time.

"And unlock the ship right now," Alura said. She tried not to be too edgy.

There was a click, there was another click, and there was a hiss.

Princess Kathryn of Kandor's eyes slowly flickered open when she tried to assimilate to the world around her.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on March 17<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	53. Syndicate Part One

**Chapter Fifty Three: Syndicate Part One:**

* * *

><p>It had been three months since Princess Kathryn of Krypton had been let out of the box and made her debut into the world. The young princess was slowly assimilating to life in her new world and the fact that she had powers. The girl stood at the beginning of the obstacle course. She was dressed in a tight white top and a matching pair of tight pants, also white. She looked at the obstacle course, with her eyebrow raised in surprise.<p>

There were rows and rows of rings as far as the eyes could see. Kathryn looked over her shoulder and she frowned deeply. She had her misgivings about this exercise. "Are you sure about this one?"

"It is the second to last test that I need you to do," Harry informed her. "It is to test your reflexes and how well you can change course. There might be a few surprises out there."

"Define surprises," Kathryn said. She wasn't really sure how much she was going to enjoy this entire mess, but she was willing to play along, at least for now.

That caused Karen to laugh in amusement. "Well, it wouldn't be a surprise if we told you about everything, now would it?"

Kat shook her head. That was a point that she had to concede. The blonde former royal crossed her arms. A scouting mission to another planet veered her off course and caused her to be stranded on Earth. She was left here for a fair amount of time and the realization that she would never get home really caused her a bit of dismay.

"So, when do you want me to start on this?" she asked. She was a bit nervous, a tiny bit nervous. All she had to do is focus and it would be done.

"Ready when you are," Harry told her.

Kat was ready; the girl had something to prove. She was the type of girl who had a huge chip on her shoulder and she was the type of girl who was going to destroy pretty much all expectations to be honest.

Helena, Gwen, and Caitlin joined Harry and Karen for the viewing party. Gwen turned to Harry, raising her eyebrow. "Seriously, what's with all of the rings? How many rings are there anyway?"

"Several dozen," Karen informed Harry. Helena chimed in with a few words of her own to verify something for them.

"Sixty four to be exact," Helena told Gwen. That caused Gwen to shake her head. Kat was able to navigate the first row of rings with the greatest amount of ease. "That wasn't a problem."

"But, it's never a problem to start out with, is it?" Gwen asked. She smiled when she got a glimpse of what the Kandorian Royal had to deal with next. It would be an interesting journey."It never is that simple, is it?"

She wondered if Kat had any idea what she was dealing with. There was a bolt of light as the rings rotated.

"Remember, you miss one ring, and you fail the course," Karen warned her ancestor. Kat slowed down her flight and managed to navigate through the rolling rings.

"Talk about not putting pressure on anyone or anything," Caitlin joked. The scientist was glad she didn't have to take this finicky course.

Harry smiled when he looked at the intern. "If you're not having pressure put on you, you're not really trying."

Caitlin hated to say that Harry had a point, but he did. "And I'm not about to argue with you on this."

Gwen nudged her friend and fellow intern in the shoulder, leaning towards her. "That's because you know better by now."

"She's getting up to the interesting part," Karen said. She knew that Caitlin and Gwen had questions, but she cut them off before they could even draw breath. "Just watch and see, I don't want to spoil the surprise."

That statement caused both girls to fold their arms up in frustration and thought about protesting. No protest would be heard though. Harry watched closely despite the fact that both girls were trying to get news out of them on what to come.

'_Oh, she managed to avoid the false ring that would have sent her back to the beginning,' _Kara thought to herself. _'That was really impressive.'_

'_Why, did you hit it the first time through?' _Claire asked her cousin.

Kara raised her eyebrow and smiled. _'Didn't you hit it the first time through?'_

Claire wasn't about ready to say anything, other than smile. Lois caught that smile. _'Of course she hit it. If this is Kat's first time through, then she was the first one not to hit it the first time through.'_

'_So congratulations to her then,' _Diana thought. She looked really happy for Kat and also for the others. They followed her progress through the final set of rings.

'_Here it comes through, the moment of truth,' _Donna thought. She might not have been in the building watching it, but she could see through the eyes of her bond mates.

'_That's for sure,' _Kara agreed. She was nervous for her ancestor, and excited at the same time.

'_And knowing Harry, he didn't make anything too easy for this final leg,' _Chloe offered. She watched nervously.

Kara confirmed with one dry. _'He didn't.'_

'_Why would he make it easy?' _Laura chimed in. She remembered her first time in the course and it was embarrassment. _'He wants us to be the very best that we can be. That's not a complaint, mind you.'_

'_But, this is the worst part,' _Kara thought. She clasped her hands together, almost hopefully, hoping that her ancestor could get through this.

To be fair, Kat was doing a pretty excellent job in holding her own. All she had to do is avoid this one last mine storm of rings and she would be more than good to go. The blonde's heart started to race the more she tried to push on through.

She was almost there and it would be unwise to panic right now. Especially since she had this, she so had this, she was close. Messing up now would be really disappointment.

Kat felt a tingling feeling explode through her body and she passed the final ring. The girl came seconds away from hitting a wall, but put the brakes on.

Karen was the first to put her hands up and applaud. Kat thought that she had some close moments, but overall, it was nothing too bad. It was honestly nothing for her to be ashamed about if anything else.

"Excellent, Kat," Harry told her with a smile on his face when he looked at her. "Why don't you come over here and we'll look you over?"

Alura and Lara just had to give Kat one last minute checkup and she should hopefully be good to go. Then she might be out on the field, although she was a bit rough around the edges. Field training might be a necessity. Faora would be handling that one though.

* * *

><p>Kat sat patiently, or perhaps impatiently. She was a young princess that was barely out of her teenage years. The planet that she was supposed to be the heir on was completely and utterly destroyed and had been for some time. She might have long since been a forgotten part of history. From what Kara and Karen told her, the records had been lost so many times and very little of them had been recovered, even before the destruction of the planet.<p>

Alura helped Lara with the physical scans on her. Kat sat patiently, her hands folded in her lap when she waited for the scans to be done.

"I'm sorry for making you wait," Lara said. She could see the girl's agitation, bubbling to the surface. She had to admit that she might be in the same position if she had Princess Kathryn's perspective on things.

She closed her eyes for a brief second. "It's okay. I feel more of a rush than ever through."

"It's your powers, honey," Lara commented. The scientist continued to scam everything that Kat had.

Kat looked up and saw Harry standing outside the door. It had been an interesting three months getting to know him. Especially considering he amassed a collective that was pretty much fit for royalty, and that much had to leave her smiling and ready to face him.

She was sure that she would be able to talk to him in a moment.

"And your vitals are good, more than good in fact," Alura informed her. Then again, this particular girl had more than a sufficient amount of time to assimilate to her life outside the ship after what she had been through.

"That's wonderful," Kat said. She knew these tests were necessary for her health and well-being.

"And you now have a clean bill of health," Lara said. "There is nothing else I can find wrong, unless you can find something wrong with yourself."

"I don't think so," Kat told her. She racked her brain for a couple of minutes in an attempt to think of something, but she found nothing.

It was no sooner than those thoughts left her mind, then the doors slid open. Kat was taken aback at Harry entering. "So, are you good to go?"

"I'm excellent," Kat said. Her lips curled into a bright grin. "I'm more than excellent actually, I feel better than ever."

"The real question is, how are you fitting in on Earth well?" Harry asked her. That was the question that he wanted to answer.

Kat placed her hand underneath her chin and thought carefully about that. "You know, for a modern day Kryptonian, the technology might be a bit of a challenge to deal with. But for me, it's pretty much on par with what was around during my time."

"That's good that you won't have too many problems making the transition," Harry said. He escorted her out of the first aide area. "You should get some rest, because of that battery of tests. We can see what you want to do as far as being with the League tomorrow."

"I want to help," Kat persisted with a smile on her face.

"I know you do, honey," Harry whispered gently in her ear. The girl looked rather pleased with the term of endearment directed her way. "But, it's best if you rest after all you've been through."

"I know," Kat agreed grudgingly. The two of them made their way up a fairly winding set of stairs towards her room. She supposed that she could take the elevator, but that gave her a chance to talk. "I never want to see another ring as long as I live."

"Trust me, most girls who see that course say the same exact thing," Harry teased her.

Kat put her hand on her hip. "I wonder why. It was an interesting challenge and I think that it proved that it showed that I've got basic control over my powers, by many times."

"It did prove that," Harry replied.

Kat opened the door to her room. It was right next to Kara's and right across the hall from Karen's. There were more bedrooms in this Penthouse than Harry knew what to do with. Many of the girls had their own places, but some crashed her fairly often. Given the fringe benefits that caused, Kat couldn't blame them.

The Kandorian royal realized that she was alone with Harry and that was a pretty good place to be. Her sky blue eyes met his emerald green eyes.

"So, I want to thank you for getting me out of my ship, getting me on my feet, and all that stuff," Kat commented with a smile to him. She made sure the door was shut behind her when Harry was still in the room.

'_Stuff?' _Kara asked in bemusement. She could have laughed. Well she's picking up on the Earth lingo nicely.

"I want you, badly," Kat breathed. The girl knew what she wanted and didn't waste a minute. She grabbed him by the shirt and kissed the hell out of him.

One had to appreciate a girl who went after what she wanted. Her passionate tongue engaged his and pushed into his mouth. He returned fire with the passionate kiss with her.

Harry guided Kat back onto the bed. She felt excitement. A few times she managed to overhear Harry and another girl, one of her descendants most of the time, in the throes of passion. She was both excited and scared with what Harry could do to her.

But that was what made things just that much more fun.

* * *

><p>There were an infinite number of Earths throughout the universe. On one of those infinite Earths, there was a crisis on them. A hooded man made his way down from the catwalk. He moved rather quickly and rapidly, running about as fast as his legs could carry him.<p>

He was dressed in a rather stylish outfit and there was a red hood pulled over the top of his hand. His hands were the only thing that was visible and they were fairly pale as far as the eye could see.

A figure dressed in black, with a demented pointed cowl made his way down to face the man in the red hood. He spoke in a gravely and rough voice. "It's over, Red Hood."

The man, Red Hood, chuckled in amusement. If this was over, and he wasn't saying that it he was, he certainly wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"Give up the device, and we might take things easier on you," the man continued in a crisp voice. The Red Hood responded by laughing.

"I didn't really peg you as a funny guy, Owlman," Red Hood answered crisply. He could see the other members of the Crime Syndicate closing in around him; his allies were being picked apart. Not that he had any at first.

The balcony that Owlman stood on blew up where he was standing. That caused Red Hood to try and move to the nearest exit.

Owlman rushed in front of him and punched him down to the ground. Red Hood bounced down to the ground, but got up and blocked Owlman's latest attempt to attack him. He dipped behind Owlman and used his cape as an attempt to strangle him down to the ground.

"Are you going to give up?" Red Hood asked him.

The cape sent a shockwave through Red Hood. Owlman turned around. He punched him rapidly. There was a series of rapid fire punches nailing him into the chest. Owlman had Red Hood doubled over and wheezing.

"I'm going to ask you one more time," Owlman growled. "The device, where is the device?"

"Oh, this is hilarious, isn't it?" Red Hood asked. He had been a bit saner than most of his counterparts in other universes had been for sure, but he was still a fairly unbalanced individual. His laughter got a bit more rapid. "This is what irony is, isn't it Owlman?"

"What are you talking about?" Owlman demanded. His hands were around the throat of Red Hood, about ready to strangle him.

"Got to make a sacrifice to beat anyone, basic rules of Chess," Red Hood said. "Granted, I'm not nearly as taken with the game as much as you are, but I think that I have a pretty good idea how to hold my own."

His laughter increased to the point where it sounded absolutely insidious.

"Come on, Owlman, the only way to you out, is to stay with you," Red Hood said. His hood was slipping off, revealing a slight hint of a smile. "Click, click, boom."

The bombs planted around the area as a contingency plan all went off at once. There was a lot of big bangs.

Fortunately for Owlman, he had a contingency of his own. He was able to slip out in time.

The device was outside for him, just as expected. His Crime Syndicate members managed to come through in the end.

There was just one problem, the device was incomplete. He scanned the device and realized that there was one part missing from the device that presented it from working. He frowned.

"Cross referencing missing scanning component and scan Earth," Owlman replied darkly. He could see a flashing signal that told him one thing. "No match."

There was no component, no working component that could finish the device. All of the months of work and all of the resources that had been expended had gone completely down the drain.

Owlman wasn't out of the woods yet. He wouldn't be in the position that he was in if he hadn't been able to think completely outside of the box. He adjusted the dial on his gauntlet and something popped up.

"Scanning for final component, search multiverse."

There was a long pause, because a multiverse scan took a longer time than a standard Earth scan. Owlman was a man who practiced patience.

There was a subtle beeping and Owlman's grin rose from beneath his cowl. Anyone who was used to dealing with Owlman would find it absolutely terrifying to see an expression like that coming from him. The item was considered with what would be considered on Earth One, with his world being Earth Three. There was a large black gap where Earth Two once was in between the two worlds, but it obviously that particular world didn't exist any more.

Curious, it was extremely curious.

Owlman raised his eyebrow and prepared mentally for what he was going to do. He went to prepare, because that was what Owlman did.

* * *

><p>"Overall," Karen concluded with a smile. "There are several potential recruits for the League that we might want to look into."<p>

"Some new prospects, that's always a good thing," Diana agreed with a smile. The entire mess with the League of Assassins and everything that went along with it only proved that the threats were escalated.

"And the other League is going on rather nicely, with a few hold outs," Dinah answered. She turned the man who was leading both the League of Shadows and the Justice League as well. "But, I'm sure that you have a plan to deal with that."

Harry raised his eyebrow and leaned towards Dinah. He gave her one of those smiles. It was the type of smile that made her tingle all over.

"Yes, I'm working all of the angles and the League is being put under my control," Harry said. "Your sister is able to help me with that. She sends her regards, but she's in a rather tense place in her life."

"It's with Nyssa, isn't it?" Dinah asked.

"Among other things," Harry said. He leaned forward and grabbed her hand. "There are a few heroes that are popping up here and there, and we might want to look into recruiting them."

"I'll make a note of the heroines that we are taking a look at," Helena said. "The two speedsters that are going around Central City are still of interest."

"What's stopping us from recruiting them?" Kara asked.

"When the time is right, Kara, when the time is right," Harry said to her. The younger Kryptonian shook her head.

"Although, the Flash is faster than Superwoman, I think we figured that out," Lois said. She remembered the race that they had some time ago. Although she thought that it was too close to call, she couldn't resist needling Claire a little bit.

"Oh, yeah, you really think that, don't you, Lois?" Claire asked her. Her eyes locked onto those of her girlfriend's. Lois blinked when she placed her hand onto the side of her hip and they had a staring contest. "It was too close to call."

"It was a romanticized memory to that race," Lois said, even if she agreed with it. Again, she just liked to needle Claire, especially when the Woman of Tomorrow took herself a bit too seriously. She folded her arms underneath her chest and challenged Claire to argue with her.

"It wasn't an official race, it wasn't formally organized, so I don't think that it should be counted, "Claire said and Kara nodded her head in response.

Harry cleared his throat and both of the girls spun around.

'_Oh, whipped, so whipped,' _Chloe thought. She snickered in bemusement.

'_Oh, that's one interesting way in putting it,' _Lois thought. _'And I'm so not whipped.'_

'_Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that, Lois, and maybe one day it will come true,' _Chloe commented. There was something a bit taunting in her voice when she talked to Lois.

'_You know, Chloe, you can cool it as well,' _Harry thought.

The other girls were listening to the bond traffic with eagerness. This was something that was far better than anything on television. It was amusing to see a back and forth between the two of them.

He had the notes all together and there were some promising recruits.

"And we should look into my backup Green Lantern for this sector as well," Lois added as an afterthought.

"Why does Earth need so many Green Lanterns, for being such a low priority planet?" Karen asked. She was complaining about anything, just honestly asking a question.

Lois met her eyes and she shrugged in response. "You know, I'm really not sure why. Granted, there's more than Earth, not much more, but a bit more. Well, there was Mars and…..I guess all life on it has been extinct and most of the other planets in this specter are uninhabited, as far as we know, so…"

Lois did wonder exactly why that was the cause. That was something that she honestly wanted to think about and she frowned deeply about it.

"Well, if you're done there, then I can be going off," Harry answered.

He had to make his way back to the RAO Corporation, to check up a new recruit that they had discovered just recently. She was just getting settled in. When it was verified that Harry was not needed there, he leaves.

He made his way to the lab at the RAO Corporation. Gwen was puttering around the lab, working on something. She frowned at something.

Harry was looking for the other recruit in the lab. It was borderline difficult to locate her.

He could see an outline of someone around the lab and it was quite the outline. The reason why she didn't see her straight away was that she became invisible in the lab.

There was a flash of light and a lovely looking blonde appeared around. She wore a nice white suit that fit around her curves nicely. Her blue eyes flashed when she looked at him and a smile appeared on her face.

"Doctor Potter, I didn't expect you to be here," she said, with a grin on her face. The blonde shook her head. "Well, that would be the reason for a surprise inspection wouldn't it?"

"Yes, so how are you doing Sue?" Harry asked her.

"Fine, thanks for asking," she said, placing her hands on her hips in excitement.

Susan Storm had been caught up in the meteor shower that brought Laura to Earth all of those months ago. Her team was orbiting around in space to record some strange cosmic activity that turned out to be the meteor shower that hit to Earth. The other three members of her team were killed in the process; their supervisor was severely scarred beyond the point of recognition and he was driven utterly insane as a result.

Sue was fairly lucky to be in a good enough position to get the powers of invisibility. That made her smile, as there were many usages. And she was finding out that her powers had more ideas then to turn invisible.

"So, how is the project going on?" Harry asked.

"It's going well," Sue said. "It's just an honor to work on something so ground breaking, and it will change a lot of lives for the better."

It sounded like a cliché, but unlike a lot of the other clichéd speeches this was the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Sue frowned deeply at one of the calculations.

"You might want to adjust that a bit," Gwen said. "It's not off by too much, but you don't really want it to blow it to blow up in your face, do you?"

"No, I don't, thanks for the heads up," Sue replied to her. She was interesting. "This should be able to power a city the size of Metropolis based on stored solar energy alone."

"I'm sure the energy companies are both quaking in their boots and plotting your downfall," Gwen said. She said this in mostly good humor, although there was some seriousness in her voice.

"I'm a forward thinker, I need to think about the future," Harry informed both of them. The two girls looked at each other and nodded in agreement. That made a fair amount of sense. The future was not a little bit from now, the future was now as far as they were concerned.

"This will make a lot of people's lives a lot easier," Sue told Harry. "And make a lot of people rethink about what they are doing. But, I have a couple of questions, if you don't mind; we can discuss them after work."

Gwen smiled in response. She had a pretty good idea where this was going. But, she thought that she was one step beyond what Sue was doing.

"I think that we can meet together, if you really want to," Harry said. And Gwen was about ready to open her mouth up, but Harry cut her off. "And yes, Gwen, we're still on for dinner this weekend, there is no need to ask."

Whitney zipped on past them at that moment, faster than a speeding bolt of light. She stopped and started to laugh in amusement. Harry turned around towards her and that caused her to pick up the pace.

There was never a dull moment at the RAO Corporation. Harry had to check on a couple of other things, so he left Sue and Gwen to their devices to continue their little project. Everything was coming together quite nicely and he was excited to see where they would go forward.

* * *

><p>The Crime Syndicate was a unified front to the outside world. They would have to be, given the hold they had over the world. If they had any sign of weakness, their enemies would pounce on them. While their enemies, the Legion of Hope, were scrambling, there was always some people that would scramble and cause some kind of problem.<p>

The problem was that there was a split in between the Crime Syndicate that was threatening to cause a lot of problems. There was a battle between two of the top members, where the spoils of war would go to who came out ahead. It was a mad scramble for resources.

They had a unified front on the outside world. The inside of the Crime Syndicate on the other hand, that was another matter entirely thing entirely.

A tall blonde dressed in a tight white corset, tight shorts, and thigh high white boots with a cape and fingerless blondes showed up. She had amazing assets, the type of body that would stop traffic from a mile away. She was Katrina Kent, better known as Ultrawoman of the Crime Syndicate and pretty much second in command.

Her fellow member joined her. She wore a tight black bodysuit, with a choker and bracelets with a nice cape that flowed in behind her. The bodysuit was cut off at the thighs and showcasing her nice and beautiful legs. They were the type of legs that stretched on for miles and stopped traffic. Her ass was not too bad either and that could be seen when she turned herself around, frowning deeply. Her name was Artemis Lyta Prince, known better as Lyta, and she was Fury of the Crime Syndicate of America.

"So, Owlman's getting a bit too big for his britches, isn't he?" Fury asked her.

Ultrawoman's eyes raised to her. "He is, and our glorious leader is going to want to know that he may have located the other artifact."

There were a couple of eyes and ears in Owlman's inner circle. Granted, the link wasn't direct, but they were able to accumulate information and allow them to bring it before their glorious leading.

Speaking of their glorious leader, she arrived, the Black Queen, in all of her glory. She showed up with a smile on her face. Her red hair flowed vibrantly, practically flaming when she looked at them. She wore a nice tight black corset and an overcoat, along with a sensual looking thong, thigh high boots, and fingerless gloves. She looked like the type of woman that other women were going to call Mistress.

Jaime Rosalina Potter, the Black Queen of the Crime Syndicate, cast her gaze onto them.

"Owlman and his supports think that they have me on the ropes," Black Queen said. She seemed more amused, then concerned of this.

"They're wrong, Mistress," Ultrawoman said. This was the only person that she would be submissive to.

"Yes, he's wrong, I know that he's heading to an alternate universe to get the final component of his device," the Black Queen said. Her lips curled into a soft smile. "He really thinks that he has it. He is just playing into my hand."

The darker female Potter smiled. She could see her alternate universe counterpart, and much to her surprise, there were two in the universe that Owlman was going into. One of them was an alternate female version of her, younger and with a bit sunnier personality.

The other one was a male version of herself and Jaime grinned when she looked at him. This would prove to be very interesting, one way or another. She could hardly wait to see what she could do here.

Owlman had a head start though, and they were going to have to move extremely quickly.

* * *

><p>Speaking of Owlman, he was already through the portal and he made his way into Gotham City. He broke into Wayne Industries.<p>

All of the locks allowed him in. It was a nice bit of coincidence that the one component that he needed was in a building that was owned by someone with similar DNA. The locks were good, and the security was excellent otherwise.

Owlman didn't even have to use any contingency plans, which was almost a disappointment for him. It was almost an insult to his major plan.

He stopped and spun around. The figure in the shadows blocked his punch. Owlman did a backflip and he landed on his feet, essentially sticking a clear and crisp landing

"Light and darkness, two sides of the chessboard that is necessary to survive," Owlman responded. He raised his hand and motioned for the figure in the shadows to bring it for him.

It would be brought and Batman rushed out of the shadows.

The last second, Owlman flipped onto his feet, and slammed his fist on the alarm. There was a blaring sound that could be heard.

The alarm in Wayne Industries had been triggered. Owlman caught Batman with a cheap shot, picking up his blind spot. He didn't see that coming. That caused Owlman to slip out into the darkness.

About ten seconds after Owlman disappeared, security made their way inside. They pointed their weapons at Batman.

"Freeze!" one of the guards yelled.

Batman flicked an ice pellet out of his glove and caused a wall of ice to rise up. The bullets connected to the ice wall.

The Dark Knight made his way to the nearest exit, and another wall of security made their way towards him. Whatever this mysterious intruder did, it triggered an Omega Security alert. Batman was going to have to be creative to get out of this one.

He flung a gas canister down on the ground. The gas canister busted open and Batman slipped into the shadows.

There was a whoosh as the entire facility was on lockdown. There were many questions. Not only how did he figure that out, but also what was he after. There were so many questions, and not enough answers.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on March 20<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	54. Syndicate Part Two

**Chapter Fifty Four: Syndicate Part Two.**

* * *

><p>Rebecca stretched herself out with a groan. She collapsed down onto the chair, the wind knocked out of her. She was just put through an extremely intense sparring session and now there was a break for her. The girl sat back into the chair. Her little escapades as Robin had gotten the attention of some people and some of the wrong people. She really just wanted to make a difference, which meant that she needed to prove herself again and again.<p>

That was honestly the story of her life, having to prove herself constantly. That wouldn't be life in the day of Rebecca Grayson if she didn't prove herself. She worked out the kink in her neck.

"I wouldn't move too much, it would hurt even more."

Alex popped up from behind Rebecca, placing her hands on the back of the girl's head. The young Grayson girl flinched for a brief moment. The Potter females magical fingers brushed against the back of her neck, causing the girl to relax suddenly.

"Better?" Alex asked after she wrapped up. She waited for the response.

"Loads," Rebecca said. She shook her head, with a slight groan coming from the back of her throat. "And I thought that the training session with Bruce was all kinds of bad. Helena really wants to make sure that I can handle myself out there. And I got the impression that she didn't want me out there at all."

Rebecca supposed that she couldn't be too bad. Helena was like the older sister that she always wanted. The girl shrugged when she closed her eyes. Alex's magical fingers removed from the back of her neck and Alex sat down.

She summoned them a tray with a couple of pop cans on it. Rebecca raised her eyebrow when Alex did that. The girl frowned in response. "You know, I will never not be freaked out when you do the hocus pocus thing."

"Sorry, if that overwhelms you," Alex answered dryly, handing Rebecca one of the cans. She took the can of her own and drank it with a smile on her face.

"I'm not overwhelmed, I'm so whelmed," Rebecca replied. She arched her neck back. Alex was about to protest something, but she shook her head. "Have I just struck you speechless?"

"You do that," Alex responded. She folded her hands over her lap.

Rebecca was pondering something. She wanted Alex's honest opinion on the situation. And she knew that Alex was the type of girl to lay it out on her in plain English where everyone can understand. "So?"

"Yes," Alex responded. She encouraged Rebecca to go on.

"You know, I wonder why Helena wanted to protect me so much, but then, she does come from another Earth, just like this one," Rebecca commented. Alex raised her eyebrow. "Oh come on, it's not that hard to figure out."

"I didn't say anything," Alex conceded. Her friend was a bit too nosy for her own good as far as she was concerned. That was not something that Alex really had any room to talk about whatsoever, but it was an observation that she made.

"You didn't say anything, but you were thinking about it," Rebecca continued. She grinned and honestly she had Alex pretty much right where she wanted her, in a barrel so to speak. "So anyway, I wonder if something happened to the other me on that other Earth."

Alex couldn't say. "You know, I couldn't say."

Rebecca shrugged in response. "It is just something to think about."

The radio over on the other side could be heard with a surprising announcement. "Over in Gotham City, the vigilante known as Batman has been caught breaking into Wayne Industries. The GCPD has issued an all-points bulletin on Batman. The owner of Wayne Industries Bruce Wayne could be not reached for comment, but Lucius Fox has stated that they are investigating the matter and states that they wish to make sure that Batman was involved before pressing any charges. Several eye witness accounts have put Batman at the scene of the crime and cast doubt over the man's overall innocence."

Rebecca and Alex locked eyes with each other. Both of the girls were thinking along the same lines, it was just Rebecca who voiced it.

"No fucking way he did that," Rebecca said. She looked completely flabbergasted at what they said. "Granted, he is capable of doing some weird things as of late….."

"Like dressing a preteen girl up like a neon road sign and putting her in the middle of assassins, mobsters, and other crazed weirdos," Alex imputed.

That caused Rebecca's arms to fold across her chest and she scowled at Alex in response. "I told you, that was all on me, the costume idea."

"Oh, Becca, we're going to have to get you some lessons on stealth," Alex said, shaking her head in bemusement. "What do you think is happening anyway?"

"Well, I don't know, he has been acting strange, but why would he break into Wayne?" Rebecca asked. "I suppose we can't blame everyone for jumping to the wrong conclusion. I mean, the world doesn't want to connect the vigilante known as Batman with the billionaire playboy known as Bruce Wayne. I mean, there's a disconnect right there."

"He wears the mask way too well," Alex answered. She frowned. "Has he been a bit odd as of late?"

"Well he has this one case that he can't solve, because it's almost like he's chasing a phantom," Rebecca replied. She frowned deeply. "There is some guy who is killing a bunch of people, at random."

"So, the Batman can't take down a serial killer?" Alex asked her.

That fact seemed utterly absurd. Batman had taken down some crazy people, so why would this one serial killer having gotten in Batman's head like that?

"Well, yes, but no," Rebecca answered. "I'm not sure if it's your average serial killer. I mean, this guy doesn't have any profiled victims or anything. He does poison people and the poison causes paralysis in their face. They die smiling."

"That's ghastly," Alex hissed. She looked shocked and horrified.

"You don't have anything like that in Metropolis, do you?" Rebecca asked.

"The worst we get is an alien invasion every third week," Alex answered. "And also killer plant attacks, but that was spillover from Gotham more than anything."

"Yeah," Rebecca agreed. In a weird way, Gotham City was the closest place that she had ever seen to home. But she would be lying if she didn't see that there was some pretty fucked up shit going on in that city. Anyone who didn't see that would be blind.

Helena made her way into the room. It was hard to see how long that she had the conversation. Alex and Rebecca turned, and looked at her, both of them frowning. Rebecca was the one who spoke first. "So you heard what happened, didn't you?"

"Yes, I heard," Helena agreed. She frowned deeply. "The two of you should stay here, you'll be perfectly safe."

There were a few questions about the matter, but the look from Helena made sure that the girls fell into line. They had to agree that if the matter was serious enough, they had to stay there.

"So, do you think that something deeper is going on than some kind of attack at Wayne Industries?" Alex asked Rebecca.

Rebecca shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. "Well, isn't that much obvious?"

"I guess it's obvious," Alex conceded. She wondered what was going on. She would be bound and determined to find out no matter what. The girl rocked back in the chair and waited for the other shoe to drop.

* * *

><p>Another female version of Harry Potter, Jaime Rosalina Potter made her way through the portal. Ultrawoman and Fury, two of her more trusted allies, followed her through the portal to Earth.<p>

"If our calculations are correct, we should be arriving at her destination in a couple of seconds," Jaime said. The energy from the portal shifted and it allowed them to step out into the light.

They stepped out right in the light, in front of the trio of Wonder Woman, Supergirl, and Arcane. That caused the Black Queen to raise an eyebrow in response. It was almost too appropriate that that they would run into this particular group.

"Well, that's like stepping out of a portal and looking into a mirror," the Black Queen responded. She wasn't going to lie; she was more surprised more than anything when she ran into this particular group. But it tended to work out fairly nicely.

Ultrawoman grinned when her eyes swept over Harry. Fury did the same with a smile. "You know, you're fairly attractive as a guy."

"Yeah, given the last guy you didn't end so well," Fury said. She went down a dismal trip down memory lane. "And he called himself Harrison….what a colossal douchebag."

"Don't worry, we took care of him in the end," Black Queen said. He was regulated to a temporal void where he would be never seen again. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Harry Potter."

'_So another female version of you, what are the odds?' _Diana asked.

'_Another female version of me, what are the odds?' _Kara countered. That caused Laura to giggle through the bond link and she jumped in.

'_Actually considering that it is Harry, pretty high,' _Karen reminded her. _'And just to think if he gets seven versions of the same female, he gets a high boots of power, thus putting him over his potential.'_

'_It's not the power that matters, it's how you use it,' _Diana reminded her, speaking for Harry, allowing for Harry to turn towards the Black Queen.

"Well, I can't say that I'm surprised, given a couple of recent events today, this explains everything perfectly," Harry said. He shifted his hands over towards his hips and his eyes locked onto hers. "So tell me, humor me, what are you doing here?"

Harry was slowly putting two and two together as only he can. He liked these confirmed from the horse's mouth.

"We're searching for an associate of ours that has made his way over to your world," the Black Queen answered. "We have had a group, an ancient society that wanted to keep order over the world."

"Yes, that's how it starts normally," Kara agreed. She wondered what this woman had up her sleeve. She seemed to be someone who was extremely interesting, but she was looking over at her with a careful eye.

"You remind me of me when I was younger and more innocent," Ultrawoman commented when she gazed into Kara's eyes.

Kara grinned back at her. "Well, spend a lot of time around me, and you'll find out that I'm nowhere near as innocent as people assume that I am."

'_Isn't that the truth?' _Lois asked, in amusement.

"So, this secret society, I'm guessing some of the more unsavory members wanted to go too far," Harry said. He always had that ability to steer a conversation back to its intended direction. That was just how good he was.

"Yes," The Black Queen replied. She flashed an image in the air. The girls stepped back to take a look at it. "This man was one of the chief members of the Crime Syndicate."

'_Crime Syndicate?' _Lois asked. She shook her head. It was a good thing that she wasn't in the live conversation because she would not be able to hold her tongue.

"Yes, and I suppose that there was some kind of power struggle for control," Harry replied. He tried to keep this on the level, but there were so many questions and not enough answers.

"Yes, and he was obsessed with avenging everything that happened in his life," the Black Queen said.

Fury picked up. "He had a few Daddy issues come to think about it."

Diana raised her eyebrow. "How so?"

"Well, his father was one of the founding members of the Syndicate, but he was killed in a sting operation by the police, along with his mother and his younger brother," Black Queen explained for Fury. "Ever since then, he has pretty much driven himself mad in a crusade to take over everything. We worked together to start out, but I think that he expected more out of the relationship than I wanted to give."

Harry whistled in response. "Say no more."

"Yes, I believe that I've said enough," Jaime agreed in an extremely dry tone of voice. She wrapped her fingers around her hair and frowned when she spoke. It was interesting. "His name is Owlman, his real name is Thomas Wayne Junior."

'_Are you thinking what I'm thinking?' _Harry asked to the people inside the bond, at the same time that he commented "that's fascinating."

'_If you're thinking that this has something tied to what happened at Wayne Industries today, about Batman being accused, then I can see why you would think that,' _Helena thought.

'_I'm trying to punch up the security feeds,' _Barbara thought. She bit down on her lip in frustration. _'And I have nothing, damn it.'_

'_If it makes you feel any better, I can't find anything,' _Chloe thought, in an attempt to reassure her.

'_Trust me, Chloe, your failure, doesn't make my failure feel any better,' _Barbara thought. She looked completely sullen and absolutely frustrated. Frustrated beyond all belief and perhaps all reason to be honest, where she wanted to hang her head down and just scream out loud.

"So, I think that we have a similar purpose and we should consolidate our resources to defeat a common enemy," the Black Queen informed him.

"So, you want us to work together?" Diana asked. She frowned when she looked at her darker twin.

"Why don't you wrap that lasso around me and see if I'm lying?" Lyta asked in response. She looked a bit excited. "It might be fun, for all of us."

Her queen responded by giving her one of those stern looks.

"Fun and games can happen later," the Black Queen piped up. "Its serious business type right now."

Her two pets fell back into line at those words. They knew when the time for fun and games was here and they knew when it was time to listen to the Black Queen. Her dark eyes shifted over them, along with the smile which deepened. Words were spoken next that would live on forever in infamy.

"So, do we have a deal?"

* * *

><p>A narrow escape was a nice way to describe how Batman had escaped the security at Wayne Industries. A part of him was pleased how much he got his money's worth here. He also escaped some of the GCPD's finest. The good news was that he had a lot of secret tunnels all throughout Gotham City. That allowed him easy moment through the tunnels and return back to Wayne Manor.<p>

The fight against his demented doppleganger was brutal and short. Batman didn't know where he came from and that was the brutality of the matter.

The signal from the League went off, but for the moment, Batman decided to ignore it. He had his own independent investigation to make and it was off to the Batcave.

He pulled back the statue of the bust of William Shakespeare and activated a switch. The secret book shelf slid out of place and revealed an elevator. Batman stepped inside, feeling a stabbing sensation in his leg. The fight hadn't been that long, but he felt it.

Answers, that's what the World's Greatest Detective needed now. He made his way down. It was bad enough that some crazy serial killer was going around Gotham City and disappearing into the night like a phantom. He was about as easy to capture as a wisp of smoke.

"Alfred, I'm coming down," Batman said over the radio. "Bring me everything that you can find on the security feed for Wayne Industries over the last twelve hours."

Batman was about ready to hear a response, snarky as it might seem, from the faithful Wayne family butler. He was greeted with what ended up being a rather rude shock.

Absolutely nothing, and Batman configured the communication device to make sure that it worked. There was not even a hint of static. "Alfred?"

Batman was very concerned. He made his way into the Batcave and stepped out of the shadows. The sight that he saw was extremely ghastly.

It was Alfred, strung up against one of the pieces of machinery in the cave. The bruises on the face and the blood dripping out of his mouth showed that he was brutally and badly beaten. He groaned and Batman rushed over to check on him.

"Alfred, who did this to you?" Batman asked. Alfred's eyes glazed over and he couldn't speak.

Batman saw red, not only did something apparently find his cave, but they brutally and senselessly attacked a man that he saw as a father.

He looked around the cave. He could see something move in the shadows. He reached into the pouch of his bet and pulled out a Baterang and flung it.

"Is it possible that I rattled the Batman?"

The Baterang was caught like it was nothing. That threw Batman for a complete loop and the man in the shadows launched it back at him like it was no big deal at all. Batman ducked his head and made a forward roll, pushing himself out of the way.

"Yes, I think that you're rattled."

"Who are you?" Batman asked. He rushed the man in the shadows.

Batman looked around. The man that he intended to attack was not there.

"After your humiliation at Wayne Industries, one would think that you would not engage me again."

There was a fast rolling and a giant penny made its way down the cave floor in an attempt to smash Batman into paste. Batman dodged out of the way and the penny smashed against the wall.

A series of rapid fire jabs were drilled into the ribs of Batman, doubling him over in pain. They struck areas of him that weren't as heavily armored or not armored at all. It was almost as if he knew where to hit and where to hit hard.

"And you have several blind spots just as much as the next person," the man hovering over the top of Batman commented with interest. He kept pounding away at the ribs and causing Batman misery.

Batman tried to get to his feet, but he was punted halfway across the cave like a soccer ball.

"Nice place you got here, Bruce," Owlman said. He slammed his hand over the back of the head of Batman and caused him to get knocked face first onto the ground. "But, not as good as the Fortress I have back in my dimension, old chum. I got what I wanted in the end, but it was delayed. For that, you must pay."

A bolt of magical energy shot from out of nowhere and nailed Owlman in the chest. He slid back a few inches and stopped.

"The Black Queen in male form, impressive," Owlman said. He didn't seem to be too surprised that his adversary was here. "But your interference means very little, when I have universes to conquer."

"You've made your armor impervious to magic, impressive," Harry said. He thought that was actually smart. The attack was more to get Owlman's attention than to attack him and a blasting curse was the best way to do so.

Alfred and Batman were both teleported from the cave for medical attention.

"I do not wish to fight, the two of us could join forces," Owlman answered. "Just think about it, standing up to the forces of evil. We will be a tremendous and glorious force that would demolish anyone who will stand in our way."

"I prefer not to team up with any psychopathic conquerors," Harry said. He dodged a pair of discs that threatened to turn his magic back on in and fry his nerves something fierce. "Some impressive toys, here's one of mine."

He tossed a throwing dagger at Owlman. Owlman dodged it and it caused the wall to explode behind him, sending a large dinosaur robot about ready to fall onto the top of him.

"Another time, perhaps, old chum," Owlman answered. He turned the dial on his belt and disappeared into the light.

Harry hated when the bad guy got away, but he didn't get away unscathed. As crazy prepared as Owlman was, Harry was even more crazy prepared. He got a scan on the belt before Owlman flashed off into the night.

'_I'm sending the scan back to the lab right about now that I got on his belt,' _Harry thought.

'_Got it,' _Helena said. _'And Alfred and Batman are getting medical attention. Lucky that you traced Batman when he wasn't picking up.'_

'_Smelled a rat right away, but unfortunate that it had to escalate this far,' _Harry thought. He frowned. They would all pay for what happened.

* * *

><p>"Wow," Whitney whistled. She didn't impress that easily. Okay, there were some things that impressed her easily, but that was because that they were worthy of impressing her easily. And that's was one of those things that were worthy of impressing her easily.<p>

"Yes, wow, indeed," Gwen said. She joined Caitlin, Whitney, Karen, Barbara, and Helena in looking over the belt. "For a crazed would be universal conqueror, he does have some sick toys."

"Is it possible that his belt might be even more epic than Batman's?" Whitney asked. Her eyes widened in surprise. Normally she wouldn't dare utter such a thing because Batman was the epitome of all things epic. She had to wonder though about the possibilities of something like that.

"He's created a really good design, but Harry managed to get a scan on it, and the item on his belt," Helena told them.

"Oh, well, that's cool," Whitney said. She was looking at the devices. "Is that what I think it is?"

"If you mean an interdimensional splitting device, then that's what you think it is," Helena said. She moved back and allowed Barbara to work her magic.

"The good news is that I'm about to redeem myself from that epic failure to end all epic failures that I had earlier," Barbara replied. She kept typing away. "He's planning on traveling through dimensions, apparently."

"Can't he already do that though?" Whitney asked. "I mean, no offense, but if he's the reverse Batman, he comes from another alternate universe."

"She does have a point," Karen conceded.

'_First time for everything,' _Kara thought, folding her arms underneath her chest. She was still with Diana, waiting with their alternate dimensional counterparts for the next move.

'_Oh, is someone still sore about being bested in a foot race,' _Donna cooed. She could see Kara's burning gaze pass through the bond link.

"He's not doing that, because that's not what he's doing," Helena said. She placed her hand on the back of Barbara's chair and got her attention. Anyone else and Barbara might protest what she was doing. Considering that it was Helena, Barbara honestly didn't mind at all.

"You're going to have to explain, because I'm kind of lost," Caitlin said with a frown.

"Well, there are an infinity number of dimensions out there," Whitney said in a super excited voice. "Think of it as a series of roads. You can turn left or you can turn right. For every decision that is made, there is a dimension that you made some different decision. But, it all leads back to one dimension. It was the dimension that started it all. When the big bang happened, that's where the spark was created."

"Earth Prime," Helena murmured underneath her voice.

"Well, there's an Earth there, yes," Whitney responded. She nodded up and down in excitement. Say what you will about the girl, but she had her passions. "But there is far more than an Earth there. It's really nothing more than a launching point for every single universe that was or ever will be. No one lives on Earth Prime."

"Okay," Gwen said. "I think that I get this now, and he attempts to…."

"He wants to consolidate the universes into one big Earth where he and his followers will rule over."

The group turned around. The Black Queen swept her way into the room, followed by Harry. The two of them saw the work that the group had been done and had been impressed.

"Okay, I don't get that," Whitney said. "By the principle of the universe, there would have to be some alternate dimension where he doesn't decide to make that decision. So even if he destroys one chain of universes, another will pop up in its place. The universe is infinitely looping."

"Slow down for a minute and try not to rationalize the actions of a mad man," the Black Queen warned her. "He wishes for a world where he can bring order to, without any distractions. I'm certain that he's deluded enough to think that he can just wipe out everything that ever was."

"He's more likely to create a paradox," Harry responded. "If Earth Prime is destroyed itself…"

"Again, there will be some timeline where he doesn't destroy Earth Prime, because he's either stopped or decides not to," Whitney persisted stubbornly.

"And even if we stop him, there will be some world where he succeeds," Karen said. She felt like she was running a marathon against the logic of this situation and they were failing.

"Can't we agree on one thing?" Barbara asked. "He's going to end up killing a bunch of people in his mad plan to succeed."

"That's something that we can all agree with," Harry said. He placed his hand on Barbara's shoulder and eased her a little bit.

The woman was searching around on Owlman's belt scan in an attempt to find something else that could find them.

"So, have you thought about offer?" the Black Queen asked Harry.

"Yes, I've thought about it," Harry replied. He didn't know where the Crime Syndicate, even his faction.

"If you can't trust yourself, who can you trust?" Jaime inquired.

"You know, those are words that might come back and bite me later on," Harry replied to her. She shrugged her shoulders in response. "But, for your information, I think that your offer is one that the League is not in the position to refuse."

"The only problem is that Owlman had a head start," Jaime replied. That frustrated her.

"The component has a unique trace though, we should be able to track it," Barbara said. "And if he put it in the Doomsday Machine, we can find it."

"It will take some time for the machine to power up before he can use it," Harry said.

'_Bring the others in here,' _Harry thought to Diana and Kara.

"We're assuming that this machine is on Earth Three, aren't we?' Karen asked. Harry gave one of his Alphas a cross look. "Yeah, I know assuming nothing."

"It depends on what level of crazy prepared Owlman is," Harry said. "He either moves the machine somewhere else, or he keeps the machine right on Earth 3, because he expects that we expect that he'll move it somewhere else."

"And we've hit a loop like territory," Ultrawoman responded, showing up with Fury, Supergirl, and Wonder Woman.

"We'll know in a minute," Barbara said. She paused. "Unless he blocked it….which he did."

"Let me see something for a moment," Jaime said. She pushed Barbara out of the chair without another word.

Barbara scowled; it was like her territory had been invaded by some interloper. Her arms folded angrily when she watched the Black Queen get to work. She was taking her time getting around the security protections in a roundabout way.

"He thinks that he's clever," Jaime said in abject disgust.

"Or he thinks that he could be leading you into a trap," Harry warned her.

Katrina, Lyta, Kara, and Diana all exchanged nervous glances at this. They had similar conversations about traps to their respective leaders.

'_It's not a trap if you know it's coming,' _Lyta and Diana both thought through their respective bond links at the same time.

"It's not a trap if you know it's coming," Jaime replied. Harry just responded with a smile and nodded.

"So, since we're walking into a trap, do we have a way to get there?" Gwen asked.

"The portal," Karen answered. That caused Gwen to raise her eyebrow. There were some concerns going through the eyes of the budding young scientist. Karen was there to alleviate every single one of them. "And yes I know, the portal is very much a prototype, but do you honestly have a better idea?"

"We'll fire it up then," Caitlin said. She was determined and Gwen had to agree that was the most logical course of action as well.

Whitney was glad that she didn't have to run on a treadmill this time to do the interdimensional travel thing or worse, time travel. Or worse yet, time travel and interdimensional travel. Her mind didn't really work right for weeks.

For now it's a simple portal with a really simple objective. Whitney had to say that it was going to run smoothly or at least smoothly that something like this was going to run.

"So, do we have a deal?" Jaime asked the entire group. She knew that this wasn't an ideal circumstance, but was there really any choice.

"In these circumstances, I think that it would be kind of foolish not to make one," Harry said. "Is there anything about Owlman that we didn't know?"

"I would tell you to expect the unexpected, but you honestly should have expected that as well," Jaime answered. She didn't really need.

"Okay, the portal is firing up," Gwen informed them. She half wondered what it would like to go through the portal on some kind of wild adventure. The lack of super powers she had made her stop at this wondering to be honest. "Three minutes and counting, and you'll be able to get on through."

* * *

><p>Karen, Harry, Kara, Diana, and Helena made their way through the portal. They were the members of the League that were chosen to go on this mission. Helena held up the configured tracker in her hand.<p>

'_And I think that we're going to be cut off on the people in our universe over the bond network,' _Harry thought. If he would have to be perfectly honest, he was expecting that.

'_We're just going to have to do this the old fashion way,' _Karen thought.

Helena looked up and saw Owlman's fortress. Unlike Batman who stuck to the shadows, Owlman had a fortress out in the middle of the city. There was a large statue of him, looking down at the smaller people below. There were drones patrolling the area.

He would leave security, naturally. It wouldn't be Batman if he didn't, even if it was some kind of demented reverse Batman.

The Black Queen, Fury, and Ultrawoman were behind them. The Black Queen held a remote control device in her hand.

"He would guard them against magic," Jaime muttered. She made sure to keep her voice to a minimum not to disturb anything regarding these things.

Harry noticed that about the armor. Jaime had a counter to his counter attack. He had to admit that the Black Queen was devious.

'_So, it seems like the female of the species is far more dangerous than the male in many cases,' _Karen thought. _'Not that Harry can't be equally dangerous in his own right when he honestly wants to be.'_

'_You know, I'm not really arguing with you, because I really agree with you,' _Harry replied to her. Karen could not help but allow the smugness to go through her lips.

'_And we found another version of me, don't forget that,' _Kara said.

'_Trust me, Kara, we won't forget that,' _Harry said, half teasingly. He caught Kara checking out the ass of her darker counterpart. That was honestly not something that he blamed the girl for, because he would have done the same thing had the places been reversed. And he was in perfect position to do the same thing.

They were at the doors of the fortress. The attack drones were disabled.

Harry could sense that there was something unsettling about that giant statue of Owlman.

'_You mean other than the fact that he's obviously and shamelessly compensating for something,' _Karen thought. Her grin widened when Harry's eyes flashed over her face. _'I'm just saying, that's all.'_

'_I know you are,' _Harry thought to her.

They were inside the Fortress and all was quiet. Harry didn't want to say it was too quiet for fear of jinxing everything. He gave silent thanks to all of the girls there.

"According to the tracker, the Doomsday Machine should be behind this door," Jaime reported. She opened the door and revealed that there was absolutely nothing but a device lying in the middle.

"It's sending some kind of false signal," Helena said. Jaime's eyes shifted over towards Helena and she scowled.

"Yeah, I got that," Jaime said. Perhaps she could find some kind of clue here, but she needed to backtrack a little bit. "Okay, Tommy Boy, this is just check, but it's not checkmate. I'll have you sooner or later."

Harry could not help, but think that she was taking this a bit too personally. It was obvious that her two companions, as loyal as they were, were obviously not in disagreement.

There was a blaring sound suddenly. Someone had tripped a silent alarm. There was a rumbling sound outdoors. Harry turned around and scanned. There was some pretty heavy ordinance out there.

"So, it is a trap," Lyta stated. She tried to remain even with her tone of voice, but there was a sense of that she told them so ringing through her voice.

"Yes, I'm aware of that," Jaime answered through gritted teeth. She could hear the hissing continue on the other side. It was time for them to fight.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on March 24<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	55. Syndicate Part Three

**Chapter Fifty-Five: Syndicate Part Three.**

* * *

><p>It was even odds what was worse for Harry. One could speculate all day long exactly what kind of problems he was going to deal with. He had known all too well about the magical statues that had come to life in an attempt to kill him and those who were pretty close around him. That was a royal pain in the ass to put things bluntly.<p>

The statues were pretty bad, but the robots that came to life to attack them were just pretty bad. Harry instinctively threw up a shield to block the laser attacks. He fired back an attack of his own in kind to knock his adversaries back.

"And now, we've got some trouble," Harry grumbled underneath his breath. It seemed like the robots were not going to let up on their attack.

Kara and Karen locked eyes. The two like girls, as they were so often able to do, were able to formulate a plan without even talking to each other. One girl went one way; the other girl went the other way. Faster than a speeding bullet both girls went, flying as high as they could go.

Kara smashed down across the back of the head of her adversary with a vicious attack. There was a sickening smash when her enemy was smashed completely hard. She pulled back and took a deep breath, frowning as much as possible.

"These things were built to sustain a lot of punishment," Helena said. She took a disc like object from her belt and impaled it into one of the robots.

"You will bow before the true leader of this…."

The Black Queen jumped behind them and fried their circuits. There were screams of terror when they were doubled over and pretty much taken out of the equation. The Black Queen pulled back her attacks.

"It's safe to say that our deranged madman is in another castle," Harry said. He propelled himself over the top of the head and smashed down onto the heads of the robots.

"We figured that much out a long time ago," Kara answered.

"Now, what do we do now?" Karen asked him. Her eyes lit up and she used her heat vision to wipe out her enemies. A zig-zag pattern shot out of her eyes with a beaming blast of heat vision. She nailed her enemies full on in one good shot.

The robots kept coming and in greater numbers. Harry realized fairly quickly that this was a distraction to make sure that they were kept from the real prize. Harry would almost be impressed by that fact if that was the case. He thought that it was a pretty well thought out plan.

He raised his hands and sent a wave of cascading energy towards his enemies. The attacks firing at the robots rushed them with a boom.

"And now, I think that I've got this," Jaime said. She was sending out a dedicated wave that would jump on through and hopefully crush each of the robots just like that.

The robots moved their way backwards and started to self-destruct. Diana and Lyta, who were making an informal competition to see who could crush the robots the most, pulled back to watch the spectacle. Robots exploded one at a time. The explosions were self contained and didn't cause too much of a chain reaction.

"I'm glad you didn't damage the fortress," Harry commented lightly to Jaime, who responded to him with a grin.

"If you're anything like me, I'm sure that you wished to collect the items inside for your own," Jaime answered. She reached forward and grabbed his arm, holding it in tight towards him. "But, we've run into a problem."

"Owlman is nowhere near the fortress," Harry said. He let out a heaving sigh as he allowed himself to speak the other part of this. "And neither is his device."

Harry wasn't going to allow himself any amount of negativity after all that happened. He was just going to bounce back stronger than ever. He made his way over towards the master computers. He had the scan of Owlman's belt which would assist him in hopefully tracking him down.

"You know, he's the reverse Batman, therefore he would like to give some pretty big grand standing speeches that are extremely public," Kara said. That caused Katrina to look at Kara, raising her eyebrow, almost in amusement. "Yeah, come on, tell me that I'm wrong about that one."

"I can't tell you, because you're really not wrong," Katrina offered with laughter. She waited to see what Harry was going to uncover.

The man Harry was tracking down was extremely clever. He wasn't about to deny that fact. The problem was that Harry could be pretty clever when he wanted to be. All he needed was one little hint.

"And we've got the jackpot," Harry said. He paused and frowned. "And we've got trouble."

Helena decided to speak to it. "He's got it set up where he's about ready to leave the moment he announces his intentions."

"The fact that he's announcing his intentions gives us plenty of time to seek him out and figure out what he's doing," Harry said. He quickened his footsteps when he tried to find where Owlman was holed up.

The tracker was working rather wonderfully. As long as the tracker didn't throw him down another rabbit hole to another place that would cause them to waste an ample amount of time.

Harry supposed that there was really nothing left for him to do other than follow down every single lead that he could imagine. All of the girls looked towards him for directive and he gave it to them in two simple words. "Let's go."

* * *

><p>Some people might seem nervous with the vibes that were in the air. It was an extremely unsettling feeling like it was almost the calm before the storm. The one and only Owlman made his way towards the podium. His frown deepened when his fellow Crime Syndicate members, the ones that remained loyal to his cause were there.<p>

"So, what's this all about?" Power Ring asked. He spoke in a rough voice when he looked towards Owlman. This universe's version of the Green Lantern used his abilities to police the universe and that policing was very corrupt.

"Patience, old chum, this is a culmination of a very calculating plan," Owlman replied in a dry voice. "You may have known about the problems that have occurred between myself and Ultrawoman. While the Syndicate have maintained a unified front on the surface, we are anything but unified behind the scenes. She is hoping to maneuver me out, and maneuver all of you out as well."

His loyalists snarled at the thought of that. Their hard work wasn't about to be undermined, not if they could help it anyway. They all looked up at Owlman, none of them appreciating the irony of him putting himself above them.

"Today, I invite you all to join me when I create a new world order where the entire world will be at peace," Owlman continued. "All of you will not regret this at all. I will take down the chaotic multiverse and leave our world the only world left standing."

"You're going to wipe out an entire multiverse?" Johnny Quick asked, raising his eyebrow in surprise. He didn't know whether or not he was completely onboard with this plan. He was going to have to trust that Owlman had some kind of idea in mind, but this seemed like pure insanity to put things mildly.

"It is an elementary idea," Owlman said. He spoke in a slow and deliberate voice, almost like he was trying to draw out each world. "If there are an infinite number of worlds, there is an infinite chance of chaos. If there is only one world, there will be plenty or order."

The group looked extremely skeptical and it was for good reason. They didn't think that this was going to work at all.

"You have worked with me so far and for that, I thank you," Owlman continued. He leaned down to look at the fellow members of the Crime Syndicate. "You will all be rewarded with a spot in the brand new world that I have created. It will be a spot of honor and privilege."

Owlman made his way over towards his large statue. They were all over the world. This one had a purpose beyond vanity. He pulled back the stone tab behind the belt and twisted it. There was a light that went up and from the statue raised another platform.

There was a large device, it almost looked like a bomb. Behind the bomb was an energy portal. At the end of the line on the other side of the energy portal, there was a brand new world that Owlman would make pretty much anything that he wanted to.

"There's only one flaw with your plan, we're not allowing you to go to the portal."

The Black Queen turned up, with Fury standing to the right of her and Ultrawoman standing to the left of her. The three members of the Crime Syndicate, at least the top of the Crime Syndicate stepped forward.

Owlman's loyalists closed rank around the crime leader. All of them looked as if they were willing to fight him to the debt.

"The traitor is in our midst," Owlman said. His tone of speaking was overblown and overdramatic.

That caused the Black Queen to raise her eyebrow and scoff. "Traitor? I don't see anything traitorous about wanting to fight for what is right."

"You have failed us all," Owlman said. His tone grew increasingly dark and dramatic when he clapped his hand.

"We disagree on what failure is," the Black Queen said.

The Crime Syndicate was about ready to close ranks. A lasso that wasn't Lyta's flew out suddenly and wrapped one of them around the waist and pulled him in.

Diana punched one of the mooks down with precision. She smiled when another one attempted to hit her.

"I've got her!" Power Ring yelled. He fired up his power ring, but Diana dodged the hammer that her enemy attacked him with.

"Figures, no skill at all it's kind of sad really," Kara said. She flew in with all of the force of a flying brick and nailed Power Ring in the face. His construct was not able to keep her down.

Owlman edged his way almost towards the portal, but Harry jumped up and knocked him off of the pedestal. The man had to do a forward roll to prevent being impacted into the pavement.

He looked up and saw that Harry flew down towards him. Owlman gracefully dodged one attack, only to leave himself open for one more.

A bolt of energy shot at Harry, but he dodged it. Johnny Quick rushed on in and tried to attack him at super speed. Harry turned around and tried to take him out with every single attack possible.

"Ha, too slow, too slow, much too slow!" he bragged. Harry was magically lubricating the ground.

Kara flew forward and nudged Johnny Quick, causing him to slip and slide and knock over the members of the Crime Syndicate. The entire group toppled like nine pins and fell big time.

Harry pulled himself up, frowning when he had himself up to a standing position. He could see the portal in his cross hairs.

The problem was that Owlman was on the platform and it entered the portal, along with the doomsday device.

"Oh no you don't!" Harry called. He shot a grapnel onto the platform and it pulled him through the portal.

Harry went through the portal to Earth Prime, fully realizing that he had no chance of returning home. That was the sacrifice that he was willing to make to save the entire universe.

The only solace that he had was that he was able to find his way home after far worse. He wasn't going to go down without a fight.

* * *

><p>It was primal, it was primal. Harry noticed that above all else when he was around. The skies were a murky grey; the ground was dead and devoid of any life. There wasn't any life around, not even a weed.<p>

Harry activated the air filter in his mask. He was pretty sure that this planet had no air that was fit for habitation, because none of it existed.

'_If I was Owlman, where would I be?' _Harry thought to himself.

He felt like he was on a wild goose chase in an attempt to find someone who was completely and utterly dangerous. Harry felt like he was chasing a Phantom as well.

Owlman had to be around here somewhere. If he wasn't, Harry had no idea, he really didn't.

"It's interesting to be here, isn't it?"

Harry turned around and saw Owlman standing in the shadows. The young man narrowed his eyes when he looked towards the criminal. The madman was about ready to destroy the entire multiverse.

"To think, this was the birthing place of a universe of infinite Earths, of infinite possibilities," Owlman continued, gaining momentum the more that he spoke. "To think that everything that came after, came from here."

"Do you realize that if you wipe out Earth Prime, you wipe out every world, including your own?" Harry asked. He was trying to talk sense into a madman and he knew that might drive him further down the road to his own madness.

Owlman's gaze narrowed towards him and Harry could sense that the man was pretty much far gone all things considered.

"I am well aware of that and this was the nature of the plan," Owlman said to him. He almost stood in a position where he dared Harry to take the first shot. Harry wasn't about to rise to the bait, at least not yet. "It was always the nature of the plan that I had."

"You're completely out of your mind," Harry said. He gritted down on his teeth when he circled Owlman. "I want you to know that when I take you out."

Owlman narrowed his eyes. "The man who is going to take me out has been a failure to several worlds. I can see it in your eyes, and you won't let it happen again."

The moment that he was finished speaking, Harry zipped over. He punched him with the full force imaginable. That caused Owlman to land onto his back with a loud crack. Several of his bones rattled when he connected onto the floor.

"And you talk way too much," Harry said. He picked up Owlman and flung him like he was absolutely nothing down to the ground.

Harry stepped calmly, he was half thinking that the man himself was luring him into some kind of false sense of security. Sure enough, Owlman reached into his belt and threw a pair of exploding gas balls towards Harry. Harry just managed to deflect them with a slight of hand and knocked them back into Owlman's face.

"Impressive," Harry commented and he meant that from the bottom of his heart. That caused Owlman to stagger back and Harry to walk towards him. He grabbed Owlman around the head and drove him down.

"You continue to fight me, when the world ticks down on the multiverse," Owlman said. "That is some very poor form, old chum."

Harry shot a group of cables around Owlman and bound him to the ground. He fell down and Harry stood over him.

"If you're going to kill me, you might as well," Owlman told him. His gaze never broke from utter contempt. "It doesn't matter because everyone in the multiverse dies."

"How do you disable the bomb?" Harry asked him. His voice was really low, fairly calming, it was almost scary with how calm he was when he was about ready to rip Owlman to shreds.

Owlman chuckled. His chuckles grew darker the more that Harry held onto him. His hands wrapped around the man's throat.

"What's so funny?" Harry hissed through his teeth. He kept himself from speaking Parseltongue, but his words were so venomous. Then he realized it. "There's no shut off switch."

"Why would I want to shut it off, when I have no desire to stop it?" Owlman asked. His eyes flickered over to the bomb. "Ninety seconds."

Harry made his way over and could see the bomb. Dismantling any of the components would be futile at this moment, because that would just set off the bomb and destroy everything in its path anyway.

He pretty much figured out something pretty quickly. The bomb was set to destroy everything if it was on Earth Prime. Harry walked over and removed Owlman's belt.

"You're wasting your time," Owlman taunted. Harry ignored him, thus mortally wounding the Crime Syndicate leader's ego.

Harry was pretty sure that if he could use the residual energy from the portal, he could transport this bomb elsewhere. And he could transport it to a world that no longer existed. It would be pretty perfect to be honest.

Owlman broke free and tried to attack Harry to stop him from foiling his plans. The only problem was that Harry saw that coming.

It was a chain reaction with Owlman attaching himself to the bomb on the way back. There was a fizzling sound followed by a pop. Harry just managed to transport the bomb elsewhere less than a second before the bomb would have blown up.

Harry allowed himself to breathe. Did he dare hope that everything was okay? He honestly didn't know and it was that much that unsettled him very greatly? The time grinded by one second at a time.

The portal opened and Karen popped her head up outside of the portal. She looked at Harry. "Oh, we were able to get you just in time, we have to go."

Harry jumped up and Karen guided him out of the portal.

"Do we have everything that we need from Earth 3?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Karen said. "I know that the greatest resources there already pretty much gifted themselves to us, but we have a few more toys that we can play with."

Harry smiled at the word toy and Karen realized the implications of what she was saying.

"Well, I'm certain that things would be a lot more interesting when we get home," Harry said. He swept one of his Alphas into a hug and then gave her a passionate kiss on the lips, he was glad to be out of the madness.

He didn't want the blood of another world on his hands, much less an entire multiverse full of them. That caused shivers to go down on his spine.

* * *

><p>"Say what you want about Owlman, but the man inspired loyalty in his troops," Karen said.<p>

"I could say a lot about him, like he's more or less a deluded psychopath," Helena answered. She folded her arms. She appreciated all versions of her father much more than she had before, now that she ran head long against this particular version of her father.

"That's putting things mildly," Harry told her.

"That's putting things accurately," Kara said. She could see Dinah, Zatanna, and Mera all watch the conversation with interest. They had not had a chance to go on the League mission. There had been other problems elsewhere in the world.

"And Batman and his friend will make a full recovery, so that's some good news out of all of this," Harry said. Zatanna wasn't fooled for a moment.

"What did you get out of this adventure?" Zatanna asked. That caused Harry to gaze towards her with a smile. "Come on Harry, I know you and I also know that you wouldn't leave an adventure if you didn't get something out of it. You're never the one to leave empty handed."

"She does have you there," Diana commented. Harry's girls knew him all too well.

"Am I that transparent that I'm a collector of things?" Harry asked. Dinah smiled when she edged closer towards Harry.

"That is one of the things that's your trademark," Dinah said. That caused Mera to raise her eyebrow.

"I think all of us have figured that out, but you collect the very best," Mera said. There was something suggestive about her smile, and Harry caught onto it right away. He leaned in closer towards her.

"The very best," Harry said.

Mera nodded in agreement. "The best of the best, but that's just in your nature."

Harry pondered that thought for a matter. The funny thing was that all of his women had high opinions of themselves. Their opinions of themselves were pretty much along the lines of the high opinion that he had himself.

"Yes, I would have to agree with that, and we managed to acquire some technology from the lab from the Crime Syndicate," Harry informed all of the members of the League. "Their world is dying pretty much."

"Owlman's gambit was all or nothing then," Zatanna said. She placed her hand underneath her chin. "Why is it that I'm not surprised?"

"You shouldn't be, Zee," Helena answered. She thought that her father was calculating, but at least his calculative efforts were focused on criminals. They could be focused on other things like taking over the world.

"The good news is that he's stopped and he was sent to a world that has no life on it, where he and his bomb were destroyed," Harry said.

"Of course, given his multiverse theory, there would be a world that he didn't succeed and a world where he never made it to the past in the first place," Zatanna said. Dinah turned towards Zatanna and shook her head.

"Are we going to really jump down this rabbit hole?" Dinah asked.

"Besides, we already jumped down that rabbit hole plenty of times back at the lab," Karen replied to her.

That caused Dinah to blink and she said one word. "Whitney?"

"Of course," Harry said with a smile. "The girls are helping me sort through things that I uncovered. We're going to see what's useful out of what we pillaged."

"But the three assets that are the most useful are currently waiting in the room next to the lab," Karen said. "They did do some rotten things, and that can't be denied."

"But they do have a good idea how the criminal mind works," Harry offered. They didn't really think about it that way, but that was the truth.

Harry would be blind if he didn't think that these were some really good assets to utilize and he would utilize them well.

"And there are some other reasons why you brought them back here, as we all know," Diana answered. She looked at Harry with a smile.

"I figured that there was no reason for me to say the other reasons," Harry said. The entire League looked at each other and laughed. It was so obvious and transparent what Harry was doing that they didn't even need to spell it out. One didn't honestly need to read between the lines to figure out what Harry was doing now.

"There's no need for you to say it, we all know it," Karen said.

"The multiverse is stabilizing," Kara added. She had just got the scans back from Alura and Lara. "And everything is calm."

She didn't want to say that things would be back to normal. That would not really end well for her or any of her fellow members of the League if she made that assumption. They were all in pretty good spirits now and that was the main thing honestly.

* * *

><p>Gwen Stacy was like a kid in a candy store with all of the technology that she found. The woman looked at Harry, like she wanted to jump him for the amazing technology that she had been gifted. She was pretty much jumping up and down on the balls of her feet and she turned towards Harry with a wide grin on her face.<p>

"Can I even tell you how amazing this all is?" Gwen asked Harry. She beamed positively when she looked him into the eyes. She looked about ready to gush with pleasure.

"Okay, Gwen, take a deep breath and calm down," Harry told her. Gwen frowned and she was taking that deep breath and calming down.

"Oh, don't mind her, she's just really excited," Barbara said.

"Oh, come on, like you have any room to talk at all," Gwen said. She was glaring daggers directly at Barbara in an attempt to get her to contradict what she was saying.

Barbara smirked back at her. "Not contradicting it at all."

Sue laughed in amusement. She decided to be the mediator for the entire situation and give her own two cents on the situation. "We're really all excited about this."

"For sure," Caitlin agreed. She thought that it might be a good idea that Whitney was out, after being called on by her Aunt on some urgent business. The two were visiting family in Central City.

It was weird given the crisis event that had come up that she would have to duck and run like that.

"I mean, I'm not sure what half of these things do, but I'm pretty sure that they're dangerous," Caitlin answered. She was looking over them. Gwen grabbed her hand and pulled her back to face her with a smile.

"It's really a good idea then that you don't start pressing buttons randomly," Gwen said. She paused when she added something. "It's a good thing that Whitney isn't here to start pushing buttons randomly when her ADHD kicks in."

"I feel like that I should chastise you for talking about Whitney when she isn't here," Barbara said.

Sue looked over some of the devices there.

"Well, that might help with the power source problem that we are having," Sue said. She looked over it with a smile. "Actually, that would help with it."

"What power source problem is that?" Barbara asked with a frown.

That caused Gwen to turn towards Barbara with a smile. "Oh, no big deal really, just the fact that the power source keeps leaking."

"That's not good," Barbara said with a frown.

"It'd be even worse if it wasn't a clean power source," Gwen said. She looked over towards one of the miniature cannons. She lightly brushed against the cannon and it began to heat up in her hand.

She screamed in surprise and threw it from her hand. The cannon landed on the floor and exploded, causing a burst of energy to fill the lab. Harry was able to block it with ease, because if he didn't things would get much worse.

"And that one goes in the destroy at all costs, pile," Caitlin said without missing a beat.

"Yes, I would have to agree," Harry said. He looked towards the scientists that continued to go through them. "Let me know if you come across anything too suspect."

"Hey, I think that I've got things handled right here," Barbara said. Harry gave her a firm look and that caused the young brainy redhead to fold her arms down across her side and sigh in response. "But yeah, if I find anything suspect, you're going to be the first to know."

Harry knew that he had some other beautiful females to have a discussion with and one of them was the mirror image of himself. Harry crossed the room into the next room.

"I was wondering when you would come a visit us."

Harry could see Jaime standing there. She had changed into something more comfortable, namely the bathrobe that had fit around her body. Her two fellow Crime Syndicate members had similar attire on.

'_That is extremely subtle,' _Kara thought, shaking her head.

'_That's the pot calling the kettle black,' _Donna thought.

'_Right back at you, Donna,' _Kara fired back, and Claire and Diana shook their heads. _'What?'_

'_Nothing, really nothing,' _Claire said. She hated the fact that she was on assignment at the Planet and missed this entire adventure. Diana had been bringing her up to speed and it seemed interesting. It was a shame that there was not another alternate female version of her. _'Kara, we seem to be getting a lot of you as of late.'_

'_That's part of my charm,' _Kara responded with a knowing grin.

"So, you're going through Owlman's stash," Jaime said. Lyta decided to speak up.

"You better be careful going through it, there is some seriously dangerous items in there," Lyta warned him. Harry leaned towards her with a smile and the Amazon took half of a step back.

"But, I'm sure that you wouldn't be letting anyone who didn't know what they were doing to take a close look at those items," Katrina added. "So, what are you going to do with us?"

"Hmm," Harry said.

Lyta and Katrina looked at each other. They were pretty tough women, so to show that they were nervous, even a little bit meant that they feared what happened. They could get in some serious trouble from their mistress when they had did something that they shouldn't.

Even when they didn't do anything too bad, Jaime still exerted her abilities over them, just to keep them on their toes.

"Okay, that hmm, is freaking me out," Katrina said.

'_Ah, I think that she's nervous,' _Kat said in amusement. She was gaining a bit more confidence in the bond. _'And only if she knew what she was about ready to get, she would be even more nervous.'_

'Don't worry, I know that you were doing things to keep the world out of Owlman's hands," Harry said. "But, the multiverse might not have needed saving if you hadn't teamed up with someone like him in the first place."

"So, I've been telling myself this entire time," Jaime said. She could feel Harry edge closer towards her.

"If you understand that, then there is plenty of hope for you yet," Harry said. He got closer towards her.

Jaime could feel her heart beat faster against her chest. She felt Harry inch ever so closer towards her.

"The question is, what am I going to do with the three of you because you're here?" Harry asked them.

"Anything that you want with us," Jaime said. She was rarely submissive to anyone.

'_She seems like the type that is rarely submissive,' _Lois thought. She could see the type a mile away. _'The only person that these rarely submissive types are submissive to is…'_

'_Harry,' _a bunch of girls chanted in unison in amusement. The amusement grew even more prominent when Harry closed the gap between the two of them.

"I wonder," Harry said. He turned to both Katrina and Lyta and they were both pushed back onto a couch and bound to it.

A nice bed appeared before them and Harry sat down on the bed. He invited Jaime to join him on the other side on the bed. She took the invitation with a wide grin and he invited her closer towards him.

"Just relax," Harry said. He invited her to edge closer towards him. She grinned when she leaned closer towards him.

"Oh, this is relaxing," she agreed when she inched closer towards Harry. Her heart kept getting stronger when it beat into her chest. Harry could see her eyes falling onto the two women that were bound on the couch.

"You're the type of woman who likes to be on top, don't you?" Harry asked her.

"Yes, but I'm also a very adaptable woman," she replied. There was suggestion that was going through her eyes when she spoke.

"I'm sure that you are," Harry agreed. He invited her to stand up to face him. "Let me see you, let me see all of you."

The beautiful temptress stood up. The robe shifted a little bit to allow Harry to show a bit of tantalizing thigh. That caused Harry's gaze to penetrate on it. He leaned towards her and touched her.

"And by all of you, I mean all of you," Harry told her.

Jaime shifted the bit of the robe down her body. She slid it down to reveal a nice lacy black bra that her amazing breasts were in. Her toned body with the perfect hourglass figure was exposed towards him. She wore a nice black thong and nice stockings as well, along with a garter belt. They clung to her body.

"To your knees," Harry said.

Jaime could not really deny it. She dropped to her knees in a submissive manner when she was there to face Harry. She honestly couldn't deny him.

Reaching forward, the temptress grabbed his belt and pulled it off. She slowly worked him down, using her hands to massage him. She could feel him throb beneath her and she grinned intensely.

This was going to be so fucking good, Jaime Rosalina Potter couldn't deny it. She might be getting a punishment, but at the same time, it would be a gift.

* * *

><p>Gwen stopped outside of the door. She was about ready to ask Harry about something, but she was caught up in one happened.<p>

She realized that her hands played between her legs. The heat kept pumping out between her legs and she breathed heavily. Her nipples stuck against the front side of her shirt.

Gwen thought that she could back away and get out of there. Harry and the three Crime Syndicate members were caught in the middle of an extremely threesome foursome and it would be rather rude to stay there.

The problem was that she couldn't really move from where she was. She grew weaker and weaker in the knees the more that she remained there. Her throat grew completely dry.

Barbara crept up behind her. "Hey, Gwen, can I help you?"

That caused Gwen to nearly jump about ten feet in the air and she swung around. Barbara looked at her with a grin on her face.

"Are you okay?" Barbara asked. There was a knowing look in Barbara's eyes that she didn't really place.

"Yeah, I'm okay, and things….well I found what I was looking for," Gwen said. She allowed her breath to hitch into her body. "I'll just get back to the lab, and wait for Sue and Caitlin to clean up, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Barbara answered with a wide grin across her face. She looked Gwen in the eyes. "If you're okay…"

"Trust me, I'm fine," Gwen said. She made her way off into the lab in a hasty manner.

'_Well, well, well, it seems like the lovely Miss Stacy has gotten a pretty good dose of Harry's pheromones,' _Zatanna thought. She snickered in amusement.

'_Well, they are a lot bit more potent when he is sexually active,' _Karen thought. _'You really got to admire Gwen's will power, not to jump him right there.'_

'_Well, we should know that she has some really great will power,' _Barbara said, she looked on with a lot of pride. _'But that is really going to make the inevitable conquest of her that much sweeter.' _

'_And when do you think that's going to happen?' _Laura asked.

'_Sooner than you think,' _Jaime thought, she was dazed, but in a pretty good mood.

'_You've taken to the bond pretty quickly, haven't you?' _Karen asked with amusement dancing through her voice.

'_Well, when you have a bond link yourself, you pretty much have a good idea where it might go,' _  
>Jaime thought.<p>

Barbara decided to go check up on Gwen. It was a good idea for her to check up on her friend, after all, wasn't that what friends were for?

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on March 27<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	56. And Then There Were Five

**Chapter Fifty-Six: Then There Were Five:**

* * *

><p>A couple of weeks have passed since the adventures with the Crime Syndicate. Rebecca remained staying with Harry and the others at the penthouse, until Bruce and Alfred got back on their feet. Harry was able to convince those at the hospital that they were in a limo accident gone bad. All Harry had to do was trash one of Bruce's favorite limos to maintain the charade, but it wasn't like he could afford to miss it.<p>

"So, it's pretty much settled, I guess I'll be sticking around for a few more weeks, so I don't have the temptation to go into Gotham City and start fighting crime again on my own," Rebecca said. Alex, who was talking to her, raised an eyebrow.

"Would you honestly have that temptation?" Alex asked Rebecca.

"You know, it's very tempting," Rebecca replied. Alex sighed. "But, you know, as much as I want to help, I'm not that suicidal. I know my limits and Helena keeps kicking my ass over and over again to make sure that they are realized."

"But, you're so much better for it, aren't you?" Alex asked with a grin. Rebecca slumped her shoulders off to the side and she gave one word in response.

"Yeah," Rebecca agreed. "But, I'm sure the others are having a lot of fun making sure that Bruce and Alfred don't do anything that they're not supposed to do. In the case of Bruce, it's doing his night job. In the case of Alfred, it's cleaning."

"Yeah, I suspect that he would be doing a lot of that," Alex added in agreement. "But I know that Wayne Manor isn't going untouched after all that, is it?"

"No, it honestly isn't," Rebecca agreed. She stretched out a little bit. "It's a good thing that I have a room ready here."

"Well, if you didn't, you could share with me," Alex said. Becca raised her eyebrow in response when she looked at the girl. "Don't worry, I don't snore too badly."

"If you say so," Rebecca said, almost half amused. She decided to take this moment to stretch out.

It was just a matter of waiting for something, anything to happen. And it did happen, in the form of the doors sliding open.

She remembered that Helena was dusting off the old Batwoman costume from her world.

"I can't believe that I'm doing this, and I can't believe that it still fits," Helena was telling Harry and Karen when the three of them walked into the lab. Helena had just gone back to Gotham City. Some of the League members were actually taking it in shifts. Dinah and Shayera were next on the wheel.

"Well, as long as there isn't a gang war, I think that you're pretty good," Karen answered. Helena turned towards Karen, narrowing her eyes ever so slightly.

"It's Gotham City, of course there's a gang war, there's always a gang war," Helena informed her. Karen replied with a shrug and she shook her head in negative.

"Well, don't blame me for that fact; I wasn't the one that set it off."

Rebecca and Alex got a good look at Helena in her costume. The black fabric really stretched and fit every inch of her body. The two of them blinked when they looked at her. It was a good idea to take a nice long look at pretty much every single inch that this outfit had. The way it stretched over her body was alluring to say the very least.

Helena was well aware that they were looking at her. As a bat, you had a sixth sense about things like that. She decided to allow them to have a nice look. Karen realized that she realized and had a brief smile on her face.

The Wayne heiress, although from an alternate world, turned around and caught the glimpse of both of the girls. Alex, as casual as she was, smiled when she looked at Helena. "Hey, Helena, how are you doing?"

"You're not supposed to call her by her real name when she's in costume," Becca answered, shaking her head in bemusement. "She's Batwoman now."

"Yes, and you just were staring at her arse," Alex replied in a cheeky voice.

"Just because you say it all proper and British-like, it doesn't mean that you weren't doing it as well," Rebecca retorted back. Alex rolled her eyes and both of the girls were about ready to have an argument.

Which Helena silenced pretty much immediately by one of those looks that she inherited from her father, and that caused both of the girls to shut up instantly. They had been completely cut off at the pass.

Harry chuckled in amusement. He would have to say that there were times where he would never laugh at the plight of a couple of pre-teen, nearly teenage girls, but this was one of the exceptions.

"To answer your question before you got sidetracked, Gotham is oddly quiet, although the serial killer that Batman was after had popped up again," Helena said. She frowned.

"Oh, I'm sure it's just some random guy getting his jollies, there's a lot of those guys in Gotham City," Rebecca said. She realized that Helena's extremely stern gaze raked over the top of her head. "What did I say?"

"This guy is no joke with all of the people that he's taken out," Helena said. She was honestly very worried about this individual and potentially rightfully so. She had a pretty good idea who she was dealing with. "If you're going to return to Gotham City, I want you to step up your training."

"So, we're going to do that right now?" Rebecca asked.

"Yes, right now, the two of you should get ready," Helena told them. The two girls got up to their feet, still chattering with each other.

"So a female version of yourself again?" Rebecca asked Alex.

"Well, not again, Faora was technically my sister from this dimension," Alex informed Rebecca. That caused the girl to shrug in response.

"Well, that does happen a lot," Rebecca said. Alex gave a grin in response.

"Yeah, it doesn't happen nearly as much as it does to Kara though," Alex said. Her voice dropped even though the point was moot. She didn't want anyone with super hearing to hear her. "And I think that she's getting excited. If they get seven different versions of her, they get a power boost."

"So, are you regretting dusting off the old costume?" Harry asked. Helena turned towards him and gave him one of those frowns. It almost made him regret asking. The woman considered his question for a couple of moments, before shaking her head.

"I honestly don't regret it, even if I should have checked to make sure it wasn't so snug before I went out," Helena said.

"Are you trying to say that you should drop a few pounds?" Karen asked in a teasing voice. That got her one of the automatic bat glares of death. Karen threw her hands up in the international sign for surrendering. "Or that something got lost in translation when you hopped dimensions?"

"I'm likely to think that's the case," Helena said. She decided to add something. "In addition to the proto Joker mess that I had been running into, I had a very interesting game of tag with Catwoman."

"And how was that?" Harry asked.

"Well, it was very interesting," Helena said. "She seems to be interested in you, but she seems to be reluctant to commit."

"Well, Selina seems like one that's going to play the long term game," Harry said. The hunt was the best part of any quest and Harry could not wait to score this particular piece of pussy. The extremely bad pun was more than intended, he should note.

"Well, let's just say that my father isn't quite the only one that had some issues that he needed to work it out, and leave it at that," Helena said. There was honestly no more to be said other than that.

* * *

><p>Pamela Isley was actually calm and quiet. She was nothing like the raving lunatic that she became as Poison Ivy. She had to admit that given a chance to save the world in the most eco-friendly way possible, she might have gone a little over the top to maintain that quest.<p>

She got some sense knocked into her in the worst possible way. She could still protect the world, still save Mother Nature's wonders, but she could do it in a more restrained way.

The greenhouse she had offered allowed her to tend to some of the most exotic and endangered plants in the world. She had to admit, the fact that the RAO Corporation liberated them before some of the more heartless corporations could drive a final nail into them did make her smile. The redhead temptress threw her head back and waited.

There was a knock on the door of her greenhouse. That caused Pamela to turn around and smile. "It's okay, come in."

The door opened and Harry entered. Pamela's lips curled into a grin when she saw Harry enter the room.

"I'm glad that you can stop by, Harry!" Pamela cheered. She bounced up to her feet and grinned when she approached him.

"It's great to see you as well," Harry said. He was amused by her excited tone. "Sorry, that I didn't come by sooner to check up on you."

"Any time you have a chance to come on by to check up on me, it's a good thing," Pamela answered. She shifted her gaze over him. She met his blistering hot gaze and his green eyes met her green eyes. The woman stepped forward and placed her hands on either side of his waist. "I've just had a chance to look over some of the plants that you gave me."

"And what do you think of them?" Harry asked. He touched his hands to her waist. He could feel her flesh that was soft and lush. The red haired temptress turned towards him and kept grinning.

"I think that the plants you gave me are amazing," Pamela agreed. She meant that honestly from the bottom of her heart. "And a couple of them, I didn't even know were in any danger."

"Yeah, that could be a problem, more and more plants are endangered," Harry said. He looked at her and there was something that threatened to stir into her.

"You know, this might be one of the reasons why my powers started to overwhelm me," Pamela replied. Harry corked an eyebrow in response. "There are a lot of people who take advantage of the environment and it hurts a lot to see some of the things that they do. It's really awful to be honest."

"I can see why that would bother someone," Harry said. He ran his hands through her hair. She allowed him to do so, because it relaxed her. "But, I know that I can trust you to do the right thing and help the RAO corporation make sure the world might be a better place."

"Yes, I really hope that we can make the world a better place too," she agreed with him. She felt his arms wrap around her waist. Her curves molded against her body. "Perhaps there is a place for Poison Ivy again."

"It's all about control," Harry reminded her.

"Control that I thought that I had," she replied. Pamela shook her head. She thought that her pheromones had an ability to bombard the minds of the people around her. That was nothing compared to what Harry's pheromones were doing to her. "But, you're helping me have that control."

Pamela removed one of her hands from his waist and slowly traced it up his chest. She touched her hand towards his mouth and grinned.

"And losing it at the same time," Pamela said.

Harry raised an eyebrow when he looked into her eyes. "And, how am I doing that?"

Pamela gave him a smile and she shook her head. "You know, I think that you have a pretty good idea exactly how you're making me lose control."

Harry smiled when he looked at the red haired temptress. The fact that he had a mental control over a woman who had mental control over other men excited him a lot. He kept his gaze over her and glimpsed into her eyes.

"Is it something like this?"

Pamela paused and almost protested something. Harry wrapped his arm around her waist and gave her a smoldering kiss in response.

Their lips pretty much molded against each other. Pamela could feel him against her. The kiss lasted a long time. She still had the poison residing on her lips, but Harry had the immunity against any poison thanks to his powers. The fact that he reversed the tables on her and left her slumped against the wall caused her to be mentally shell shocked.

Harry pulled away from Pamela. That caused their lips to be removed from each other and Pamela slumped against the wall. Her breathing was heavy and her mind was running wild with the possibilities of what might happen next.

"I'll see you later, I've got a couple of things that I need to do. Let me know if you need anything."

Pamela's mouth was completely dried when she breathed in and out. That was a loaded question to be honest. Harry was gone by the time that her brain could reboot. It was the really best kiss that she ever experienced in her life.

Granted, her past kisses hadn't been all that much and it had been extremely nonexistent at that. She had been really shy before the accident and after the accident, any kiss she would have would have some deadly intentions. Any man that she touched would have a sudden and unfortunate affliction of dying. That could be a real mood killer.

Harry was different, and that left Pamela with imagining what she was going to do next.

* * *

><p>Harry was a very busy man and he head his way to the Daily Planet to meet with Chloe and Lois. The three of them were heading off to lunch.<p>

Chloe greeted Harry in the doorway, and she smiled when she looked at him.

"Hey, Chloe, is there something up?" Harry asked her. Chloe paused and leaned forward to give him a brief kiss. There was a slightly sheepish look on her face when she looked at him. "You know Chloe, that didn't answer my question at all."

"Hey, Harry, nice to see you too," Chloe replied. Harry raised his eyebrow when he looked at the woman. "Lois would be out there but…..her sister swung into town and decided to stop by for a visit."

"Lucy came to town?" Harry asked. That caused Chloe to nod in response. Harry chuckled at the thought of that. "I bet Lois didn't like that."

"Lois pretty much likes that about as much as you'd expect, especially since Lucy didn't swing by," Chloe said. The two of them passed an amused Claire. She was actually meeting her mother for lunch, because it had been a long time since her and Martha had a chance to talk.

"Don't tell her that I said this, because it would make her think that I was going soft on her, but poor Lois," Claire said.

"Don't worry ,your secret is safe with us," Chloe said. She made the cross your heart motion and Claire grinned in response. "But you know, Lois could really hear every last word that you say."

"Yeah, I know, don't remind me," Claire said. She allowed her chest to raise and lower with a lengthy sigh. "Well, I'll be off."

Harry decided to slip off, right into the danger zone. There was a younger girl who looked to be in her late teens.

"Harry, it's soooo good to see you again!" Lucy cried, side stepping Lois. In fact, she almost shoved her out of the way.

Lois shook her head. The last time that Lucy met Harry, she had followed him around like a lost little puppy dog. It was when Lois and Harry were trying to have some private time together. Lois could have scored on that day, but her little sister had to get herself involved.

"Lucy, I hope you're doing well," Harry said.

"I didn't expect to see you around here, well I should expect to see you here, because you own the Planet, obviously," Lucy said. She was speaking a mile a minute without taking a breath. Harry never met someone like this who could speak so excitedly without taking a breath. "The quality has improved a lot, but I suppose that you finally broke down and hired Lois a spell checker."

"Yeah, fuck you, Lucy," Lois muttered underneath her breath, with a frown. Harry placed his arm around Lois and brought her in towards him.

"What was that, Lois?" Lucy asked in a slightly innocent voice. She looked extremely amused.

"Nothing, nothing, never mind," Lois said, shaking her head.

"How's school?" Harry asked her.

"Well, I suppose that it's okay," Lucy said, shrugging her shoulders. "I've been behaving if that's what you're asking."

"I find that extremely hard to believe," Lois stated.

"Hi, Mrs. Pot," Lucy snapped back, with a glare at Lois. She shook her head and returned to the conversation. "But, Daddy wasn't really too happy when I got expelled from the last boarding school, even though that douchebag had it coming."

"Don't expect the General to see reason," Lois told her sister, in a rare somber moment. That caused Lucy to shrug in response and look towards her sister.

"Well, I got sent to one of the best boarding schools in Europe, it was either that or Boot Camp," Lucy said.

"And I can't see you surviving that," Lois replied. She picked up her things from around the area of the desk and made sure that she was logged off from her computer. She was working on some sensitive information for a story.

"Like you could survive it either," Lucy sniped back.

Lois shook her head. Lucy had no idea the hell that she went through to train to use her little green ring and it would stay that way. Her sister couldn't really know about that, because she was a confirmed blabbermouth and she honestly couldn't keep a secret if her life depended on it.

"So, are you finally ready, Lois?" Chloe asked, sticking her head into the office at that moment.

"Oh, where you are going?" Lucy asked.

"We're going out to lunch with Harry, the two of us, as in Chloe and me," Lois said. She made sure to put extra added emphasis on the fact that it was her and Chloe that was heading out to lunch.

"Well, I just came into town and I could use something to eat," Lucy replied. She looked towards Harry with a smile. "How about I join the three of you? Make it a foursome?"

Chloe snickered in the background and Lois responded by giving her one of those "Please do not encourage my sister" kind of looks.

"Please, Harry, how about it?" Lucy asked, fluttering her eyelashes when she looked at Harry. She bit down on her lip and pouted.

Lois was standing in the background, frantically shaking her head, and mouthing the word "no" at Harry constantly. Chloe was barely able to keep a straight face at how vehemently Lois was against her sister tagging along for lunch. She was pretty much on her knees, about ready to plead to Harry not to do this. She looked at him with wide puppy dog eyes and she frowned.

"I don't see why not," Harry said and Lucy beamed at him.

'_Why must you encourage her, Harry?' _Lois asked. She did a good impression at her sister and pouted.

'_You got to catch them all,' _Chloe reminded Lois. That caused Lois to shrug her shoulders.

'_I hate you both, and I want to know that,' _Lois said.

'_Aw, poor Lois,' _Claire cooed through the bond link, not able to resist adding her two cents in.

'_Can it, Smallville,' _Lois sniped back to her girlfriend.

Lucy squealed in response and rushed over to Harry, practically knocking her sister out of the way to do so. She threw her arms around Harry in response and gave him a kiss on the cheek in response.

"So, are we ready to go?" Lucy asked. She latched onto Harry's arm, but Lois looked at her and nudged her out of the way.

That caused Lucy to turn around and death glare her sister. Chloe grabbed Lucy around her arm and turned her around.

"Yeah, we're ready to go," Harry agreed. There was much amusement from the girls in the bond link.

There was a distress signal that was sent that caused Harry to stop in his tracks. He gave a long and heaving sigh in response when he spun around and closed his eyes.

'_It wouldn't be one of your dates without something happening,' _Karen thought. She was almost amused.

"I just remembered, I forgot something back at the office," Lois said. She turned to Chloe and gave her one of those knowing looks. "Why don't the two of you go ahead and I'll catch up."

"Yeah, I'll go with her," Harry agreed and the two of them made their way off.

Lucy scoffed in response. "Oh come on, you can't fool me about what those two are up to. Anyone who has a set of eyes can see it."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Lucy," Chloe said.

"Yeah, Chloe, you know it, you've likely caught them in the act a few times as well, don't tell me that you don't know," Lucy replied. She was gaining a fair deal of momentum in her words and she locked eyes with Chloe. "They're going to slip off for a lunchtime quickie before they join us."

"Sure, let's go with that," Chloe muttered and she steered Lucy out of the way, while Lois and Harry were dealing with the latest misadventures involving crime in Metropolis.

* * *

><p>Miles Warren wrapped his hands around each other and wrung them out fairly nervously. He turned towards Lionel Luthor who looked extremely stoic and calm. Warren nearly swallowed when he spoke.<p>

The two of them made their way through a set of doors with each other. Neither of them were speaking with each other. Lionel didn't speak because he was not about to speak with an underling like Warren unless he could help it. Warren didn't speak because he didn't want to speak out of turn.

"If you're going to say something, then say it, because you looking at me like you found out that I ran over your mother is getting frustrating," Lionel said. He swung open the doors of the Cadmus facility and Warren took in a deep breath. "Speak up and speak up now. While I'm gifted with many abilities, mind reading isn't one of them."

"Are we sure we can trust Slade Wilson?" Warren asked.

"I'm not certain that we can trust a lot of people that we have to work with," Lionel said. His eyes locked onto Warren's, giving him a warning gaze to have him drop the matter. "But, desperation leads to strange bedfellows."

A grizzled man with dark hair greeted them. He wore an eye patch and he was an imposing man. Despite the fact that he was middle aged, he kept himself in pretty good shape all things considered. His eye blinked.

"Mr. Luthor," he said in a low and gravely whisper. "And Doctor Warren."

"Mr. Wilson," Lionel said. "Is it ready?"

"Yes, the serum had a few snags, but we ironed then out," Slade informed Lionel. That caused Lionel to raise his eyebrow. He didn't like to play guessing games, that really wasn't something that he enjoyed doing. His brow furrowed when he looked at his adversary. "Define snag."

"My troublesome son was given the serum," Slade said in response and Lionel nodded in response when he spoke. "His already questionable sanity was warped. It allowed us to fine tune the serum."

"I hope that you kept your son as a weapon that we can deploy later," Lionel replied.

"Yes, we have," Slade answered. Lionel looked towards him. "He will be isolated and studied, so the long term effects of the serum can be studied. Although I would recommend that we have a rotating team of doctors in there, so none of them are driven mad."

Lionel nodded and turned to Warren. "Make a note of it."

"The same super soldier serum that was used on my daughter Rose was much more favorable," Slade informed them.

"The same serum that was based off of the super soldier serum that was developed during the second World War?" Lionel asked in response.

"Yes, exactly," Slade answered. "My daughter will lead a task force that will counter the Justice League if they go off of the path."

"If they divert from the light," Lionel said. Slade nodded knowingly.

"Exactly."

Slade lead Luthor and Warren into the next room. He started to explain what was going on here. He spoke softly and calmly. "These two have been beneficiaries of the LuthorCorp special powers program. These girls were fiercely independent and used their powers for other reasons, but now they live to serve Cadmus and our aims."

"As it should be," Lionel agreed.

The lights clicked on the lab, revealing the two girls sitting there. One of them had blonde hair that looked a bit messy and her hazel eyes had a vapid look in them. Her soft face and slender features were wrapped in a white night sure. There was a bracelet wrapped around her neck. It was obvious that she had been broken and reassembled in the way that Cadmus wanted to do so.

Then there was another girl with red hair. She was dressed in a nice red shirt and tight pants that wrapped around her body. There was a collar around her neck. She had not been at the facility for as long as the first girl, and she had some signs of independence that still hadn't been conditioned out of her.

"What are you doing to us?" the redhead demanded.

"We're going to help you learn how to control your powers and make this world a better place," a voice commented from the shadows. This was a voice that both of the girls had known and learned to fear because it brought them nothing but misery and trouble when they heard it.

"Miss Alicia Baker and Miss Claire Selton," Warren said, checking over his notes. "I assumed that there were some more test subjects."

"There are," the voice from the shadows agreed. It was the type of voice that gave Warren the shivers. To be honest, he should be use to some shady doctors in his day, especially given how sinister his mentor was. "But they are only in the process of having the layers of their mind broken down and rearranged."

"Doctor Warren, I'd like to introduce you to Professor Hugo Strange, he has been helping mold these girls," Lionel said.

"The pleasure is all mine," Hugo stated. He stepped out of the shadows and smiled. He had a sinister looking demeanor, with his Abraham Lincoln beard and shiny glasses adding to the appeal. "You will have your weapons and I look forward to helping mold the other three when they are ready."

"They are nearly ready," Warren said. He frowned when he turned to Lionel. "I don't quite understand how you got their DNA."

"I'm a man of many resources," Lionel said, as if that answered everything. "May we all step into the Light."

* * *

><p>"So, it seems like you have a type?" Katrina asked. She sat around with Harry, Karen, Kara, Laura, and Kat. She noticed a theme that was going around most of the table. She could barely keep the grin from crossing her face. "Just a hunch that I have, really."<p>

"What, female?" Kara asked in a would be innocent tone of voice. That caused the rest of the group to break out into laughter. That did a good job of pretty much lightening what might have been a dark and frustrating mood otherwise.

"Yeah, the thing that you got to understand about Harry is that he loves his collecting," Karen informed them. Harry just smiled when he looked at them.

"And just think about it, if we get about two more of us, then we have a magically powerful number and we can get a bit of a boost," Laura said. She looked really excited about the prospect, and she wasn't the only one.

"Yeah, that would be nice, a little extra power didn't do anyone any harm," Kara replied.

Karen looked at her younger siblings with a smile. She really hated to be the one to burst their collective bubble, especially considering they seemed so excited with the prospect of more sisters joining their family.

"You know, it was a lucky thing that we found two of us, never mind about five of us," Karen said. She shook her head and sighed. "What makes you think that we're going to get lucky enough to find seven of us?"

"Hey, have some faith, if we're out there, Harry will find a way," Laura said and she bounced back and forth, in excitement. She looked like she had hit a bit of a sugar high with how she was acting and it was kind of amusing.

"Harry will find a way, because he's Harry," Kat said. "What were the chances that he would get me out of the box?"

"Yeah, I'm surprised that you're handling this so way," Katrina said. She was interested in hearing Kat's story and it amused her.

"Well, to be fair, Earth really isn't that far enough to where Krypton was during my time," Kat said. "I wonder how long it's going to take for Earth to catch up where Krypton was."

"Well, stone age Kryptonian technology, the most advanced of it, can be pretty advanced by the standards of Earth," Karen reminded them. "We're doing a little bit here and there with some of the less advanced stuff, but it's going to be a long time. Maybe a few hundred years or so?"

"Isn't that a bit of an ambitious estimate?" Kara asked.

"Well, Earth's technology is a long way off to what it was about twenty or so years ago, never mind about a hundred years ago," Karen replied.

"So, it's just a matter of following the trends and help push it along?" Katrina asked.

"I couldn't have pretty said that better myself," Harry told her. She looked towards him with a little smug smile.

"Yeah, don't let you get a big head," Kara said. Katrina raised her eyebrow and was about ready to protest something. "Or we're going to have to tie you down and make sure that you're disciplined."

"Oh, are we speaking from experience?" Katrina asked with a saucy smile and a bigger grin yet.

"Yes, she is," Laura said. She could see Kara's eyes rake over her. The youngest of all of the Kara Squad shook her head in response. "Come on, we've all been down that road. Even Karen, and she's the Alpha of Team Kara."

"Go Team Kara," Kara said, waving her hand in the air.

"Of course you'd be biased about that."

Jaime and Lyta showed up at the edge of the door. Harry got up to his feet to face his alternate universal self and Diana's alternate universal self.

"Just how long have the two of you been standing there, spying on our conversation?" Harry asked both of them. Both of the woman looked at him. They didn't back down, but there was a sense that they knew that they were in trouble.

"Oh, you know, long enough," Lyta replied. "It wasn't any more than a few moments."

"Are you ready to talk business?" Jaime asked.

Katrina looked at her mistress with a grin when she looked at Jaime. "Is everything just business for you? You just can't get out of that Crime Syndicate mentality, can you?"

"Hey, I know what I like," Jaime retorted. She shrugged her shoulders in response. "Wouldn't you know that?"

Lyta made her way over, taking one of the empty seats. Kara and Karen sat on either side of Harry, both of them nuzzling up against either side. That left the other three girls wishing that there were more sides.

"So, I'm ready to take a trip of Themyscira," Harry informed her. That caused Lyta's gaze to lock onto Harry's.

She was the last of her kind, after a disaster had destroyed her sisters in her world. It was one of the things that caused her to be pushed into the waiting arms of the Crime Syndicate.

"It might not be the same, but I figured that you would want to get a chance to see it one more time," Harry said.

Lyta smiled at him. She tried to keep her strong warrior spirit composed. The last thing that she wanted to do was break down. "I'd like that."

Harry got up to his feet and pulled her into a nice hug. He leaned towards her and kissed her.

'_I'm sure that she'll like it here, and we will welcome her with open arms,' _Hippolyta thought. She smiled. Her daughter, no matter what the version, was always welcomed on the island.

She hated to hear of anyone suffering the same fate of Lyta. She lost all that she considered family in one fell swoop through one harsh action. That really was awful, but she was getting back on track to the best of our abilities.

"And now, down to business," Lyta said.

"Actually, I do have a few ideas if you want to hear them," Jaime said to Harry and the Kara Squad.

"I'm all ears," Harry replied to her.

* * *

><p>"So, I'm really glad that I was able to fix the power leaking problem," Caitlin said. She sounded really excited.<p>

"I was glad that we found something out of that world that can help you," Harry said. "Do you need any help testing it?"

"I actually want to show you how well it works," Caitlin said. The sexy scientist frowned when she looked at him. "Although it's more of a prototype thing than an actual working thing, but I think that we can do some good working with it."

"Show me," Harry said, giving her. "Ready when you are, Doctor Fairchild."

Caitlin turned around and walked over. She fiddled with some dials on the model. It was a prototype.

"I'm going to kill the power of the entire lab right before I do this, but it will only be out for a few seconds," Caitlin informed him. Harry smiled, nodded in response.

"Ready when you are," Harry said. He was engulfed in pitch darkness in the lab.

Then there was light and there was plenty of light. Everything in the lab worked off of Caitlin's prototype.

"It only has about five minutes of power in it now, but it doesn't leak and bring it down to less than a minute," Caitlin said. She grinned. "Oh, it's working, it's really working."

She threw her arms around Harry in response and smiled. She stopped short of kissing him in response and pulled back.

"Sorry, I'm just happy that it worked so well," Caitlin said, pulling back from him. She looked towards him and gave him a grin in response. "It won't happen again, I swear."

"No, there's no need to apologize."

"Harry?"

Harry turned around when Caitlin turned the power back on and then disabled her device. She was going to work on the hour model next and eventually within the next year, it would be infinite.

He noticed Gwen standing there beside him. The scientist bit down on her lip to the point where Harry was almost certain that she might have drawn some blood if she wasn't careful.

"Yes, Gwen, what is it?" Harry asked her.

"I need to talk to you for a second, if that's okay?" Gwen asked.

"That's fine," Harry said.

Gwen led Harry down the hallway. She grabbed him around the arm and led him into a private room off to the side. It was a secondary room, but it only had a bed, a dresser, and a mirror in it.

She managed to push him back onto the bed suddenly. Her arms wrapped around him and her legs did when she gave him a passionate kiss.

'_I will neither confirm nor deny anything that I had to do with this,' _Barbara thought.

Harry could feel Gwen's tongue brush down into his mouth. The two of them kissed each other hard and he rolled her over to the bed.

"Harry, I want this right now," Gwen said. Lust burned through her eyes, when she brushed her stocking clad foot off of the crotch of his pants. Harry unbuttoned her pants and pulled them down to reveal her panties. Said set of panties were soaked through the side.

"Yes, I know that," Harry said. He started to kiss down the side of her face, while popping the buttons on her shirt.

Gwen sat there, wearing nothing but a pair of lacy black bra and panties. The lust burned through her eyes and Harry kept kissing her all the way down. He made his way down between her legs and his hunger increased.

* * *

><p>Gwen and Caitlin were both left put through the paces. Both girls were now left wrecked, all sticky and sore, but satisfied. They draped over Harry's muscular chest when they drifted off to sleep, no doubt with more erotic dreams dancing in their heads.<p>

Harry grinned when he heard the invisible footsteps leaving the room and a sigh of pleasure.

'_Soon,' _he thought with a wide grin.

**To Be Continued on March 31****st****, 2015. **


	57. Passage of Time

**Chapter Fifty-Seven: Passage of Time:**

* * *

><p>There was one thing that was almost certain in the world and that was the passage of time. It would occur whether or not people liked it or not. Autumn shifted into winter and the cold winter gave way into spring. It was amazing how fast time to go when it wanted to.<p>

There was one place in the world where it was always beautiful and it was always wonderful. The island of Themyscira was among the most beautiful places on Earth. Harry, Diana, and Donna in particular had found many excuses to visit the island, not that they needed many excuses. It was paradise to them, and home in a couple of cases.

Lyta also joined them on several trips, although on the last one, she decided to stay on the island. After she lost a lot, she felt that she needed to reconnect with the sisterhood that she no longer had.

The energy portal fired up and Diana, Donna, and Harry made their way onto the island. They dropped down, no longer dizzied, no lingered fluster. It was just the fact they beamed from one area of the world and then they beamed into this area of the world.

'_You know, those trips are getting a bit smoother every time,' _Kara thought.

'_All it took was a little bit of fine tuning, and a lot of trial and error to get them that way,' _Harry reminded her. Kara nodded in response; obviously that was the case. She gave a nice little grin and wondered what was going to happen next. _'And it was well worth the experimentation.'_

The island was pretty much home and Harry didn't like to announce his arrivals that often. Hippolyta had a good idea when he was coming. She respected the wishes of everyone by not broadcasting his arrival on the island.

There were the loud sounds of fighting that could be heard elsewhere on the island. Diana smiled when she realized that her alternate dimensional twin was in the cusp of fighting. She was doing battle with Artemis, who was showing why she was the general of the armies.

Diana stood there, viewing the battle with a smile on her face. There was a huge battle between the two of them.

'_She's one of the best warriors that you can ever have as an ally,' _Jaime commented. _'But, she has a lot of rage issues that she needs to work out.'_

'_We've all been down that road, I think,' _Donna thought sagely. She frowned when she watched Lyta. The young Amazon Princess grew extremely thoughtful and turned around to face Diana. _'You know, I wonder what would happen if you two got into a fight.'_

'_Well, that would certainly be something, wouldn't it?' _Diana asked. She didn't want to commit to her opinion on this in any way. She watched Lyta try and take down her adversary. Artemis used the other Amazon's momentum to push her down onto the ground and cause her to land with a nasty thud.

'_Yes, it would be something,' _Harry thought. The two girls deferred to him. Lyta got to her feet and resumed the attack. _'She is persistent.'_

'_Often too much, you got to tie her up and calm her down sometimes,' _Katrina answered. She paused and added as almost an afterthought. _'Not that I'm going to suggest anything, my lord; that is entirely up to you.'_

'_Naturally,' _Harry thought. He viewed this battle with great amusement. It was just getting good and it would be a crime to interrupt it. _'Just wait a moment; we'll introduce ourselves when the time is right.'_

Artemis and Lyta continued to do battle with each other. It appeared as if Harry, Donna, and Diana were not the only ones that were viewing the battle with great interest. There were other Amazons crowding around, watching to see what would transpire next.

Lyta thought that she had the great Artemis, her namesake in some ways, down. She rushed the woman, but Artemis avoided her attack. Artemis tried to nail her with one finishing blow. Lyta dodged it and struggled to take her down.

Eventually, Lyta managed to get a good shot in. Artemis was taken down to the ground and Lyta swung a sword, stopping short of a killing shot. She pulled back and smiled.

"I could have killed you if I didn't respect you," Lyta said. It was honestly hard to tell whether there was fear in her voice or plenty of awe. There was a pretty fine line between both of them.

"Yes, you could have," Artemis agreed. "You fought well, although you could have beaten me sooner if you had not been holding back. But I know that you will not do that against an enemy."

"I thought that it was an excellent fight."

The Amazons turned around and they were in awe when Harry showed up, with the two young princesses of the island in toe with each other. Harry stepped towards them and Artemis got to her knees. The other Amazons followed their lead.

"My king, it's an honor," Artemis said.

"Yeah, like it's been an honor the other ten dozen times Harry has showed up on the island within the last few months alone," Donna replied with a grin. Her older sister gave her one of those looks and Donna clammed up.

Harry chuckled in amusement.

"Artemis, there is really no need to kneel before me," Harry said.

'_Oh, the irony of that statement,' _Faora chimed in and many other girls laughed in response.

"But the sentiment is appreciated never the less," Harry commented.

Lyta turned towards Harry and went over to greet him. She almost acted like she shoved all of the other Amazons out of the way, but in reality she was just that much quicker than they were. She wrapped her arms around Harry's waist and pulled him into a passionate kiss, the type of kiss that could light the world on fire.

"So, I take it that you're glad to see me," Harry said. He pulled away from her and Lyta smiled.

"Do you need a bigger hint?" Lyta asked.

Diana grinned at her alternate dimensional counterpart. "You know, I don't think he does."

"I don't," Harry agreed. "That was a good fight out there, but you need work."

"Yeah, I know that I do," Lyta agreed. She might have won that battle a bit earlier. She was better trained than Diana was, even though she had to admit that her alternate counterpart was pretty damn good in her own right. "It's only a matter of me tempering my rage and I can do anything."

"Again, that's a road that I think that many of us have been down before," Donna commented sagely.

"I'm sure that you have," Lyta said. She didn't have a sister, but if she did, she would imagine that she would be something like Donna. Actually that made a lot of sense given she was an alternate version of Diana.

Harry turned around and saw a woman who was standing in the shadows. Her red hair framed her face rather nicely and she had a pretty intense glint in her eyes, with a smile to match. She made her way over towards Harry.

"Jean, it's good to see you again," Harry said. Jean didn't say anything straight away. Rather she pressed her lips against Harry's with a hungry and extremely passionate kiss. That particular kiss seemed to go on for days, with Jean using her tongue to dominate Harry.

Jean pulled herself away and Harry smiled. "Looks like the feeling is mutual."

"Yes, it is," Jean said. She laughed in amusement. "You know, after all that's happened, I feel like I'm one with who I am."

"That's a good thing," Harry said. Jean nodded in response.

"When you go home, I want to go with you," Jean said. "I want to see what I can do out there."

"I'll be happy to have you out there, anywhere," Harry said. "Do you want to join the League….."

"No," Jean replied, cutting him off. She added with a smile widening on her face. "Well, I don't want to officially join the League, but if you really want my help and you need my help, then I'll be there. But I want to live a somewhat normal life."

Jean decided to cut the rest of the girls off from making the really obvious crack that they could make.

"At least as normal of a life as someone with cosmic super powers can live."

Harry smiled, that honestly was the trick. He had a feeling that Jean was going to have a pretty good life when she was assimilating to her new world.

* * *

><p>"I'm honestly surprised that you haven't moved here yet, as often as you have been visiting," Hippolyta said. She looked towards Harry, Donna, Diana, and Lyta, who had shown up to greet her. Several of her guards had been dismissed, so Hippolyta could spend some time with her daughters and their mutual husband.<p>

"It's something that I've considered a few times," Harry said.

"Well, you know that you're welcomed to stay here as often as you would like and for as long as you really like," Hippolyta informed him. She stepped closer towards him, further closing the gap that the two of them had. "You know that, don't you?"

"Yes, I realize that," Harry said. He reached forward and cupped his wife's face and gave her a kiss. "But, I feel like every time that I visit here…..I open up the Amazons for more attacks."

"We can defend ourselves from these attacks and they are good practical training," Hippolyta reminded him. Harry grinned, that much was for true.

"And the Amazons were far capable of getting themselves attacked before you even showed up in our lives," Diana reminded him.

Donna gave a laugh, even if her laugh was very nervous. She practically groaned when she added something. "If that isn't the truth, I don't know what is."

The Amazons seemed to get attacked with an alarming amount of regularity to be honest. They had pissed off way too many vengeful sorcerers and angry gods. Or maybe it was the other way around.

"How is Circe?" Harry asked. She was a reminder of one of the last attacks that was on the island.

Hippolyta's smile became rather devious at that question. Harry might have been terrified at some point. "She's doing well, my lord. She's learning her place, one day at a time."

Harry almost felt sorry for Circe.

"She does seem willing to please, once you trained her property," Hippolyta added almost as an afterthought. "She's the obedient pet that any Amazon would really want. And I take great pleasure in guiding her in the ways of obedience."

"I'm sure that you do," Diana said. Her grin grew rather wicked.

'_It seems like our initial training paid off,' _Kara offered. She was looking extremely glad about that fact.

'_Yes, it seems like that it had,' _Diana said. She was glad that she had Kara there with her to help her with the training, and help keep Circe in line during those rough early days. It could be a bit of a struggle otherwise.

'_No offense, and I mean this as your sister, and that I love you,' _Donna thought. She shook her head in an attempt to keep her thoughts clear. _'And Kara, I mean this as your friend but….well the two of you can be scary sometimes.'_

'_Thank you,' _Kara said, taking a mocking bow in response.

'_Oh of course you would take that as a compliment,' _Karen said, shaking her head at her younger sister.

"I'm really glad that you're dealing with Circe, and you haven't had any further problems," Harry said.

"No," Hippolyta replied. She wouldn't say anything further than one word answers. Amazons were all too familiar with the laws of Murphy and how they had enough trouble without inviting any more to the island.

"Fair enough," Harry said. He knew that he was not going to get much more information that that. He finally sat down. Diana took her spot by Harry's side and Hippolyta, using the Queen's prerogative, sat on the other side of Harry right next to him.

"I was looking at some of the Amazons, and some of them have potential for your project," Hippolyta replied in response. Donna folded her arms.

"Exactly what is this project?" Donna asked.

"It was something that we have been working on for a long time," Hippolyta said to Harry. "Harry, if you would like to explain it to them?"

"Gladly," Harry replied with a smile on his face. "The RAO Corporation is working in many programs to help people and one of them is a self-defense program for women. I figure, what better trainers than the Amazons. They are some of the best fighters on Earth."

"It's a lateral movement at best," Hippolyta agreed. She smiled when she looked at her daughters. "As you remember from your studies, the original purpose of this island was to give some women sanctuary so they could be able to grow without the oppressive influence of men. Where they were able to thrive and survive on their own, without any problems."

"Makes perfect sense," Donna added. "It's kind of what I'm doing with Cassie."

"What are you doing with Cassie?" Diana asked. This was the first time she had said something and Diana was fairly curious to hear what her sister was up to, especially in a circumstance like this.

Donna's mouth hung open in surprise. Perhaps she shouldn't have said anything, but it was much too late to take it back now. The cat was out of the bag, as they said.

"Well, Cassie asked me if I can help her learn how to fight," Donna said. She smiled nervously. "And you know how persistent she can be when she wants something."

"Say no more," Diana said. She was all too aware with how persistent the young Sandsmark girl could be when she wanted something.

"I decided to agree to help her train, providing of course that she promises not to go out and seek trouble," Donna said.

"That was some sound advice," Diana replied, after a moment's thought. "Advice that you could have used a long time ago."

Donna acted like she had been punched in the stomach and she gave a mock groan when she shook her head. Harry placed his arm around Donna with a smile and held her in close towards her.

"I know, I know," Donna said shaking her head. Donna decided to turn to her husband. "What do you think about the idea?"

"I think that it's a really good idea," Harry informed Donna. That caused Donna to raise her eyebrow in response. Harry decided that it was best to elaborate on why he thought this was a good idea. "The type of things that Cassie gets into on a day to day basis, it might be an excellent idea to give her a heads up in training."

"I agree with Harry," Hippolyta added. "Although, perhaps some day you should bring the girl here to see if she can get some more specialized training."

"Oh boy, Cassie will freak out if she gets to visit here," Diana commented. There was a smile that accompanied those thoughts.

'_Freak out might be an understatement,' _Faora thought. She had met the girl a few times. _'And I'm sure that Har and I can give her some training as well, maybe not the same as we're doing Alia, but the same training.'_

'_So, you've patched up things with your sister?' _Hippolyta asked.

'_Yes, after the initial problems that we had, we're getting rather long,' _Faora thought. She cupped her hand onto her chin and tilted her head back in thought. She came to one conclusion. _'You know, all things considered, I might have come on just a little bit too strong during our initial meeting.'_

'_Just a little bit?' _Harry asked her. Faora looked at him and frowned.

'_Okay, more than a little bit.'_

The group on the island kicked back and relaxed. They got some talking done and they also were able to do a bit more than talking, but that was going to come to later. Overall, it was pretty much one of those trips on the island, where everyone left it with regrets, but left it in better moods than ever before.

* * *

><p>When the heroes were at play, it was when the villains would play. Lionel Luthor might not strictly classify himself as a villain, but he did not remain idle for a moment. By the day time, he was working on building a business.<p>

When the lights went off though, he was busy at work with something that was far more important to the grand scheme of things that the end of the month projections and the stock reports. He was looking for a method to save the world and to be the hero that the world needed.

Lionel Luthor felt that he might not be the hero that the world wanted, but he was the hero that they needed. The businessman was scaling back his day to day activities. He waited for the moment when his two daughters would take over his company in a coup.

It was a Luthor family rite of passage to wipe the previous generation out and Lionel counted down the days. The fact that he was wondering when it would come kept him on his toes. He wasn't going to make it easy, because his children deserved better than that.

He could see Warren busy at work. Lionel decided to abort his previous destination and walk up.

It was a good idea to keep an eye on Miles Warren. He was devious, like a jackal, always plotting.

"What about our weapons?" Lionel asked him.

"They are physically fine," Warren informed him. "Their minds are inactive for right now. The memories of the hosts might pose a problem."

"Then I suggest that you find a way to replace those problematic memories with memories that are more conductive to our agenda," Lionel said. "Perhaps our Martian friend might be willing to help us."

"She has been uncooperative to this point," Warren added. "The only thing that has kept us from having our brains fried by her is the fact that she's behind a barrier where she can't use her powers. Is it really worth the risk?"

Lionel frowned deeply and thought about it. He considered all of the possibilities with this. He was a businessman after all and risks needed to be mitigated if he wished to succeed with his plans.

"I'm all about risk, and everyone has a weakness," Lionel replied. "Including Martians. Perhaps we should consult with our friend, Professor Strange, to see if there is a way to condition our subjects before we take such a dangerous leap."

"There is no need to call for me. Mr. Luthor, for I'm right here."

The two men turned around. It was an unsettling sight to put things bluntly to see the one and only Hugo Strange lurking about in the shadows like he was. It caused shivers to roll down their spines like it might any other man.

"I was just ready to speak to you, about the progress that one of our test subjects has made," Strange commented.

"Which one?" Lionel asked. He left Warren to do whatever Warren did.

Warren thought that he was playing second fiddle to a deranged madman like Strange and he didn't like it, he didn't like it at all. The gentleman folded his hands within his lap and scowled. Soon he would have his day and it would be glorious.

Cadmus had presented him with opportunities that many scientists would dream for. It would be a dream for many men to work with a company the size of LuthorCorp, but that dream could shift into a nightmare extremely fast. Lionel treated him like little more than some intern, when he was an accredited scientist. Even his Sinister mentor didn't treat him like something like that.

'_Patience, Warren, it will pay off,' _he thought.

He looked at some of the splicing notes that Cadmus had. It was based off of the work of a Doctor Kirk Langstrom and Cadmus had appropriated the work after the doctor had been sent to Arkham after the results of one of his experiments.

Warren smiled. He thought that his experimentation with the spiders would work out wonderfully, but this was a class all to itself. He could not wait for this work to come to life.

He would have his moment, one way or another. He was able to play an extremely long game and wait. That was the name of his game.

Warren went back to his work, checking on the clones. Physically, they seemed to be good, but mentally they were inactive.

Lionel was lead down a long hallway. There was a padded cell; there were several that were outfitted in this area where their sleeper agents were being kept. He could see the face of the Parasite in particular pressed up against one of the cells. He had to be reprogrammed after he went off the rails the last time Cadmus tried to employ him.

"Behold," Strange said. "The fruits of my labor."

He pressed his thumb onto the key pad of the cell. There was a click and the door rolled over. It swung open to reveal a certain individual sitting. Tranquil, calm, not really the flamboyant person.

"Hello, Mr. Luthor, Doctor Strange," Edward Nygma said in a tranquil voice.

"Edward Nygma?" Lionel asked.

"Yes, I have given him focus, " Strange told them. "While the Justice League has their Oracle, we have our Enigma that will give us information that will help us stay one step ahead of the heroes"

Lionel's eyes shifted and the man himself seemed a bit skeptical. He pretty much called Strange out on a certain point. "And what's to stop Nygma from giving one riddle that will lead the League right our door steps? You are aware of his compulsion, aren't you?"

"Ask him to tell you a riddle," Strange commented to Lionel.

Lionel raised his eyebrow at that rather strange request that he got from Strange. "Mr. Nygma, if you could tell me a riddle, that would be great?"

"Oh, I don't think that I could do that," Nygma said. He backed off in the chair, looking like a scared rabbit. "I feel like I'm cured of that compulsion and life is really great. I couldn't tell you how happy that I am."

Despite his words, the detached nature of them said a different story. Nygma's eye twitched and he shuddered. He felt compelled to tell a riddle, but he was scared of the consequences. The hours Strange had him worked over and everything was still fresh in his mind.

"Well, Mr. Nygma, I believe that you will be much helpful for the Light's aims, would you not?" Strange asked.

Nygma nodded up and down. He could feel a lump grow in his throat, but he swallowed.

"Yes, I'll be good," Nygma said. He didn't want to be left alone in the presence of this madman ever again. The things that he had done to him were completely unspeakable atrocities.

"Very good, I now that you will," Strange said. He turned towards Lionel with an appraising look. "And you can see that the proof of my work is in the pudding. He hasn't told a riddle in over a month."

"Yes, perhaps you could work on a stronger mind to make it more susceptible to our aims," Lionel commented. He added some other comment, almost as an afterthought. "That is, if you're up to it."

"I'm always up for a challenge, Mr. Luthor," Strange said.

Lionel might have been a bit nervous around Strange from the outset, but he was proving to be useful. He was able to get Cadmus what they wanted. The final test was to condition his most powerful weapons.

This would prove whether or not Strange was completely useful. Lionel was impressed how broken and docile Nygma was. He was the perfect puppet to do whatever he wanted.

"Oh, Doc, hey what's up Doc, you can't break me, oh you can't break me!" a voice yelled from the cell next to them. "You know, you can give me all the acid and the LSD in the world, but I'm nuttier than a squirrel's morning shit."

"Mr. Wilson," Strange said solemnly. "I've come to the conclusion that he already came to us broken."

Wade Wilson was a guest of Cadmus and a constant annoyance to Hugo Strange. It seemed like it would take a lot more to break him and turn him into a loyal soldier.

"I might suggest sealing his mouth shut," Lionel said.

"So, you were behind X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Luthor?" Wade asked from the other room. "I knew you were an evil bastard, but that's just makes you cruel."

"The sooner, the better, for all of our sakes," Lionel replied shaking his head.

"Much agreed, my friend," Strange conceded.

* * *

><p>Sue was glad that she had one of the best jobs in the world. Most people would have clammed up and lost their minds after the accident that had been caused. Sue was a survivor though and she was going to press on.<p>

Right now, she was in the midst of a lesson from Harry. She had to admit that he missed his calling in life and she needed to tell him about as much.

"You should have been a teacher," Sue said in an appraising manner. She held her shield up where Harry launched a few light blasts of magic.

It was not enough to harm her, but it would sting enough to serve as a motivation to keep her invisible shield up. Harry kept hammering away at the shield and Sue kept pushing back.

"You need to relax a little bit," Harry told her.

Sue was relaxing a little bit. She had seen Harry several times, so imagining him in his underwear would not be a good idea. There was no need to imagine that, because she had seen him in far less.

"Right, I'm relaxing, but you know you're making it extremely hard to do," Sue replied. She didn't want to accuse Harry, but he could be really distracting.

"Just pretend I'm invisible and act naturally like you're on guard from an attack," Harry said.

Sue didn't really have an argument with that. Her shields were getting stronger and they could have offensive capabilities in battle if she chose to join that. They also had other purposes as well.

"And, we can stop now," Harry told her.

Sue thought that she was less winded after that battle. That proved good things about her stamina as far as she was concerned.

"So, how did you think I did?" Sue asked. She seemed a bit breathless, but in reality, she was just really excited.

"You know if you have to ask that, you never will be good enough," Harry replied. He added something as an afterthought pretty much. "You know, I did think about being a teacher at one point or another."

"And why didn't you do it?" Sue asked. She was surprised how abruptly he came back to her initial question, but she was rather pleased that he did so. She stepped closer towards her.

"Well teaching seems like a good idea, but private tutoring seems even better," Harry said. Sue raised her eyebrow in response when she looked at him. "You know because of the fact that you get to pick only the best and the brightest."

Sue pondered that fact for a moment and she nodded. "Not going to lie, but that does make perfect sense to me."

She inched a bit closer towards Harry. The two of them were almost face to face with each other.

"Your powers can be used for a lot more than just being invisible," Harry informed her. He leaned towards her and placed his hand on her bare back, touching it. "Not that you haven't used that to great effect."

'_Yeah, we've caught her no less than twenty times spying on us, haven't we?' _Karen asked.

'_At least, and there might be more,' _Katrina thought. _'I'm pretty sure that she was getting a bit better on the stealth the more that she was working at improving her powers.'_

"Yes," Sue replied. She wondered whether or not she was going to get something right now. They were all alone in this room and Harry had her in a compromising position.

Whitney entered the room rather suddenly and that caused the moment to be lost. Sue frowned when she saw the hyper active redhead make her way into the lab.

"Hey, I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Whitney asked.

"No, not right now," Sue said. She pulled away from Harry. "I'll talk to you later."

"We'll pick this back up later," Harry told her. Sue was able to slip off without any cause. Harry turned towards Whitney, who seemed to not know quite what she did. "Yes, Whitney, what is it?"

"I really need to ask you about something, it's really important," Whitney said. The normally confident girl was wringing her hands together and she resembled someone who was extremely nervous. Her heart started to flutter against her chest.

"Yes, what is it?" Harry asked her.

"Well, Iris wants to know….if you want to go out for dinner, this weekend," Whitney said. She looked really nervous about this.

"Iris wants to know this?" Harry asked. He suspected that something was up right now, but he couldn't really figure out what it was.

'_That's kind of funny,' _Lois chimed in. _'Because Whitney was trying to set up Iris on a date with you earlier today, and she said that if you wanted to ask her out, she was sure that you would do it in person.'_

"Aunt Iris sent me to ask you," Whitney said.

"Oh, she did, did she?" Harry asked. He was rather calm. "You know, I would have thought that Iris would have been the type of person that would ask me herself, if she wanted me to take her out on a date."

"Well, she's busy, she's always running everywhere, and she didn't technically ask me, she just more implied it," Whitney said. She was speaking at a super speed and she nearly tripped over her words.

"Okay, Whitney calm down, I'm sure that the two of us can talk it out," Harry said.

"I'm calm, I'm calm," Whitney said. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "So calm, right now."

'_She doesn't seem calm,' _Artemis, the Arrow version not to be confused with the goddess or the Amazon, commented. _'She seems like she wanted to ask you out, but got cold feet and transposed Iris there.'_

'_Really, that's what you got out of that?' _Sara asked. She frowned. _'She doesn't seem like a nervous woman most of the time. Granted, she gets excited, so hyper active.'_

'_Well Harry does have that ability to turn a woman's mind to mush as we all well know,' _Gwen said. There was no shortage of agreement throughout the bond because of this point.

"You know, if you have a chance to speak with Iris, tell her that she can feel free to swing by the penthouse any time, if she wants to arrange something," Harry said. "And if you want to arrange something, feel free to swing by yourself."

Whitney was about ready to protest this point, but the Flash signal blared in her ear and she knew that there was trouble and Iris might need a little bit of back up.

"Something came up….um, I'll pass the message along, goodbye," Whitney said, and she ran off.

Harry laughed, but he could hear Chloe in his ear suddenly.

'_Yes, I'm pretty sure that something came up,' _Chloe thought. _'There have been reports of a giant gorilla has been breaking into a scientific research facilities throughout the city. He hasn't taken anything just yet, apparently, but he's left the guards unable to stop him.'_

'_So he's looking for something,' _Harry thought. He frowned when he thought about it. _'It can't be, can it?'_

'_If it is, there could be trouble,' _Claire added grimly. Some girls were in the know and other girls weren't, but they would all be filled in on the details of it very soon.

* * *

><p>Iris West used to be a normal aspiring reporter. She took the aspiring part out of the reporter part of her life, but she was anything than normal. There was an accident that made her the fastest woman alive. It had been an interesting seven year journey since then and she had become a beloved hero of Central City. She lost a lot, but she gained even more.<p>

She heard of something suspicious going on. The woman stepped into greater prominence. She wore a red mask that fit over her face and allowed her red hair to flow freely. Her red and yellow costume was extremely skin tight, and filled pretty much every curve on her body. She was the pinnacle of an athletic woman who poured into her costume.

Iris slipped in through the doorway. There was no need for her to push it open. It was open which raised a red flag in the back of her head.

The redheaded heroine stood at the edge of the doorway and could see one of the guards slumped over. He looked to be dazed. The lights were on, but no one was home.

The Scarlet Speedster made her way over towards the man who was slumped against the wall. She frowned when she bent down into the building. She bent down and checked the man.

The woman could feel something in the air, and it unsettled her greatly.

"Who in the name of God did this to you?" Iris asked. She snapped her fingers. The lights were on, but no one was home.

She could hear an unsettling voice that caused her skin to crawl.

"You should not ask what in the name of God did this, but rather you should ask yourself what in the name of Grodd did this?"

Iris whipped around and she could see a walking, talking gorilla that stood up next to her. The fastest woman alive frowned when she looked him over.

"I'm really surprised that you're not some kind of urban legend," Iris said.

"They wish that I was an urban legend, Flash, humanity look down upon beings that they assume to be superior to them," Grodd continued. He added one statement to his tone. "But I'm very real."

"Yeah, real or not, going down," Iris snapped back.

Like a puppet, one of the security guards rose up to his feet. He aimed his baton at Iris. She dodged the swing of it, but it did do a wonderful job in distracting her from the matter at hand and that matter was Grodd.

"You think that you have all of the answers," he replied.

Iris could see two more guards rush in towards her. She dodged them both. She didn't want to hurt them, because they were just civilians that were underneath Grodd's thrall. The Fastest Woman alive dodged the attacks.

They were nowhere near as quick as she was and Iris ran circles around them to put things bluntly. She knocked the goons down onto their back and managed to subdue them.

The moment she looked up, Grodd was gone. She was pretty sure that an eight foot tall talking gorilla might not have been the most conspicuous of people, but if he had a getaway van, it would allow him to move effortlessly throughout the city.

He had pretty much pulled off the perfect time. Iris sent a distress signal to Whitney to have her come here and meet her.

It was almost the perfect crime, however. He had left one clue behind that might have pointed to whatever method there was to his madness.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on April 3<strong>**rd****, 2015. **


	58. In a Flash Part One

**Chapter Fifty-Eight: In a Flash Part One:**

* * *

><p>Iris didn't have to wait too long. In a blur, or rather in a flash, Impulse showed up. She wore a version of her outfit that was inverse, it was yellow with some red on top of it and it fit around her rather nicely as well.<p>

"What took you so long?" Iris asked, not even looking at Whitney when she showed up.

"Sorry, I got tied up at work, you know how it goes," Whitney said. She shook her head and grew suddenly seriously. "So, what's up?"

"We've got trouble and lots of it," Iris informed her. Whitney could see the downed guards down on the ground and whistled. She imagined that they had a lot of trouble and Iris was going to fill her in on all of the juicy details as they came. "The rumors of a large gorilla causing problems haven't been greatly exaggerated at all."

"So, it was the gorilla that did this," Whitney commented. She was in a lot of shock and awe and she could see her mentor looking around. "Unless you did this?"

"Well, I had to rough up the guards a little bit, I might have found a clue that could point me in the right direction," Iris said. "You didn't see anything on your way inside?"

"Nothing more than the usual Metropolis insanity," Whitney confirmed. She looked at her mentor. "So, what do you think the game of our gorilla was?"

This was a question that Iris was having plenty of trouble trying to reconcile. Grodd was sighted at a few areas around town and he appeared to take nothing. At least he appeared to take nothing of value.

"See if you can find anyone in the building that might have a clue what the hell is going on," Iris said. She was completely baffled to this crime and hated that there were more questions than answers. As a reporter and a crime fighter, those were never good things when one went into a crime.

"Right," Whitney said. She nearly sped off and tripped over one of the guards.

Iris sighed. There was plenty that her niece honestly should be careful for. One day, she was going to seriously hurt herself running around like she was. She supposed that there was a lot of that which couldn't be helped.

Turning around, Iris came face to face with the one only Arcane, who was standing in the shadows, looking around. The fasted woman alive was completely baffled when she saw him there.

"Relax, we're looking into the same man, or primate in this case," Arcane said.

"Right," Iris commented. She wondered if it would be a matter of time before she ran into Arcane or should she say, Harry Potter. It was not hard for anyone with a few brain cells and way too much time on our hands to exactly figure out that they were one and the same. "And what have you found out?"

"Not much more than you have, I'm afraid," Harry said.

Iris could see another figure fluttering her way inside. She wore a tight spandex shirt that was blue with a red "S" that fit over her nice ample chest. She wore a blue skirt that flowed down to show her lovely legs. A pair of thigh high boots added to the ensemble, making things a lovely combination.

"So, the Blur shows herself," Iris said. She was cool, mostly because there was a fair amount of debate whether or not the Blur or the Flash was the fastest woman alive.

"Actually, now that I've gone public, it's Superwoman," the woman in question responded and she flashed Iris a smile. "I guess you beat me to the race."

"Well, anyone would beat you as well as you've been bumbling around, Claire," Iris muttered underneath her breath. That caused Claire's eyebrow to raise in surprise. "Oh come on, you would have to be pretty blind not to see that you were the Blur. All you have to do is put a pair of glasses on you and boom, Claire Kent. Honestly, what kind of person can't see past a pair of glasses anyway?"

'_And suddenly, I feel like I've been insulted and I'm not even there,' _Lois thought.

'_Awww,' _Lana and Chloe cooed in response. Both of the women shook their head.

"I guess that means you know who I am, and I know that you're Iris West and you're sidekick must be Whitney," Harry said in a low voice. He performed a handy little charm that anyone who listened would hear babbling nonsense. "Who does not do a good enough job with stealth even if it slapped her in the face."

"I know, Whitney can be a little bit impulsive, hence the name," Iris said. The woman sighed deeply. "But, enough about that, I think that I better run and see if I can figure out what's going on with Grodd."

"What is the story about him anyway?" Claire asked. She had run into the talking gorilla a couple of times and the meetings had not been all that pleasant. She frowned when she thought about it.

Iris looked with a shrug. "I don't know, but…..I think that's up to me to find out. This wave of crimes started all the way back in Central City and no offense, but you'd slow me down."

"You really think that you're faster than me, still?" Claire asked. That caused Harry to look from one woman to another.

"We're really having this discussion now?" Iris asked her. She seemed amused and flustered at the same time.

"Well, yeah, we're really having this discussion right now, because you're the one who brought it up," Claire said. She hovered halfway off the ground. "You said that you're the fastest woman alive and…"

"That's a moniker that doesn't just look good on a billboard, because that's what I am," she replied, snapping her fingers. "Sure, you might be faster than a speeding bullet, but I'm a bit faster than that. And I can…."

"Okay, obviously this argument is going to go around in circles," Harry said. It was best to nip this problem in the bud before it went out of control.

"Just like I'd run circles around the Blur here," Iris said.

"Yeah, you'd only run circles around me, in your dreams," Claire fired back.

'_Oh, I'm almost impressed,' _Lois said. She wiped a mock tear of joy away from her eyes. _'I didn't know that you had it in you, Smalville, I really didn't. That was beautiful.'_

'_Lois, please don't encourage her,' _Harry thought in exasperation. He decided to clear his throat even more prominently to get the attention of the women in question.

"We can have a race for charity, in fact, I'll arrange it, but we really need to keep your minds on the task at hand," Harry said. He shook his head.

When there were times where the competitive nature of women was endearing, this was not one of those times. If Grodd was who Harry suspected that he was, then there was a fair amount of trouble that he could get into.

* * *

><p>"The Scarlet Speedster thinks that she got the drop on me," a rumbling voice commented. "But I'm two or three steps away from anything that she can do."<p>

Gorilla Grodd entered the lair. He stole one small component. It was nothing that can be missed in the grand scheme of things, but added to everything else that he stole, it allowed him to take control of his scheme and allow his master plan to come to life.

"This is the final step of my seven year journey," Grodd said. He looked around to a group of gorillas that he had liberated from the zoo. "For too long, I have seen my type held in captivity by humans. My fellow gorillas in Gorilla City have been ignorant to their plight. They prefer to be hidden from the world, instead of taking what should be ours. We are the dominant species, the world should be ours."

Grodd's tone got even darker.

"And instead, despite my attempts to make them see the light, they banished me," Grodd said. "They thought that they could strip me of my intelligence and force me to live amongst the wild as a common gorilla, perhaps to one day be held in captivity in a zoo."

Grodd was angry at the treatment of the noble beasts. The key to their intelligence was buried deep inside them. The humans had treated them for amusement. They were not common primates, but rather the most intelligent beast on Earth and they should rule over humans.

"Once I bring my fellow gorillas to their prominent place, it will be humans that are in cages," Grodd commented. "Flash might be fast on her feet, but she's ignorant to what is happening. I've taken nothing that can tie together the plan, at least until it's too late."

Grodd placed the final component in his device. It looked to be a bit clunky and homemade, but one should not deny looks. He laughed in amusement when he saw the news reporter.

"Yes, I'm sure people are confused, because I don't fit in their standards of competence," Grodd said. He looked at the two gorillas that were kept behind a glass wall for their own protection. "Do not fret my brothers, soon it will be over and you will be able to roam free."

Grodd had slaughtered their captors. People had been fixated on the lab and not had bothered to question the fact that at least a dozen gorillas had been heisted from the Gotham City zoo.

"It's not your fault that you're not properly evolved," Grodd said. "You have been put in cages, mocked and belittled by children. Well, now, I'll lead you to the promise land and I will allow you to take down your oppressors."

The two gorillas just made noise. Grodd shook his head. It was sad. He understood some of their crude communication.

"There is no need to be frightened," Grodd said in an almost fatherly tone of voice. "I'm here to help you."

The gorillas didn't seem to be too captivated by Grodd's words. There was no need for them to be. Grodd would be able to help them very easily. He reached over and ensured that his device was created.

"You will be first of many, first of a new age of Gorillas," Grodd replied. He adjusted a dial on the device and pointed towards the gorillas. All of them caused a ruckus deep in the cage.

They didn't need to be still for this to work. Rather, Grodd aimed the device at the two gorillas and blasted them with everything that it had.

He stepped back and enjoyed his handwork when it was completed. The two gorillas in the cage looked around.

"You do that again, and I'll rip you to shreds," the gorilla said in a thuggish tone of voice.

"Excellent, you're capable of speech," Grodd replied.

"Yeah, I've been talking this entire time, what's it to you?" the gorilla asked. He looked like the type of gorilla that might be a mobster if he was a human.

"I mean to say that you are capable of speech that could be understood by higher beings," Grodd answered. "You have been caged, and you have been let free."

"And I suppose that we should be grateful about this," the second gorilla commented in a low monotone. He spoke extremely calmly when he fixed his gaze on his adversary.

"You believe what you want to believe," Grodd commented. He wasn't in the mood these games, especially with such lesser primates. All he was going to do was give them the chance. "As an act of good faith, I will let you out of this cage."

"Yeah, you talk about being our savior, but you put us in a cage," the mobster sounding gorilla said. The glass wall slid out and it allowed the gorillas to step out of the cage. "If you ask me, you're no more than those hairless apes."

"And what's the deal with those clothes anyway, are they ashamed of something?" the monotone gorilla asked. "If you ask me, they should be embarrassed because they look absolutely ridiculous with what they're wearing."

"Listen to me, I believe that more of your brothers and sisters can get this gift, if you….."

"And why should we listen to the likes of you?" the mobster gorilla asked. He almost got into Grodd's face.

'_Because, as much as I've given you this gift, I can rip it away in an instant,' _Grodd replied. He forced the mobster gorilla to his knees.

The mobster gorilla could see images flicker in the back of his head. Those images were of children mocking him, laughing at him.

'_If you want to go back to that, just say the word, and I'll arrange it,' _Grodd thought. _'But I don't think you want to go back to that life, do you?'_

'_No, I'm good,' _the gorilla groaned. He shook his head, feeling a ringing echo in the back of his head.

"Good," Grodd said. He gave them a wide smile. "My name is Grodd. Know it well. And now that we're on the same page, here's what we're going to do next."

* * *

><p>They were going to need a little help if they hoped to take down Grodd. Whitney had returned from her search of the place. The young heroine known as Impulse was ready for battle.<p>

"You know, a talking gorilla really isn't among the weirdest things that we've seen," Whitney said. She could rattle off some of the things that she saw that were so much weirder.

"He's more than a talking gorilla," Harry told her. "He's really dangerous and you should not allow your mind to be distracted by him."

"It seems like you've ran into Grodd before," Iris said. Perhaps it was her instincts as a reporter, but that's what she picked up in her mind.

Harry smiled when he nodded. "Yes, we ran into each other."

Harry was waiting for the rest of his back up here. There were actual a few candidates, but he thought that they needed someone who knew Metropolis about as well as Claire did. And since Lois was pretty much swamped at the Planet, there was pretty much a good candidate who could drop pretty much everything that she could do.

It was a bird, it was a plane, it was Supergirl.

"Oh, it's you," Impulse commented in a cocky voice. She looked over Supergirl. She had to admit that she was a sight to see in that costume. "You know, I almost didn't recognize you not choking on my dust."

"Ha, you're a riot, you know that," Kara replied. She wanted to shake her head. Harry placed his hand on her shoulder to give her a warning.

"Whatever problems the two of you had, now's not the time or the place," Harry said.

"Yeah, big smelly talking gorilla, he has some vaguely defined plan that we can't piece together," Kara said. She placed her hand on the top of her head.

"Well, he's obviously looking for something," Whitney said.

"You know, with deductions like this, you could take over Batman as the new world's greatest detective," Kara teased her. Whitney grew sour and folded her arms. She stuck out her tongue in response. "Then again, your maturity lacks a little bit."

"Kara, Whitney, that's enough," Harry said to both of them. Both of them snapped back into line. "I'm having Chloe check into something; she'll be back with us for a little bit."

"Well, the news reports have been pretty vague, or rather the scientific labs have not been forthcoming," Iris said. She studied a lot of this from the Planet end and found absolutely nothing. It was kind of maddening to say the very least and felt an extreme amount of frustration.

"Details can be very vague, but that might be only one part of Grodd's end game," Harry said. "He was banished from Gorilla City, and he didn't take that banishment well. He was well respected there, but he went weird in the end. He became really obsessed with overthrowing humans and taking the rest of the world, even though it wouldn't end well."

"And now he's using his intelligence to commit crimes," Iris said. She shook her head to clear the cobwebs. "There must be some kind of end to the means."

"With someone like Grodd, that's a pretty good assumption to make," Harry replied, he just wished that he knew what the end game was. The clue that Iris found had been a good start, but it was not a good enough start to hammer.

"Well, I didn't find anything about what Grodd was stealing from the labs," Chloe piped in. She paused and added the other part of her dire proclamation. "But I did find out something extremely vital."

"What is it?" Harry asked. Iris, Claire, Whitney, and Kara all listened in carefully.

"There have been several gorillas that have been swiped from zoos all along the East Coast and their handlers have been all severely injured," Chloe said. Her voice spoke in a hush. "There seems to be no trace and the handlers swear that…"

"No, let me guess, a large talking gorilla was the one that liberated the caged gorillas," Harry said.

"Yeah, way to ruin the moment," Chloe said with a groan. She brushed her hair from her eyes and added. "But it was no less true. The gorillas had been liberated from the zoo by Grodd."

"Everyone needs an army, even Grodd," Iris said.

"But, isn't Grodd supposed to be super intelligent?" Claire asked. "And aren't the gorillas at the zoo wild and primal?"

"Yes, and I believe that we have a pretty good idea what Grodd stole right now," Harry said. He wondered how he couldn't have seen it at first. He was so blatantly obvious, to the point where it was almost right in front of his face. Talk about how frustrating it was.

"Grodd didn't steal anything as far as we know, did he?" Whitney asked.

"Actually, I dug deeper, and there were a number of small components missing, but nothing too major," Chloe said. Sudden realization dawned on her. "Oh shit."

"There was nothing too major on its own, but separately, it could be extremely major," Harry answered. He realized that it was all came together right now. It might have took some time to put the pieces together.

"The parts are useless, it's the sum of its parts that are the real thing," Whitney said.

Harry's musings in particular were interrupted by a call. He realized who this was from and the fact that she kept ringing indicated that this was urgent.

"This is urgent, I better take this," Harry replied. Claire nodded in understanding when Harry went off to take the call.

"Hello, Harry, did I catch you at a bad time?" Alexa asked.

"Is this urgent?" Harry asked.

"It is….could you meet me at the LuthorCorp parking garage downtown?" Alexa asked.

"I'll be there," Harry replied. He wondered what this was all about, but he suspected that he would find out all too soon.

Whitney was looking around. She was able to find things that many people couldn't even detect and this was one of those times. All she needed to do was focus on her mind and everything would become more clearly now.

"I think that I found something," Whitney said. She almost jumped up into the air with excitement when she saw something.

Kara stepped over and she saw it to. It was some kind of dripping residue on the ground and it looked rather putrid. It looked putrid and it smelled putrid.

"So, that's a clue that we overlooked," Iris said, speaking for them all.

"That might lead us to Grodd's hideout," Whitney said. She looked like she was going to run there, but Iris grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Or it could lead us right into a trap," Iris said. She knew by now when there was a clue that was left behind, the bad guys might have planted it there.

She had her share of extremely bad experiences when she was younger, when she first dawned the costume. She really got better regarding it all too soon, but there was still a bit of a nervousness about it.

"Well, we're just going to have to be a bit more careful," Kara said. She looked at Whitney and could not resist herself from adding another side jab towards the girl. "And not so impulsive."

That was a statement that caused another argument to be sparked. Iris and Claire decided to pull their two charges away from each other.

"We can settle your sexual tension later," Claire said.

"Sexual tension?" Kara asked. She shook her head. "Okay, you've been hanging around Lois way too much, you know."

"Or not enough apparently," Claire said. Kara responded by folding her arms across her chest and giving Claire a frown to end all frowns. "And you better be careful frowning like that, your face could freeze like that."

'_She is adorable when she pouts like that,' _Karen thought. She switched to Harry's thought channel. _'So, I wonder what the Princess of LuthorCorp wants that was so urgent.'_

'_I suspect that I'll find out when I get there,' _Harry thought. He focused his thoughts on Claire and Kara. _'Follow the residue, and be careful.'_

'_Right, I might need to keep baby Flash on a leash to make sure she doesn't impulsively run into things and get us all severely maimed or worse,' _Kara thought.

'_You know, you're the last person to talk about running into things without thinking,' _Donna thought. She paused when she thought. _'And you know, I'm the last person who should be telling someone that they're the last person that should be running recklessly in things.'_

'_You actually admitted that?' _Diana asked. That caused Donna to give the death glare towards her sister. _'Truthfully a new day has dawned.'_

'_And we're not any better, admittedly,' _Lyta added.

'_No we aren't,' _Diana muttered, agreeing with her alternate dimension sister.

* * *

><p>There were a group of gorillas that were trying to break into LuthorCorp. This sounded like the beginning of an extremely bad joke, but it was what actually going. There was honestly a group of gorillas that were trying to break into LuthorCorp. They were a variety of gorillas and one of them was a large, imposing Albino Gorilla.<p>

The Mobster sounding gorilla spoke up. "Why do we have to listen to someone like Grodd? If you ask me, he's not one of us. He's lived the high life, in his comfortable city."

"He did give us the gift of speech, so we should be grateful," one of the gorillas commented in a sophisticated accent.

"Yeah, the stupid monkey language," the mobster gorilla growled.

"Ya'll need to be a tad more grateful," another gorilla commented in an extremely prominent southern accent. "Grodd has given us a lot, and we need to do the best that we can."

"Yeah, I'm grateful alright, grateful that some uptight gorilla from Gorilla City is bossing us around," the mobster gorilla said. "If it wasn't for his little fancy mental mumbo-jumbo, we would be ruling everything. I don't give a fuck about these humans, I just want to be left alone."

"You know, that do look a tad bit absurd, I mean, totally absolutely bogus, man," one of the gorillas commented in a surfer dude accent. "But you need to mellow out, dude, the Grodd man just so totally heightened our buzz."

"And you have been listening to humans way too much, if you have picked up some of their rather annoying speech patterns," the albino gorilla said. He fiddled with the lock. "I do not like what Grodd has done to us, but he has given us an opportunity. We should play the game for now."

"I don't like playing games!" the mobster gorilla snapped.

"You will never advance anywhere if you aren't subtle," the albino gorilla commented in a calm voice. He was more at ease with more human behaviors than his fellow gorillas are. "And, I must admit that this security is fairly sophisticated."

"You talk like him, are you sure you aren't one of his stooges?" the mobster gorilla said.

"Hey, man, cool it, you're like, being totally bogus and out of line," the surfer dude gorilla said.

"Well, let me tell you something, dude," the mobster gorilla commented in a rough voice. "It was a perfectly reasonable question."

"It was, and I have only been at a zoo my entire life," the man said. "The zoo that he broke me out of caters to a more sophisticated group than the ones that you've been in captivity at."

"Are you trying to say that you're better than us?" the mobster gorilla demanded. He looked at the Albino Gorilla.

"I say that we're inside," the albino Gorilla stated, evading the question, at least for a moment. "And no, I'm not saying that I'm better than you, I'm just saying that I have had more of a wide variety of opportunities than you."

"So, what does that Grodd have us all looking for anyway?" the hick Gorilla asked in his southern drawl.

"We'll know when we find it, my good primate," the albino Gorilla said. "Just stick with the plan and I'm sure that good things will come to those who wait."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll play along for right now," the mobster gorilla said in his gruffest tone of voice. "But it doesn't mean that I have to like it at all, or anything."

"No one is saying that you have to like it, just stick with the plan," the albino Gorilla said, his patience rather high, but even his patience was rough. "Grodd's plan does have some merit, so we need to stick close to him until our time to get what we want comes to play."

The albino Gorilla knew all about playing the waiting game. It was a delicate and devious game and he was going to be the victor of it one way or another.

* * *

><p>Alexa waited for Harry down at the end of the garage. This was one of the few places in the LuthorCorp building that she was pretty sure that they wouldn't be disturbed. She kept walking around in circles.<p>

She could see Harry arriving at a moment. The Luthor Heiress smiled when Harry approached her.

"It's good to see you again, Harry," Alexa said. She made her way closer towards Harry with a smile on her face. "Sorry about the entire cloak and dagger act, but I wanted to make sure that we weren't disturbed."

"That's fine," Harry replied with a frown. "What's up?"

"Well, Lionel has decided to take an extended hiatus," Alexa replied. That was a statement that threw Harry a little bit off guard. "And no, I didn't off him."

Harry didn't know whether to laugh or raise his eyebrow.

"It's a bit odd, how Lionel micromanages everything," Harry said. "And now he's dropped off of the grid."

"It's extremely weird," Alexa agreed. She frowned really deeply and thought about something else. "And extremely unsettling as well, because he's been making a lot of calls and trips on his private plane."

"And where in the world is Lionel going on his private plane?" Harry asked her.

"Actually, most of the trips seem to go out to Smallville and I doubt very much he's revisiting the scene of the meteor shower," Alexa said. She decided that this was not the best place to meet after all and escorted Harry into a side elevator. "It has something to do with Cadmus, actually."

After all that happened, Harry nearly forgot about Cadmus.

'_Cadmus?' _Patricia asked. It would be a long time before she forgot about being taken to the lab with threats to be experimented on.

'_And suddenly, the plot thickens,' _Kat thought. She was extremely intrigued to say the least.

Karen frowned. _'That honestly goes without saying with the Luthors.'_

"Cadmus has been a topic of interest for me for quite some time," Harry said. Alexa gave him a smile in response.

"Yeah, I'm aware of that, trust me," Alexa responded. They made their way to her corner office with a smile on her face. "One of my many offices might not be the nicest one that I have, even in this building, but it will serve the purpose."

Harry did a sweeping motion with his hands.

"And the fact that it's clean from any bugging devices makes it the most attractive option," Harry said to her. Alexa gave a devious little smirk in response.

"So, that goes without saying," Alexa said. She made her way over to the coffee making and bent over slightly, giving Harry a nice visual image of the skirt hugging tightly against her rear. The beautiful redhead turned around and grinned at him, fully knowing where his eyes were going and encouraging that fact. "So, coffee?"

"Yes, coffee," Harry told her.

Alexa poured both of them a cup of coffee. She made her way towards the desk, but instead of sitting in the chair, she sat on top of it with her legs crossed. She sipped the coffee and surveyed Harry who was sitting on the chair across from her.

"So, what can you tell me about Cadmus?" Harry asked her.

"At first, I thought that it was one of Lionel's little tax write offs," Alexa commented. She picked up a folder on the desk and handed it to Harry. "But, if I dug a bit deeper, I could see that it's more than a way to game the IRS. Even though he's a pretty adept master at doing that, as you well know."

"Yes, I'm aware," Harry said. "Many rich people are."

"Well, there are a lot of tax loopholes if you know where to look, and it's not necessarily illegal, even if it is kind of sketchy, and the government has done far worse to evade spending their own money," Alexa said. She craned her neck with a smile. "But, enough politics for one day, let's discuss business. Lionel's absence from LuthorCorp have caused the board of directors to be very concerned. They think that Lionel isn't keeping his eye on the ball."

"And he isn't," Harry said.

Alexa shook her head in response. "No, he isn't. And I'm in position. I know you've been buying up some stock. Not enough to raise an alarm bell, but enough to force a takeover if push comes to shove."

"And what direction are the Board leaning towards?" Harry asked.

"Lionel does have a few loyalists, so it isn't a sweep, but I think that between you, me, and Tess, we can really make sure that Lionel loses all of his power, where his miserable life is the only thing left," Alexa said.

Harry didn't want to address the elephant in the room regarding the Luthors, but it was obvious to him that Alexa intended to take that from him.

Alexa personally thought that the time was right for a coup. Lionel's attention was diverted in response.

"I know that you are able to help me run this empire, better than ever before," Alexa said. She slid off the desk and placed her hands on either side of Harry's arm chair. Her stocking clad leg touched his. "And I know that we can seal the deal with this business arrangement."

The two of them were inches away from touching lips, but there was a buzzing sound that caused Alexa.

'_You would think that she would be savvy enough to disable that thing,' _Karen thought, shaking her head.

Alexa acted like nothing was the matter. There was a glint in her eye that this better have been good, for her fun to be interrupted like that.

"Yes, Mercy, what is it?" Alexa asked.

"A group of gorillas have broken into one of the lower levels," Mercy replied.

That caused Alexa's interest to be piqued. She would say that would qualify as good and she could see by the look in Harry's eyes that he was caught with interest.

'_What are the odds?' _Lois asked with a frown.

'_Given that it's Harry, the odds are pretty fucking good actually,' _Chloe thought. She was leading Claire and Kara through the process of getting inside of Grodd's stronghold, both mentally and through the communication links, so Whitney and Iris could help out as well. _'You know, you should get on with adding Whitney and Iris so you can make my job a lot easier.'_

'_Are you sure the bond link hasn't made you lazy?' _Artemis asked her.

'_Hasn't it made your life a lot easier?' _Chloe asked.

'_Not disputing that,' _Artemis thought with a smile.

"Are they still down there?" Alexa asked.

"I think that they are, security is on their way down there," Mercy told Alexa. "They're almost into Vault X-09."

Harry knew that he might be asking a bit of a personal inquiry regarding this, but at the same time, he couldn't really help himself from asking it. "And what exactly is in Vault X-09."

Alexa turned towards him. "Nothing, but trouble."

She could see that Harry was frustrated at her non answer, but she lead him from the room.

"I'll explain on the way, and you can explain why you didn't seem to be surprised by the existence of gorillas that were intelligent enough to break into one of my vaults," Alexa said. She gripped Harry by the hand and the two of them made their way down the hallway.

"Fair enough."

Harry prepared himself for anything. It proved that Grodd's little gambit worked and he had a gang of gorillas. Harry also had the strangest feeling that this was just the beginning of Grodd's deviously evil scheme.

* * *

><p>Claire and Iris were snooping around outside, but Whitney and Kara made their way inside of the facility. Both of the girls looked a bit nervous and rightfully so. They didn't know what to expect, but it might not be anything good by the time everything was all said and done.<p>

"It's quiet in here," Whitney said. "Way too quiet."

"Did you have to say that?" Kara asked in annoyance. She would have hit Whitney in agitation had she not been a bit too fast to dodge any of her attacks. So she had to pull her hand back and wait for Whitney to look around.

"Grodd's been here," Whitney said. She crunched up her nose in disgust. "I mean, how could you not know he's been here? The smell is overpowering."

"Yeah, I figured it was," Kara replied. She craned her neck back a little bit and kept looking around. Time was not on either of their sides when they kept searching.

"Look at that," Whitney said. She saw some kind of blueprint tacked to a board.

The young speedster rushed over and looked at the blueprint. She ran her thumb over the top of it, frowning when she looked through it. She came to one obvious conclusion when she finished reading it over.

"Grodd is planning an invasion," Whitney replied. "An invasion from Gorilla City….but I thought that most of the gorillas there were not Grodd's type."

"I don't think they are, but Grodd did have a few loyal supporters and they were locked up here," Kara pointed, to a rather obvious prison complex.

"Oh, I see, so they're going to break into Gorilla Alcatraz, and he's going to break out all of his friends," Whitney said. It was all becoming a tiny bit more clear to her now, at least now it was. "It's a bit clever."

"Deviously clever," Kara said.

"Well, I would like to thank you, if I didn't take much from the praise of humans."

Kara shook her head. She wasn't going to even bother to correct Grodd on how ignorant his statement was as it pertained to her.

"Yeah, well, the jokes on you, there's two of us and there's only one of you," Whitney said. She looked at Grodd. "If you surrender, then I wouldn't….."

"I'm sure you're going to say something that you assume is clever, but is obviously extremely childish," Grodd said in a bored tone of voice. "And you should re-check your math, because you're outnumbered."

Kara looked around and Grodd was right. Another trio of gorillas, all dressed in riot gear, made their way out.

"Yeah, like a bunch of overblown chimpanzees on steroids really is going to make all of the difference," Whitney said.

"Impulse, shut up," Kara snapped. Whitney turned towards her and one of the gorillas lifted up the stun baton he had and caught her with it before she could outrun it.

"We'll show you how overblown we are," the gorilla said. Whitney could feel a burning sensation on her abdomen when she was dropped down to the ground.

"It's a shame that I only got the sidekicks, but I figure that Flash and Superwoman will show up soon," Grodd said.

"Sidekicks, how dare you?" Kara yelled. She blocked one of the swings from the shield of the riot squad gorilla and kicked him in the face. "I'm not, she is."

"I'm the Flash's partner," Whitney said. She just barely evaded the baton attack when running up the wall. "But no time to think about that, we've got to spank this monkey!"

Kara gave an exasperated sigh when she avoided the attacks. Grodd stepped back to watch the show. His gorillas might not be anything like his army trapped in Gorilla city, but they would make good foot soldiers.

"All humans will kneel before the might of Grodd!" Grodd bellowed, and the trio of gorillas, better tamed than the last match who defied his orders, moved in to attack the two superheroines.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on April 7<strong>**th****, 2015.**


	59. In a Flash Part Two

**Chapter Fifty-Nine: In a Flash Part Two:**

* * *

><p>Iris and Claire were outside of the base after Kara and Whitney had made their way inside the base. The two of them were searching around and Chloe was standing by extremely closely on the communication link. Iris looked around and Claire was scanning the ground.<p>

"You would think that for a super intelligent Gorilla, Grodd would make his base a little more high tech," Chloe reported to both of them. She was more speaking to herself than anyone else, but it came out like she was talking to someone else. Nevertheless, Chloe responded with a prominent sigh. "And do you really think that sending those two inside was a good idea?"

"Trust both of them," Iris answered without a word. "Well, Impulse does live up to her name sometimes, but when push comes to shove, she does the right thing in the end.

"I hope that you're right, for your sake," Chloe answered. She was going through each of the components missing one at a time. "And now, we're just running around in circles. I guess Harry's theory was right, that the sum of the parts are more crucial than the actual parts themselves."

"Going around in circles then," Claire said. There was a part of her that was groaning. She stopped and located something lying on the ground. It was a part that glinted right in front of her. She almost didn't notice it.

The moment that Claire noticed it, Iris noticed it too. "Hello, what is this?"

It had been something that had been dropped on the ground. They didn't think that Grodd would be so sloppy as to drop vital pieces to his plan on the ground, but there it was right in front of them.

"Is there some kind of serial number or something on it?" Chloe asked.

Claire was the one that picked it up. "Yes, Z9525215."

Chloe was able to punch it in on the computer. "Stolen from a LuthorCorp lab, but not one in Metropolis. Grodd has been experimenting with parts like this for some time. It's apparently to increase the neural capabilities of a subject. In theory, it should allow them to introduce suggestions into the mind of their victim."

"You mean some kind of mind control, right?" Claire asked Chloe. Chloe's lips snapped into a smile, even though they couldn't see it.

"To put it bluntly, yes," Chloe said. "Giving himself a super intelligent army of gorillas was the first step. Breaking into Gorilla City to liberate his followers was only the second step, he wants complete control."

"At least he's not turning all humans into gorillas or something like that," Iris said. She placed her hand on the top of her head to run her fingers through her hair. The realization struck her really hard. "Unless that's his eventual plan."

"We shouldn't put it out of the realm of possibility," Chloe agreed.

'_I hate to be a bother,' _Kara thought. She went in on the bond link and sighed. _'But we got into a spot of trouble.'_

Iris could hear the sounds of combat from inside. She turned to Claire, who was already inside faster than a speeding bullet.

The fastest woman alive gave a heaving sigh and she followed Claire inside. Iris nearly skidded to a stop on the outskirts of the room.

She could see Claire look around and there was a battle. Whitney dodged the attacks from one of the gorillas. In fact, the gorilla was big, mean, and about ready to take her head off, speedster or not. All three of the gorillas were dressed in riot gear. She heard Claire's groan to the side and she mentally echoed it herself.

"Okay, we can't leave for five minutes, and everything goes to hell," Claire said. She got the attention of one of the gorillas by drilling it with a blast of heat vision. The gorilla grunted and turned around.

"You'll pay for that," the gorilla commented.

"Wow, he's got all of the clichés of a human already," Iris said. She ran circles around another gorilla and caused him to trip over his feet, landing down onto the ground with a thud. "He's surely going places, isn't he?"

Whitney got herself to her feet, and she could see Kara dodge the attacks of the other gorilla. She delivered a flipping kick, which knocked the gorilla back onto the ground.

The gorillas were enhanced in strength. Whitney realized that sometime during the battle, Grodd at slipped out.

"Hey, everyone, the big boss is gone," Whitney commented. She could see one of the gorillas flying head over heels thanks to Superwoman and it crashed hard down onto the table. It grunted when it rolled over.

"Yes, we realize that," Iris said. She could see the gorilla stagger up to its feet, but Claire flicked her finger at it and the gorilla crumpled. "But we got some big problems."

"Right, big problems," Whitney said. She shook her head to clear the cobwebs and cleared her throat. Craning her neck back she only had one word for these big problems. "Gotcha, some big problems…."

The huge gorilla rushed her like a freight train. Whitney dodged the attack, nearly having her head taken off in the process. She nailed him with a series of rapid fire jabs to the back, but the gorilla was not playing ball.

"Here, stand back and let a professional take a hit," Kara said. Whitney was about ready to protest that Kara wasn't really any more of a professional than she was.

The super sonic punch Kara delivered did have results. Whitney wasn't going to deny that much. The gorilla crumpled to the ground from one huge hit and Kara pulled back, grinning widely at the gorilla on the ground.

"Heads up!" Whitney called and Kara turned around, ducking an attack before she nearly got her head taken off.

It was going to be a battle and Grodd riled up every one of these gorillas in his attempt to achieve his goals. And then when he riled up these foot soldiers, he left the building, pulling an exit, stage right on them.

* * *

><p>Harry made his way down to the LuthorCorp vault with no wasted movement. It took about three swift attacks to disable most of the gorillas. Right now, Harry was face to face with one of the gorillas.<p>

"You, little human fuck," the mobster gorilla answered when he was jarred away by a blast from Harry. He realized that the rest of his gang had either been wiped out or had gotten away. He didn't know which.

"Yes, I'm a little human fuck, the little human fuck that's got you captured," Harry answered dryly. He would have been almost amused, if he didn't see the situation for how serious it is. "It must have been a step up for you, being locked in a cage all day, and now you're running around, making something of your life."

"Yeah, because following someone like Grodd is all that good," the mobster gorilla commented. Each word spat some kind of agitation in them. It was obvious that he was not in good spirits. "You know, if I never had to see that bastard again, it will be all too soon."

Harry could see that just because the gorillas were given the gift of intelligence by Grodd, that did not mean that they were going to blindly follow him. That was a good thing that Harry was going to plan to use to his advantage the best that he could. After all, if Grodd was not the savior that he thought he was to the gorillas, things would get very interesting, extremely quickly.

"Well, you have no loyalty to Grodd," Harry replied with a smile on his face. Alexa watched in the background, practically gushing and seeing a master at work. "Then there should be no harm in you telling me what you are up to."

"Yeah, I might not have loyalty to Grodd, but I don't have to tell you shit either," the mobster gorilla answered.

"A shame," Harry answered. "I guess Grodd didn't trust you with anything."

"What are you trying to say?" the mobster gorilla demanded roughly. He looked pretty pissed off when he was trying to free himself and potentially for a good reason.

"Well, I'm saying what you think I'm saying," Harry commented. That caused the mobster gorilla to try and shift from his bonds. "Grodd didn't trust the likes of you with his plan because he thought that you were too stupid, feeble minded, simple. You weren't able to comprehend how complex his plan was."

"Oh, that shows how much you know," the mobster gorilla said.

Harry could barely hide the smirk he had in the shadows. He honestly thought that he was getting somewhere.

"But, I suppose that it was useless talking to you, futile even," Harry said. "I apologize using all of those big words. It seems like the boost of intelligence didn't affect you all that much….."

"Oh, like we're that much smarter just because we can now speak in your stupid monkey language," the mobster gorilla said.

"Grodd seems to have gotten a bunch of stupid monkeys of his own," Harry said.

The mobster gorilla was stammering a stream of incoherent profanity that would make Yosemite Sam blush. It looked like he couldn't even get out two words to what he was saying. He almost choked on said words in fact.

"You….you…you….." the mobster gorilla stammered angrily.

"Yes, me, me, me," Harry replied. He was enjoying this a fair amount and also the fact that the gorilla was getting rather steamed in his attempt to spit out his words to Harry was another enjoyable thing. "You know, you should take a deep breath and try your words. Although I don't think that there's much more that you can say to me because you know nothing about Grodd's plans. A big dumb ape like yourself couldn't be trusted to anything."

"Grodd is trying to break out his gorilla army," the mobster gorilla spat back at him. "After he does that, he's going to turn all of you hairless apes into gorillas. And there's nothing that you can do about it."

"Well, you didn't really tell me anything that I didn't already know," Harry said. "Grodd fancies himself as the Alpha Male."

"One of his more annoying traits," the mobster gorilla agreed. He tried to escape from his bindings, but he found that extremely hard to do. "You're going to let me down, aren't you?"

"In a minute," Harry responded. There was a part of him that was really enjoying this beast's suffering, especially considering that he had quite a mouth on him. "You've been very helpful, and I think that it would be a good thing if I let you down."

"Yeah, you better let me down," the gorilla demanded. He wasn't going to fuck around. He tried to break free of the bindings, but he found it very difficult.

"I will let you down," Harry answered the gorilla. He gave a brief grin. "That's something that you've earned."

He flipped his wrist and he landed on the ground. Suddenly, he wasn't hanging upside down again, he was back in the cage. He cursed and stewed, but Harry had him wrapped up and the gorilla had no place to go.

Alexa watched him with interest. She didn't say anything, but she was thinking a lot of things.

"I believe that this entire attack on this particular LuthorCorp facility was a diversion," she answered him without missing a beat. That caused Harry to raise his eyebrow in response. "I might be speaking the obvious, but…"

"Yes, Grodd wants to keep us guessing on whatever insane plan he has," Harry said, interrupting her.

"Perhaps it's a good thing that we didn't have that much damage," she offered him. Harry was about ready to ask about something or other. "Because, the insurance pretty much covers anything. You'd have to in a city like this. The one thing that it doesn't cover though are walking, talking, gorillas."

"Of course, it doesn't," Harry said. "You might want to look into getting that upgraded."

Alexa grinned at him. "Pretty hard to do that after the fact. So, did you round them up?"

"All of them were present and accounted for," Harry said. He raised the gauntlet that he had and punched up the security footage. "All except one of them that isn't."

There was a large albino gorilla that made his way for the nearest exit. Alexa frowned when she viewed the footage of him.

"Perhaps it's just me, but doesn't he seem like the most human out of all of them?" Alexa asked. She could see Harry's eyebrow raise and he nodded in response.

"Not just you," Harry confirmed. He didn't know exactly what it was, but there was something extremely odd going around. There was a fair amount more than met the eye to him. He was going to find out what it was and he was going to do it no time flat.

Right now, it was time to check up for the rest of the group. He hoped that they were doing well. Harry was so wrapped up in interrogating the wise ass gorilla that he didn't have any time to look in on the battle.

* * *

><p>Iris pretty much wrapped up the battle quick when she ran at super speed around the gorillas. That dizzied them at super speed and allowed Kara and Claire the perfect position to knock them out.<p>

"You know, despite our differences, we do work together pretty well," Iris answered. She gave a grin towards Claire.

"Yes, we do," Claire said. She looked around with her X-Ray vision. There was no clue.

"All we have is those plans that he's planning an invasion force to Gorilla City," Whitney answered. She brushed her hand through her hair. "And there's no need to say it, that's something that we should have figured out without even looking around."

"I wasn't going to say it, but Grodd's plans seem a bit too straight forward."

Kara and Claire didn't seem too put off by Harry's sudden appearance in their midst. Iris and Whitney jumped about ten feet in the air.

"And there he goes again, you'd think that I'd be used to it by now," Whitney replied. She shook her head.

"I don't think that I could ever get used to it," Iris said. She turned her full and undivided attention towards Harry. "What did the LuthorCorp princess tell you?"

"At first, my trip had nothing to do with this case, but then it became pretty much everything to do with this case," Harry informed the girls. That got their full attention. "A group of Grodd's gorillas attacked LuthorCorp and I made short work of them. Had a nice chat with one of them."

"Oh, I'm sure that was eventful," Kara said. "This lot right here, they aren't the chatty type you see. They're more like the type that will blow your head off of your shoulders and ask questions to your decapitated head."

"Yeah, thanks for the visual image of that, really appreciated that," Claire said dryly.

Harry maneuvered around the gaggle of gorillas that had been laid out on the floor. He frowned when he looked them over. There was something about them that was a bit off. He levitated one of them up and jolted him away.

"Obviously, Grodd didn't intend for this trio to be anything more than a short term diversion," Harry replied.

Iris raised her eyebrow at him. "Meaning?"

"Meaning he gave them intelligence, but when he got out of here or when you defeated them, he cut the strings," Harry said. "The lights are on, but no one is home."

"You know for someone who is for all of Gorillakind, Grodd is unnecessarily cruel to his own kind," Claire said.

That was responded by Kara snorting in an extremely unlady like manner. "Please, it should be obvious to anyone with a few functioning brain cells that Grodd is a big hypocrite."

Harry looked around the lab. He scanned the area around the lab with the sensors in his suit. Whitney was growing even more curiosity. The highly advanced technology that allowed Harry to achieve some extremely supernatural feats of wonder got her interested. The redhead scientist wondered what he was doing.

So much so that she couldn't help, but voice what she was thinking. "Exactly what are you doing?"

"Searching for another clue," Harry answered. He didn't miss a beat, in fact he kept scanning over the lab floor.

That caused Whitney to raise her eyebrow in shock. She couldn't help, but say what she thought. "No offense, but the four of us searched the lab high and low, and we didn't find anything that pointed us towards anything more of what Grodd is doing that what we've looked for before."

"I know you did," Harry said. He could see a few charred pieces of paper on the ground. He hovered his hand on the ground and levitated them.

"It's burned beyond recognition, though," Whitney said. She thought that it could be vital, but they would never know.

"Nothing is beyond recognition for me," Harry said.

Whiney was about ready to open her mouth and ask what she meant about that. Kara placed her hand on Whitney's shoulder. "Just watch and learn."

Whitney watched and Whitney learned. She could see the paper be reconstructed. She was in awe what was happening. Surely, there might be some scientific explanation about this.

"How did you do that?" Whitney asked, letting her breath out in a gasp. She couldn't believe what was happening. In fact, her mouth hung open in abject shock. "I mean, the paper was destroyed and then….."

"It's very simple, I reversed the damage done to it by causing a simple reversal of time only located on the burned fragments of the paper," Harry said.

His babble seemed like Greek to Whitney. Iris placed her hand on her niece's shoulder.

"There are some things that we were honestly never meant to understand," Iris suggested with a smile towards her niece.

Whitney decided that she would accept that, at least for now. She didn't really have to buy that. "Sooo, exactly what's that?"

"A mind control helmet, and if I haven't missed my guess, Grodd has the components already," Harry said. He frowned. "They were all compliments of LuthorCorp."

"All of the parts checked out," Chloe confirmed to him. "So now what?"

"One of them has a distinct signal," Harry said. Grodd had been blinded by his own belief in his intelligence that he slipped up. Now it was up to Harry to cash in.

* * *

><p>Grodd basked in the triumph of his successes. There had been a few bumps in the road, but it was almost ready.<p>

"After years of waiting, I have finally achieved my success," Grodd crowed. "Many thought that I was done when they stopped me from leading Gorilla City to a brand new world. But, I've showed them. Now the entire world will bow at the feet of Grodd. Those fools who sentenced me will be the first to feel my power. Soon, all of my brother gorillas will be lead into the city to take it. My loyal followers will be set free, and once that's done, the gift will be given to all of humanity. They will be turned into gorillas and I will be the Alpha Male."

"Good plan, except you for forgot one thing," a voice commented from the shadows.

"Yeah," Impulse said when she sped in at the speed of light. She was like a nice little blur when she came in. "You know, the part where we kick your overly large butt."

She rushed in and tried to punch her enemy. The only problem was when she punched the gorilla, she only served to dislocate her shoulder.

"Yes, that's about as subtle as I'd expect from the likes of you," Grodd said. He had the helmet on his head suddenly.

Claire, Kara, and Iris made their way in, and tried to attack him. They were bombarded by a mental wave.

'_Just think about it, I can have you underneath my thrall,' _Grodd thought. _'I can force you to do anything that I want, and I can cause your minds to melt.'_

'_Yeah….that's….not going to happen,' _Kara thought. She managed to power out of his mental attack and give him a hot foot with her heat vision.

Whitney rolled over, massaging her arm. She might heal fast, but it hurt. Punching an eight foot tall talking gorilla tended to hurt, a lot.

"Okay, Magilla, let's try this one again," Whitney said. She rushed at him at the speed of light.

'_Go into that wall,' _Grodd thought. Whitney rushed past him and she smashed into the wall.

"He's unstoppable with the helmet," Iris said. She could see Claire bump into her. "Hey, watch where you're going."

"You watch where you're going," Claire answered. The two of them tangled into each other when they landed on the ground.

"Well, it isn't my fault that you're too…" Iris said, before trailing off. "Grodd's screwing with us, isn't he?"

"Yeah, if he is, we're going to have to take him down, just like I'll take you down if we ever have a fair race," Claire said.

Superwoman and Flash both went at Grodd at the speed of light. There was a barrier that went around him. Superwoman grabbed Flash and prevented her from hitting the barrier. She doubted very much that a normal, albeit with super speed, human would fare very well smacking head on into that barrier.

"Thought that you might not want to break every bone in your body," Claire answered. She looked up and saw that the shield was still around Grodd. She was searching for a weak spot.

"Yeah, thanks a million, appreciate it," Iris said. She pulled herself up to a standing position, shaking her head.

"All humans will bow before…"

Kara hurled a large cart at Grodd which interrupted him in mid monologue. She could still hear the ringing in her ears, but she tried to avoid dealing with it. The girl turned her head around and gave a long sigh.

'_This is going to suck,' _Kara thought. She got a frantic thought over towards Harry. _'Please tell me that your plan is going to work.'_

'_It will work,' _Harry told her firmly. He spoke softly, trying to protect the girls, even the unbonded ones from Grodd's thoughts. _'Just keep him distracted.'_

'_Right, distracted, got you,' _Kara said. She had a pretty good idea. She tapped Claire on the shoulder.

'_Super breath attack, on three?' _Claire asked. She recognized the signal.

'_Yeah, it might get him to drop the shield, although I wouldn't hold my breath about it,' _Kara said. Combined with the cyclone that Iris and Whitney were delivering, that might be a good thing to be honest.

The two Kryptonians pursed their lips and started to blow. Their super breath connected with Grodd.

'_Damn it, the shield's still up,' _Kara thought. The force of their breath caused ice to appear around Grodd. _'I've got another idea.'_

All Kara needed was to knock Grodd off balance a little bit. The girl rushed forward at a super sonic speed and she slammed her arm into the shield.

The shield rippled a little bit, and caused Grodd to land onto the ground. He went flying into a table hard.

"And he's going to yell out something cliché right about now," Whitney said. She closed her eyes and mentally counted to three.

"YOU DARE PUT YOUR HANDS ON GRODD!" the gorilla bellowed. He got up to his feet and was about ready to attack them. His shield was back up, but he was angry.

"What did I tell you?" Whitney asked.

An angry Grodd was a Grodd that didn't want to focus. Harry locked onto Grodd's mental helmet and he had the codes that he needed to shut it down.

'_Drop your shields,' _Harry thought to him.

'_You dare enter my mind,' _Grodd said.

'_Drop your shields,' _Harry said more forcefully and Grodd struggled with all of his might, but it got him to drop the shields.

Right in time for Superwoman to punt Grodd hard into the wall. The gorilla went flying into the wall with a thud.

Flash turned up by Superwoman's shoulder and gave a grin in response. "Nice one."

"It's all about timing," Superwoman said.

Supergirl gave a groan when she saw Grodd about ready to get up to his feet. The helmet was still on his head. "I wouldn't be patting yourselves on the back just that. It looks like big, mean, and hairy still wants to party."

Grodd laughed when he got to his feet. "You think that you've beat me, but I've….."

"Yeah, the helmet, don't worry, I've got this," Whitney answered. She rushed in at the speed of light before anyone can warn her that this might not be a good idea.

She screamed in agony when her hand burned when she touched the helmet. Forcefully, she pulled the helmet off of Grodd's head when he was still hooked into it. Whitney flew backwards, screaming out loud when her hand was charred and extremely burned.

The helmet was off of Grodd's head and she was nursing a very serious hand injury. Whitney sucked on her burned fingers. Harry walked over towards her and managed to patch up her hand.

"I didn't….did I," Whitney stammered. Her hand was now wrapped up. It was the same arm that she injured by punching Grodd. So her day pretty much sucked to say the least.

Harry lifted Grodd up and rolled him over. Gently, Harry pulled back Grodd's eyelids. He looked straight into his eyes. He peered deep into his mind, but there wasn't much there.

"The lights are on, but no one's home," Harry said. He checked into his mind. "He has the brain patterns of a normal gorilla thanks to the helmet being ripped off of the top of his head."

"How do you know that?" Whitney asked.

"Magic," Harry replied. That caused Whitney to throw her hands up into the air with a long sigh and shake her head.

"Fine, don't tell me then," Whitney said. "I guess the day is saved, and not a moment too soon."

"Yeah, and you're standing in gorilla drool," Kara pointed out, which caused Whitney to recoil in horror and disgust. That caused Kara great amusement as well.

It was a day well done for the heroes. It was shaky to start because of their differences in working together. It was those same differences that managed to allow them to pull them all together.

To fight a giant talking gorilla, that was another thing entirely. That was one that they would be talking about for a long time. The only problem was how to get the gorilla in the room out of here.

* * *

><p>"It's looking like when Grodd's intelligence took a dip, so did the intelligence of his fellow gorillas," Harry commented. They were back in the ground headquarters of the League, that Chloe had dubbed the Hall of Justice. Harry was just going to roll with that one.<p>

"So, all of them are back home where they belong," Iris added. She decided to ask about the main one. "What about Grodd?"

"He's been locked up in a super-secret facility, and will be under observation," Harry said. That caused Iris to raise her eyebrow. "You know, just in case his higher brain functions returned. He's in a cell that suppresses mental attacks."

"Talk about being crazy prepared," Whitney said. Her arm was taped up, but other than that, she was in pretty good spirits. Or at least better spirits that she might have normally been in this situation.

"Crazy prepared some call it, but I prefer it to be diligent," Harry told her. Whitney smiled. "Plus you got to practice constant vigilance, you never know when someone might be sneaking up from behind you."

Harry decided to sit back with a smile. He had the helmet in his possession. While he doubted that there would ever be a time where he would need a mind control helmet, the fact that someone could build something like that was concerning. If someone like Grodd built it once, it was something anyone could build it again.

"And you've got a nice little souvenir from the battle," Whitney replied with a grin. "And not as bad as what Iris got it."

"Front page on the Daily Planet," Iris commented. "Just filed the story right now about today's adventure, but naturally I had to leave a few details out. Got enough for an official statement from the Flash."

"I don't know how ethical it is to interview yourself," Claire answered. She shook her head and sighed. "And I was there on the scene of the battle."

"Hey, you snooze, you lose," Iris said with a smirk. There was a cocky grin on her face that Claire would like nothing better than to wipe on it. "Some of us are able to get there in a flash and some of us just aren't. That's just how things work sometimes, honey."

"So, you think," Claire replied. She frowned deeply. "So, how about that race?"

"Yeah, I was wondering when that would be brought up," Iris said. She thought about it. "You just name the time and the place and I'll be there. And I'll be able to run circles around you."

'_And I suspect that you want heightened security for this thing when it happens,' _Karen thought. _'Because you know that this will be the perfect time for some supervillain to try something.'_

'_Well, that goes without saying,' _Shayera commented.

'_Yes, I agree, we should arrange some kind of security,' _Harry thought.

"Just let me know, and I'll arrange something, we can have some kind of RAO sponsored event for charity," Harry told both of the women.

Iris smiled in response that sounded more than sufficient for her. She couldn't wait to test herself against Claire. She was going to run circles around her.

"And Iris, do you think that I can have a quick word with you, in private?" Harry asked.

Iris smiled and offered Harry to lead the way. The two of them walked down the hallway.

"If this is about joining the League, I think that it would be a good idea, after today," Iris answered without missing a beat. Harry was caught off guard. "I mean, I was content to being a freelance, but we could benefit a lot from a partnership. After today, there are some battles that you do need back up."

Harry didn't say anything.

"Whitney is a good partner, one of the best ones that you could deal with," Iris commented. "At least when she has her head on straight and it was all over the place today."

"To be fair, I think that's just because of Grodd's mind control helmet more than anything," Harry said. "I was able to shield you and Whitney the best I can. The bond that I have with Kara and Claire, they really weren't effected, other than a slight headache."

'_And to be fair, a Kryptonian with a headache can be a pretty dangerous thing,' _Faora thought.

'_Yes, it's a good thing though that Grodd was the victim of that attack and not anyone that we liked,' _Jaime thought. There was more than enough agreement on that.

"And if you wish to join the League, I'll be happy to have you," Harry said. He paused and added onto his statement. "We would all be happy to have you."

"Great, I'll be happy to be part of the team," Iris said.

"I understand that you already know Artemis fairly well," Harry said.

"Yeah, we had a team up or two in the past," Iris answered. She placed her hand on the side of the wall when she looked him into the eyes. "I don't envy you at all sometimes."

Iris stepped closer towards Harry with a smile on her face. "You have to keep all of these women in long. That must take a lot of patience."

"It's all about knowing what they want and how to give it to them," Harry said. He placed his hand on Iris's waist and the two of them enjoyed a moment with each other. "I'm glad to have to the League, and…aren't you going to ask me something else?"

Iris was confused about that. Harry decided to take pity on that.

"Whitney was under the impression that you wanted to ask me out for dinner," Harry said.

Iris pulled away from Harry for a second. She placed her hands on her hips. "You know, that's really funny. Because Whitney gave me the same impression that you were the one that wanted to ask me out for dinner. But you were too busy to do so yourself."

"You saw right through that lie, didn't you?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, I did," Iris said. "I mean about the busy part, I knew that was likely, but if you wanted to ask me, you would ask me. You're just the type of person that does that. And if I wanted to ask you, I would ask you, and if you aren't doing anything on Saturday night, maybe the two of us can go out to dinner?"

"Actually, I was just about to ask you if you want to go out to dinner on Saturday night," Harry fired back. "We can schedule the race for Saturday afternoon, if you want to."

"That'd be fine," Iris said. "And for your invitation to dinner, I accept."

"Oh come on, you couldn't beat me, not in a million, million, billion, years," Whitney piped up from the next room. That caused the moment between Iris and Harry to be lost.

"You got lucky last time," Kara said. "And you can't think quickly because obviously punching a gorilla in the face when you don't have super strength was such a good idea."

"I think your brain is addled from choking on my dust last time," Whitney said.

Gwen slowly walked by into the lab, saw Kara and Whitney was arguing about something. She turned around and walked out, looking at Iris and Harry, with a shrug of her shoulders. "Do I even want to know?"

"Likely not," Harry told her.

"I thought so," Gwen groaned.

Harry and Iris locked eyes and they figured that they should keep an eye on this, before things got too heated. And they got too heated.

* * *

><p>The albino gorilla made his way down into the Cadmus facility. Armed security approached him the moment that he walked inside.<p>

He spoke in a calm voice. "I do not wish to harm you. I wish to speak with your superiors."

"You're one of the gorillas that broke into LuthorCorp," Lionel Luthor commented. He stepped forward to face the gorilla. "I heard all over the news, but I thought that they all had their intelligence reverted back to normal and returned to their cages."

"Yes, Grodd's device didn't boost my intelligence, rather it opened the door to restore it," the albino gorilla commented. "At one time, I had what would be considered to be a more conventional appearance."

"Fascinating," Lionel answered.

"I only wished to bring order to the world that lacked it, but the Justice Society locked me away, forcing my brilliant mind to be the prisoner of a savage beast," the albino gorilla commented. "And now, I understand that you have to deal with the Justice Society's spiritual successors, the Justice League."

"Yes, we have had our problems with them," Lionel added. "And might I ask who you are?"

"You may call me the Ultra-Humanite."

That caused Lionel to raise his eyebrow. The name did ring a bell and some of the uniformed guards at the base had heard of it as well.

He would have to wait with his questions, when Miles Warren was at his shoulder. Lionel turned around.

"What is it?" Lionel asked.

"They're ready," Warren told him.

"Excellent," Lionel informed him. "Tell Strange to begin the therapy. We will have our weapons."

The Ultra-Humanite looked intrigued and Lionel turned towards him. "Come to my office my friend. I believe that you have a bright future. All you need to do is look into the light."

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on April 10<strong>**th****, 2015.**


	60. Flashing By

**Chapter Sixty: Flashing By.**

* * *

><p>Saturday really crept on in, or perhaps given what was going to happen, it sped on up towards them. The fact of the matter was that the entire group was ready for something amazing to occur. There was going to be a big race that was going to happen, and it was going to take place between Superwoman and the Flash. There had been much debate about what was going to happen. The media had debated, the League had debated, everyone had debated.<p>

Security detail was at an all-time high this afternoon. Any criminal that tried anything would be bludgeoned and battered in their attempts to cross the finish line.

'_Let's just see them try something,' _Helena offered. She smirked one of her smirks and it was a wide smirk.

'_Something tells me that they're going to regret trying something, if they even attempt it,' _Barbara commented. She actually was amazed with how through Helena was when she prepared for something like this. She was scarily competent. Then again, that was just how she did things.

'_Better to be prepared for something that doesn't happen, then not be prepared when something does,' _Helena thought, as if she heard Barbara's deeper thoughts that she didn't project to the bond link.

'_Right, truer words have never been spoken,' _Diana thought. She was watching the race quite eagerly. It might be over in a matter of minutes, but anything can happen in a matter of minutes.

'_People are placing bets about who is going to win,' _Donna replied. The young Amazon Princess rocketed back with excitement. _'And I swear that I haven't been one of those people who have placed the bets.'_

'_Sure you haven't,' _Kara thought. The young Kryptonian had a bit of sarcasm laced to her voice when she spoke.

'_So, who do you think is going to win?' _Chloe asked suddenly.

'_Well, obviously Clara is my pick for this one,' _Kara commented. It couldn't be more obvious who she was going to choose. Obvious who was going to win that one. _'I mean, it would be a bad omen for my race later on if she lost.'_

'_You know, Whitney is fast on her feet,' _Gwen commented through the bond link. _'And the last time you raced her…..'_

'_She got lucky,' _Kara said. Her cross statement was accompanied by her crossing her arms and pouting. _'You know, she caught me when I was distracted. I didn't see her coming, it wouldn't happen again.'_

One might argue that Kara was going to save face by saying something about that. The truth was that her ego took a bit of a hit when she got swept up by Whitney and she needed something to recover it. Beating her in a race might be the easiest way to do so.

'_Someone is a bit obsessed,' _Kat teased her. That caused Kara to give her one of those looks. _'Well, then again, obsession is something that could win you a battle, but you shouldn't let it consume you.'_

'_Yes, thanks for the tip, Princess,' _Kara replied dryly. She perked up in excitement. _'It's about ready to start at any minute, isn't it?'_

'_All we have to do is wait for the go ahead from Harry,' _Karen confirmed. She was excited about this race. It was another case of Harry pretty much encouraging the competitive fire of two women. She had a feeling that there was going to be one real winner in this sort of thing, and it was obvious who that would be. _'He's making sure everything is secure.'_

'_Any number of rogues could screw this one up,' _Zatanna thought. The Flash did acquire some extremely colorful and persistent enemies in her day.

Those enemies made Batman's look rather mundane indeed at times.

'_That's for sure, they tend to interfere at the worst possible time imaginable,' _Artemis agreed. She situated herself on a perch point high above and aimed her arrow. If she could take a shot, she would take one. She wasn't going to let this one get ruined.

'_So, are we all taking bets on who's going to win?' _Chloe asked.

'_Actually, I don't think that we should, that might tarnish the race,' _Karen thought. _'I know some of us have given our thoughts on who we would like to win.'_

'_Given the fact that one person is locked into the bond link, and another will likely be by the end of the race, it doesn't seem like a really fair option,' _Lana thought.

'_I guess you really do have a point there, both of you,' _Chloe thought. That didn't make her any less excited for the race that was about to happen. She was mentally locked, and ready to go on it.

It was a beautiful day, it was almost a perfect day in fact. It was the type of day where you didn't expect something to go wrong. Which meant it was the perfect day for something to go wrong.

'_You know what I like the most about this,' _Lois thought.

'_You're able to scoop a couple of reporters on the details of the race,' _Chloe thought. _'The two that are involved in it that is?'_

'_Well, they'll be too busy tangled into the race, or other things, that I can step in to get this amazing story,' _Lois thought. _'It's best to give the race of the century the credit that it deserves.'_

'_Pretty impressive feat given that the century is only a few years old,' _Chloe teased. There was a fair amount of exasperation coming from Lois when she retorted back.

'_You know what I mean,' _Lois thought, shaking her head.

There was going to be a race between Flash and Superwoman to determine who is the fastest. The second race between Supergirl and Impulse would occur straight afterwards. It was two races that everyone was looking excited for to see whatever happened. It was going to be a really good day, honestly.

'_Okay, everyone is in position, right?' _Harry asked, finally breaking his bond silence.

Everyone agreed that they were in position and it was go time for the race of the century between Superwoman and Flash.

* * *

><p>Iris would deny it if anyone asked her, but she was a bit nervous. For all of her bravado, she thought that this race might not be the best idea in the world. The thing that convinced her to do it in the first place was it was for charity. She honestly was in a no-win situation as far as she was concerned.<p>

If she defeated Superwoman, and there was a pretty good chance that she would, she would have embarrassed one of the pillars of the world. That was not something that she would like to do. If she lost, she would be humbled herself. Iris didn't like losing out to anyone at anything, that's how stubborn she was.

Her ego was not really in check today, and she had to win this race. There was no two ways about it. Iris looked towards Claire and wondered what was going to her head.

Claire thought about this battle. A foot race on the ground, she might be biting off a bit more than she could chew. Actually, she might be biting off a fair bit more than she could chew. In the air, she was pretty fast. On the ground, she could be pretty fast, but was she Flash fast? That was a virtue that Claire doubted.

This was one of those times where Claire was going to block around the bond chatter. She stood outside of the RAO Penthouse and walked forward. She was in completely costume. The red and blue shirt strained against her breast, with the "S" prominently displayed against her breasts. Her long dark hair blew in the breeze. She actually took off her cape this time, because it would just slow her down with the gust of wind. Her skirt fluttered in the breeze when she walked over.

There was Flash, all confident. Claire looked as she was bent over and stretching. Her ass was in great prominence, and Claire couldn't keep her eyes off of it. She managed to clear her head.

"So, are you ready?" Iris asked, turning around with a smile and a grin towards her. The fastest woman alive looked her in the eyes. "You know, even though I'm about ready to kick your ass, I still want the best race possible. Good luck."

"Yeah, thanks," Claire replied. "And I'll be waiting for you at the finish line."

"Funny," Iris said. "You should leave the one-liners to Lois."

"Yeah, she really should."

Lois walked over with a smile and closed the distance between her and Claire. She leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the lips.

"You better win, or I'm not going to be happy," Lois said.

"What, do you have money on me or something?" Claire asked, raising her eyebrow.

Lois was saved by this particular explanation by someone clearing his throat. That someone turned out to be Harry Potter, who turned up.

"So, are we good to go?" Iris asked. She was actually getting nervous.

"Yes, I've got the RAO satellites tracking your every move, and I've got Justice League members at the ready at certain points, along with Amazons and other surprises," Harry informed them. "Anyone who looks at either of you two cross-eyed during the races will be taken down and we'll sort them out later."

Iris and Claire would have to agree on one thing. Harry was always complete with what he was doing. It was almost to an insane degree.

"You two know the drill, one race around the world, whoever gets back here first is the winner," Harry reminded both super heroines.

"Oh, and are you the prize?" Iris asked, with a flirty smile.

"Keep your eyes on the race," Harry warned her.

"Well, you better keep your eyes on my ass when it passes you," Iris said, turning around with a wide grin on her face.

'_And if this doesn't confirm the real fun is going to happen afterwards, I don't know what else is going to do so,' _Lois thought. Harry looked towards Lois with a smile.

'_Well if you're going to report on the race, you should really keep your eyes glued to the big tron up there,' _Harry thought to her.

Lois agreed. She wondered if she was going to be able to make out anything but a pair of multicolor blurs. Harry's satellites must be pretty good to be able to catch this race.

"And now, the race that you've been all been waiting for!" Harry yelled out for the crowd. "The battle between Superwoman and the Flash. It starts, in ten seconds."

The crowd was a buzz because of that. The anticipation was going to be extremely heightened. The timer was ticking on by with every single second.

The buzzer went off and Iris and Claire both bolted off at the speed of light, causing a huge wind to blow all over Metropolis.

"See you at the finish line!" Iris yelled when she picked up steam.

Claire pushed herself a little bit ahead of Iris. "Oh, in your dreams!"

"Yeah, I dream about outrunning you a lot," Iris commented.

"Oh, like I beat you to Harry," Claire fired back, looking over her shoulder. That caused Iris to get flustered.

That allowed Claire to pull the lead a little bit when the rushed over the ocean. The good thing about Iris was that she recovered quickly.

"Well, I'm sure that I'll be able to beat you back to the hotel and get him tonight," Iris replied. That was a pretty good consolation prize.

The longer then went, the faster that they got. The two of them were picking up an intense amount of steam.

Claire had never gone this fast in her life, but she was determined to push herself to an entirely new level if it all meant anything to her. She wanted to win this race. It was a matter of ego and bragging rights.

She was pretty much shoulder to shoulder with her. Superwoman and the Flash were neck and neck when the race reached the halfway point.

"Pretty sharp turn, do you think that you can handle it?" Flash asked.

"Hope that things aren't getting too cold for you," Superwoman bantered back. The two of them continued their race around the globe. They were about ready to move towards the home stretch on the race.

Flash didn't respond. She shut her eyes and kept on going forward. The Scarlet Speedster was determined to win this race with the Woman of Steel.

They were coming back around, crossing the west coast of the country and they were on their way across the nation to Metropolis.

The two racers were coming on the finish line. It was a pretty close race, both of them nearing the edge of the finish line. Anyone who watched the race would see a pretty big blur.

The home stretch was happening. The race would be over in a matter of seconds. It was hard to tell who was going to make it first. A scarlet blur was followed by a red and blue blur.

Harry waited at the finish line. He mentally slowed down what was happening in his mind, but it was honestly too close to call. Both of them crossed the finish line, almost simultaneously. He could feel himself get swept up to his feet.

He shook his head and felt Iris wrapping her arms around him. Her tongue pushed into his mouth and she kissed him madly when she had him slumped against the wall. They were in one of the bedrooms rather quickly.

Claire shook her head when she showed up.

"You couldn't wait, could you?" Claire asked, shaking her head.

"Hey, the race is over and I have an appetite," Iris said. She pulled off Harry's shirt to admire his body. "And I believe I won."

"You didn't win," Claire fired back with a long sigh. "I caught up to you after a while, so there's no way that you could have won."

"Whatever you say," Iris said. She wasn't going to argue with Claire. "I say that we're both going to win at this moment."

"No," Harry said. He grabbed Iris around her waist and pulled the fiery redhead in for a kiss. "I'm the one that won, I think."

The actual result of the race was too close to fall, but Iris felt Harry slowly work her costume off of her body. She didn't slow down for much of anything, so when this happened, she felt arousal going through her body.

* * *

><p>Kara smiled at the results of the race. She was about ready for her own race and she shook her head.<p>

'_Okay, ready when you are, I guess,' _Kara said. She could see Whitney standing there, ready to go.

"Why do I think that everyone left after the post show?" Whitney asked.

"Because, they did," Kara confirmed. She reached over and patted Whitney in the head in a slightly condescending manner. "That's alright with me; I am looking forward to seeing you get your ass kicked."

"Yeah right, only in your dreams," Whitney fired back with a cocky smirk towards Kara.

"It's nice to assume that I dream about you," Kara answered. "But then again, I've thought about ways to put that mouth of yours to a better use."

"Yeah, like you have room to talk," Whitney said. She sounded a bit flustered at the moment, but she would adapt. "So, if you think that you're going to beat me, you have another thing coming."

Kara tossed her hair back with a snort and looked at her. "I'm sure that we'll get the same consolation prize….well you will. I'll get Harry nice and warmed up for you."

'_Oh, it's on now,' _Laura said in excitement. Kat and Katrina both laughed at this.

'_Be careful, you don't want to start biting off more than you can chew,' _Karen warned her younger sister.

Karen wanted to see this race, but she knew how Kara got when she was highly competitive.

Kara smirked. She pretty much had the idea in her mind that she got this. There was going to be no way that she didn't have this.

The blonde made her way out and stretched, ready to go. Iris, Claire, and Lois didn't recover from their little fun with Harry, so Chloe was the one that was reporting the fun and games.

Suddenly, Kara could feel a stabbing pain in the side of her head. She wondered what it was.

Kara felt something hit her hard. There was a scream of agony. In her mind's eye, she found herself strapped inside a stasis tube. There was Kryptonite needles being jammed into her, as she was being brain washed and conditioned. There was a flash in the back of her head.

Whitney turned around abruptly at Kara's blood curdling shrieks. At first, she was going to make light of it, but then something was wrong.

"Hey, are you okay?" Whitney asked.

"Leave me alone, no, I won't hurt him, you can't make me!" Kara yelled at the top of her lungs. She started to throw punches at invisible air and a couple of them got close to hitting her.

"Okay, I've got a problem," Whitney said, switching on the communication device. "Supergirl here has gone all super psychotic, and I don't know what to do."

Kara's eyes burned about ready to send a blast of heat vision towards what she assumed were enemies, but a trio of arrows shot her from behind. They were magically enhanced when they struck her in the back. The young female staggered forward and collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily.

Artemis dropped down. "Those should slow her down, until we get her into the lab."

"What went wrong with her?" Whitney asked.

"I don't know, that's what we're going to hope to find out," Artemis said. She paused. "And Karen has gone a bit loopy as well."

"Great, that's wonderful, two Kryptonians that are about ready to wig out and kill us, just great," Whitney groaned. This entire fun race was turning really serious really quickly.

"Just rush her inside, and we'll stabilize her," Artemis said. She was speaking in an extremely calm voice. "Faora has already got to…"

Gwen was standing outside of the lab and she waited for Kara to be brought in. The scientist looked terrified with what was happening. To say she was scared to death would be an understatement to end all understatement.

"Are you okay?" Whitney asked her.

"Well, I just saw one of my mentors freak out, and tell no one in particular to leave her alone," Gwen said. She looked absolutely dismal. Whitney shook her head.

"Okay, that was a bit of a dumb question," Whitney said. She held Kara, who was rather tranquil thanks to what Artemis did to her. "How did you get the arrows ready so well?"

"Harry prepared them for me, just in case," Artemis said.

"Wait, he prepared weapons that could take out him and some of his girls if he got out of line?" Whitney asked. She was completely shocked about this. Just because of this revelation, Whitney had a million questions. "Wait….does he have some kind of countermeasure for all of us? And does he have some kind of countermeasure for himself? And if he does, how does that work?"

Whitney really was talking really quick.

"Yes, he does…..for himself, although Helena, Karen, and Diana were the ones that came up with that one," Gwen said. She didn't know how well a counter measure against Harry would really work. "And really hope that we never had to use anything."

"What happened?" Kara asked. She shook her head. "Did I win?"

"No, you didn't, you started freaking out before the race," Whitney said gently. Karen was restrained to a table. She looked more annoyed than anything else after what happened.

"So, are you okay?" Gwen asked Karen.

"Fine, I wish I knew what was going on," Karen said. She tried to reconcile what happened. Faora and Helena stood on either side of her. Harry arrived just seconds later. He grabbed Karen's hand.

"I know this is going to be painful, but I want you to focus on what you saw that caused you to lose your mind," Harry said.

"Given that it caused me to come seconds away from burning innocent civilians alive, are you sure that's a good idea?" Kara asked.

"Good idea, maybe not," Harry admitted grudgingly. "But you know, I have a contingency plan for everything."

Kara looked up and saw the red solar lamps, magically enhanced, that appeared to be sapping the strength out of both her and Karen. She sighed; Harry did have a plan for anything. Her anger and rage was gone, and she just felt confusion.

"I saw a young woman that just looked like me in the mirror, even though it was from my Point of view," Karen managed. She felt like it was all slowly coming back to her. Her head was ringing. "And she was terrified. They were trying to erase who she was, but she wasn't the only one. There was two more."

"Just relax, and tell us, when you're reading," Harry said.

"I saw something else, and…..they were trying to sedate me, I guess it was me," Kara said.

"You yelled for them to leave them alone, you said that you wouldn't hurt him," Karen said. Kara nodded in response. "You were you, but at the same time, you weren't you, if you know what I mean."

"You better explain," Kara said. She was lost. Her back kind of stung from getting three arrows to it, and having her power drained out of her.

"You looked older, more mature than you are now, not as mature as me, but more mature," Karen said. "But, I guess that it wasn't you, but it was an aged version of you."

"You mean like some kind of clone, or something?" Kara asked. She sounded really unsettled and it was for good reason. "What's going on?"

Harry leaned forward towards her and kissed the top of her forehead. He did the same to Karen. "I don't know, but we're going to find some answers."

* * *

><p>"The rest of them checked out," Helena was telling Harry. Zatanna nodded when she stood beside the Wayne Heiress. "Kathryn, Katrina, and Laura, all of them didn't have any episodes like that."<p>

"So, that pretty much bungles that theory, then," Shayera added. Their working theory was now out the door just like that. "That it's a Kara exclusive problem, when only two of them got hit with it."

"This is deeply troubling," Harry said when he frowned deeply. "And our scans of Kara and Karen turned up with the fact that there's nothing wrong with them."

"You mean other than the fact that they freaked completely out and you had to use the contingency to stabilize them," Artemis said. She was glad she was able to act fast and more that she was an accurate shot.

If she had missed even one shot, she didn't really know what could happen, only that it wasn't going to be all that good at all.

"Now what?" Iris asked. She was knew, and this was really odd. "You don't think that they got cloned or something."

That was a question that Harry put his hand underneath his chin to consider. It was a really good question to be honest. The question was how did anyone get their hands on the DNA in question? That was something that Harry felt like he was running around in circles, like a hamster chasing itself on a wheel about.

"The fact that they got their DNA, if they did is very concerning," Harry said. "Heroes every day, we spill blood, we lose locks of hair, skin gets torn off in the heat of battle. Anyone who is cleaning up the scene of the crime could grab something."

"So, any one of us could have been cloned, and we might not have known it," Diana said. "As some kind of living weapon, maybe."

"Yes, we could have been cloned, any one of us could have," Harry answered. He sounded like he was in a funny mood.

"Including you," Helena replied.

"Yes, including me," Harry added. There was so much of his DNA that was unique that he didn't even want to begin speculating what they could get up to with it.

Patricia, who had been sitting in on the meeting, had spoken up after a while. "I don't mean to speak out of turn or anything….."

"No, even though you and Gwen aren't official League members, right yet, your opinion is very valuable," Harry informed them.

Patricia couldn't help smiling regarding that fact but she needed to stay on task.

"It's Cadmus, isn't it?" Patricia asked. "They somehow got their hands on Kara and Karen's DNA."

"That could spell bad news if they did," Harry said.

"Cloning through, its science that's decades away from being perfected," Gwen argued. "I mean, there are theories that are put out there that clones could be made of people and stored away. If you need fresh organs or blood, you can get a transplant from a clone. And it would be you, wouldn't it? So wouldn't it be a perfect fit?"

"Yes, that could be the case, but it could be subject to the same defects that the prime model had," Helena reminded her.

"Right, yeah, that's right," Gwen said.

She didn't think about that, but it made perfect sense.

"We're going to make sense of what happened, and we're going to get the answers, and soon," Harry said.

"Well, it isn't as if the answers are going to fall…." Patricia said. She was cut off when the phone rang.

Harry snatched up the phone without another word. It appeared that there was something that was going to fall into their lap.

"Yes, Alexa, what can I do for you?" Harry asked.

"You seem a bit stressed," Alexa said in a conversational tone of voice. Harry could almost sense her frowning over the phone. "Long day?"

"In a sense," Harry said.

"Well, it's about to get even longer," Alexa informed him. "I found something strange on the books for LuthorCorp that you should find out about. It's about Cadmus's funding and several of the scientists that are working for my father. And some other nasty people."

"I'll be there soon," Harry said. He knew he wasn't going to like it. He turned to the ground and gave his orders. "Wrap things up here, I'll be back as soon as I can manage it."

* * *

><p>The Black Canary was on the prowl in the middle of the city. It was one of those nights where things were quiet. She needed to be out and about to clear her head.<p>

There was a rustling sound. She stepped forward and dropped to the ground with a frown on her face.

Someone had busted open the windows of this warehouse and they obviously had wanted her to notice it. Black Canary looked around and could see no one in there. She reached into her glove and pulled out a pick, opening the door.

The door clicked open and swung around with a solid swing. The woman inched her way inside, looking over her shoulder with a frown.

"There's no one here," she commented more to herself, than to anyone else. "But the security system has been shut off."

'_Do you need any backup?' _Helena thought.

'_Will it help if I say that I don't like the looks of this?' _Barbara asked. She was nervously waiting for the other shoe to drop regarding her friend. Her hands folded about the area of her lap nervously. _'Because, I honestly don't like this, I don't like any of this.'_

'_That makes two of us,' _Dinah replied. She made her way carefully into the warehouse and could see a door halfway ajar.

There was a flash of green smoke that could be seen. She could have sworn that someone was there, and seconds later she wasn't.

Dinah turned around and could see someone dressed in a tight black outfit behind her, holding a knife. She blocked the knife attack and yanked it away from the enemy. The Black Canary tried to take her adversary's head off with a roundhouse kick.

The only problem was that her adversary flashed away from her. All Dinah did was connect with the air and her enemy disappeared. That caused her to be confused.

"Okay, this is….." Dinah said. She trailed off and saw a flash of light. Her enemy nearly brought another attack down onto her.

Dinah caught her coming. She might be quick, but she had a lot to learn. The Black Canary threw all caution to the win and opened her mouth.

The girl teleported out of the way and avoided a canary cry. Seconds before Dinah could recover, she felt someone get the drop on her from behind and put a gag over her mouth. She was really surprised at this suddenly.

A second later, she was rammed with a series of rapid fire punches to the stomach that doubled her over. The woman standing over the top of her looked like she was about ready to take down Dinah with a sword.

Dinah could feel herself dazed. She had to shake the cobwebs off and she started to kick away from her back to knock her enemy back.

The enemy hurled a spiked ball at her face. Dinah used her reflexes to dodge the attack and it busted open. The leather clad superheroine shield herself, but it wasn't soon enough. It released a cloud of gas that made her really dizzy and confused. She was seeing three of the enemy and three swords that were about ready to fly in and cave her head in.

There was a clang and Dinah collapsed to her hands and knees. She could hear screaming in her head, but it wasn't coherent.

Lady Shiva showed up and went against the mysterious assassin. The deadliest woman alive battled against the leather clad female. The clangs of swords echoed from every single direction.

Shiva watched the girl and suddenly she was thrown off. Her fighting style seemed rather familiar. The assassin could see the girl reading her body movements.

"This is going to hurt me a lot more than it hurts you," Shiva said. She aimed for the fences and cracked a kick into the face of the girl that she was fighting.

The girl flew down to the ground and her mask was ripped off in the next attack. She was revealed to be a young female in her late teens that looked rather similar to Shiva.

Shiva was distracted for a moment, which allowed the teleport to come in and grabbed the girl from Shiva's grasp.

"It's her," Shiva muttered underneath her breath. She wondered what they were doing here. This lab had any number of chemicals that could be used in weapons. That was intel that she got as part of the League of Shadows.

She turned her attention to the Black Canary who was shaking her cobwebs. Shiva handed her a capsule, which Black Canary took warily.

"If I wanted to kill you, I would do something better than poisoning you," Shiva responded.

Black Canary shook her head and took the capsule. The crime fighter wasn't sure how reassuring these words from Shiva were. She bit down on it and suddenly her head felt a little bit clearer.

"You were about to be killed," Lady Shiva told her. "I expected better from someone like you."

"Well, my mind has been elsewhere tonight," Black Canary fired back with a sour look on her face. She could tell that Harry was worried about something and if Harry was worried about something, she was worried about something. The entire League was worried about something. "So, why did you come here?"

"Your sister sent me because I was close, she was afraid that you got in over your head," Lady Shiva commented. "It turns out that she was right."

Dinah was about to protest the circumstances, but she doubted that Shiva would heed her words too much. In fact the woman reached over and dialed up a number on a cell phone. Her words were calm and crisp.

"It's me. You know how we talked about my daughter. Well, I found her."

* * *

><p>Alexa could tell that Harry was a busy man with little time to waste and that was more than fine with her. She didn't like wasting all that much time as well.<p>

"Tess is going to bring up the file, we were just looking through it together earlier," Alexa said. "I'm not certain whether or not what's in that file will be sufficient enough to get Lionel thrown in prison."

"But given that he wanted to bury the file from prying eyes, there is some pretty damning information in it," Tess said. Her expression brightened when she moved over. She leaned over and paused. "Harry, it's good to see you again."

"Likewise," Harry said. He really wished that he could be in some better spirits.

"Well, if the day you had wasn't bad enough, this could make it really worse," Tess said. She placed the file down on the desk in front of Harry.

Harry shook his head for a moment. Today's day honestly didn't start out too bad. All things considered, the entire day started out pretty good. It was what happened later on the day that was the royal pain where he sat, at least that's what he figured.

"Miles Warren," Tess said. "That's a name that I'm pretty sure that none of us hoped to ever hear again."

"I've heard of it, but I don't remember well," Harry admitted. He did have a lot on his mind to be fair. "If you could refresh my memory, that would be great."

"Warren worked at LuthorCorp five years back, but his experiments were not ethical," Alexa said.

"That's to put it mildly, he experimented on the homeless in an attempt to perfect a formula that would increase the durability of humanity," Tess said. She shuddered when she passed Harry the pictures from the file. "Here are the results of his handiwork, and I think that it's safe to say that it's not pretty."

Harry blinked for a second. He could see the mutations, some of them had multiple arms, some multiple heads, some many eyeballs.

"And Warren was fired," Harry said.

"Officially fired, but Lionel just moved him to another area, one that is off of the books," Alexa said. "As you know, I've been looking into Cadmus. It's all about genetics, namely the perfect weapon."

That caused Harry to flip through the files. This was getting more intriguing and he was seeing the light right now.

"Clones as well," Harry said. If he would have to guess, Warren was obsessed with his line of work for a reason.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg, I'm afraid," Alexa said. "There's enough evidence to figure out that they've been trying to replicate the super soldier serum from World War II. The results of it have been rather mixed."

"We don't have any photographical evidence though," Tess said. There was a sense that she was really grateful for the fact that there were no photographs in front of her. "Lionel also has checked out several meteor mutants from Belle Reve."

Harry thought that with each piece of news, the situation was getting worse. The meteors were the key to a lot of things. It ruined many lives.

"Trying to create the illusion of power should not be forced," Harry muttered, more to himself than either of the Luthor females. "If a person does not have the power already inside them, then to create it by artificial means would not end well for anyone involved."

"And that's what you think Lionel is doing?" Alexa asked.

"I think that we better find out where the Cadmus base is and shut it down," Harry said.

"It's almost like he has something of great interest to you there," Tess said. Her statement was off of the cuff, at least at first. Then she realized something and frowned. "There is something of great interest to you."

"You talked about clones, did you?" Alexa asked. She wondered if it had anything to do with the weird dream that she had the other night.

Harry decided that he would explain the situation to them, in the briefest details that he could. He didn't want to tell them everything. He told them enough.

"So, they're okay, aren't they?" Alexa asked.

"They're currently sedated and de-powered, until I can figure this out," Harry said. "Although the mystery is obvious. Cadmus found a way of duplicating Kryptonian DNA."

"Now, I'm no expert, but don't Kryptonian clones go a bit….Bizzaro, without any kind of stabilizing influence," Tess replied.

"Yes, but I'm certain that they found another way," Harry said. "I think that the secrets might have been with Warren's mentor….."

"He was around during the second World War and his crimes are so unspeakable that I dare not speak of them," Alexa said. She was about ready to come clean about the fact that she had been having weird dreams like Kara and Karen did, but thankfully she didn't have super powers so she couldn't cause that much damage when she freaked out.

The phone on Harry rang. The two Luthor daughters looked at Harry and he raised his hand.

"Yes," Harry answered on the other end of the phone.

The unmistakable voice of Lady Shiva popped in on the other side. "It's me. You know how we talked about my daughter. Well, I found her."

There was no question about it, the plot was about to thicken, one way or another.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on April 14<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	61. Unraveling Mysteries Part One

**Chapter Sixty-One: Unraveling Mysteries Part One:**

* * *

><p>If there was one thing Barbara Gordon could say, that a nice day can quickly turn all around for the worst given the right circumstances or rather the wrong circumstances. That was a fact that continued to taunt her. It started out as a nice day, for a race between Superwoman and the Flash. The entire world was excited about that. Sure, the League was running security detail, but that was just a minor point to be honest. It was just to be careful and much to their surprise, they didn't run into much trouble at all.<p>

Now, things turned bad. Kara's freak out effected Barbara a lot and she hoped that Kara would be okay. The reasons why alarmed her even more. She was dressed and ready for action, waiting on a roof top out in the edge of Metropolis. While Batgirl normally roamed Gotham City, she had been spreading out.

Another attack on a friend of hers, and Barbara was not in the best of moods. She would have to deal with what was coming her way, even though she honestly didn't like what was coming her way. The red haired crime fighter gave a poisonous frown when she adjusted her footing on the roof where she stood.

'_I swear, it never gets much easier,' _Barbara thought. She was shaking her head to clear the cobwebs that had been forming into it. Her worries might have only just begun, that was the sad part.

'_I'm fine, just a little bit shaken up,' _Dinah assured her.

Despite her reassurance, Barbara wasn't that much reassured. The red haired crime fighter found herself perched atop the rooftop.

There was a swooping shadow that approached her. It could mean any number of people would show up, rather good or bad. Batgirl was ready and braced herself for something, after the attack earlier the night, or rather last night, because it was passing midnight at this point, she was on her guard.

Barbara craned her neck, seeing the figure on the roof show up in greater prominence. "You know, not the Canary I was expecting."

"This is an all hand's on deck situation, and I got to Gotham as fast as I can," Sara said. She turned up, approaching Barbara. "And it seems like just in time. Shiva's been a mad woman possessed, and that's never a good sign."

"If the deadliest woman in the world is on the war path, then I wouldn't want to be the one who gets in her way," Barbara said.

"Especially when it considers her daughter."

Barbara turned around and Helena was the one that joined the party next. She thought that she should be used to Waynes sneaking up on her by now. They were almost as bad as Harry is, but somehow, she never quite got used to them sneaking around.

"You know, one of these days, you will give someone heart failure," Barbara commented in a light tone of voice.

"One of these days, maybe," Helena said.

"So, it is her daughter?" Dinah asked. She turned up on the rooftop next, and that put Barbara in greater spirits.

"Yes," Sara confirmed. She had some inside information, although not that much. "Lady Shiva had past relations with a member of the League of Assassins named David Cain. He's not exactly someone that I would willingly spend time with."

"Meaning?" Barbara prompted.

"Meaning he's a bit of a bastard," Sara told her. The group was caught off guard by Sara's blunt, but all too honest statement. She allowed them to recover and speak. "He took his daughter from the home that Shiva had her living at, and took her into seclusion."

"Why did Shiva not raise her daughter on her own accord?" Barbara asked.

"Would you have condemned a young child to the type of life that I have lived?"

That caused Barbara to turn around slowly. She should have known better than to tempt fate with the statement that she had. Sure enough, the most deadly woman on the planet, the one and only Lady Shiva was standing behind her. She didn't see her sneak up and judging by the looks on the faces of everyone else, they didn't see her up. Barbara could not appreciate one simple fact enough. If Shiva wanted them dead, then they would be dead. It was a good thing that they were on the same side, at least for this situation.

Barbara grew a little bit pale and was trying to figure out how to best answer this. She settled for a sheepish. "Well, no."

"I thought not," Shiva answered. Her eyes swept over the group. "I assumed the guardians that I chose for my daughter to be a bit more competent then they were. And I do admit, that I never expected Cain to be as crafty in acquiring her. I've hunted her for years, and finally, I found her, and I came face to face with her, as she attacked me."

Shiva didn't show her emotion. Anyone who was good at reading body language would know that it was not something she considered ideal to see her daughter as an enemy of some sort.

"We'll find her," Dinah said. "Whatever Cain did…"

"There's something deeper to this," Shiva said. The group was confused by this. "Cain isn't the one that was responsible for this entire mess."

"Why, do you say that?" Dinah asked.

"Because, Cain has been in the ground for almost three years," Sara told Dinah. "He was killed in an assassination attempt gone wrong. Or rather, Ra's Al Ghul set him up for failure, and sent him on what was essentially a suicide mission."

"Cain might have had dealings with someone and now Cassandra is under the control of someone more dangerous," Helena said.

"Hugo Strange."

That caused the group to turn around. Harry Potter had joined them on the rooftop, dressed for battle, and looking fairly grim. Normally this would be a joyous reunion, but all of the females on the roof could see how serious Harry looked.

"I guess this is the night of people getting snuck up on, and having near heart attacks," Barbara replied. She looked at Harry and frowned. "What about Hugo Strange?"

"He was transferred from Arkham Asylum to the staff of Belle Reve, on the arrangement of Lionel Luthor," Harry informed the group.

This caused Sara to frown in response. "I might be a bit out of the loop, but wasn't Strange….didn't he…..wasn't he in Arkham as a patient last I checked and not as a doctor."

"Lionel Luthor is a crafty man," Harry said. Shiva was about ready to ask how this was relevant to this situation. "There was a business transaction between Lionel and David Cain a little over three years back."

That was something that caused the entire group to wonder about something. Barbara cupped her hand to her chin and mused about something thoughtfully.

"And Lionel was working with Ra's Al Ghul," Barbara answered. "And Cain just happened to be plugged after that. I'm not saying that it isn't a coincidence, but…."

"I know where you're coming from," Harry agreed. They were going to have to get to the bottom of this, the bottom of many things, sooner or later. It seemed like the more questions that they got, the more the answers were not to their liking.

Shiva was oddly silently and scarily so in fact. She spoke crisply and calmly as possible. "Lionel Luthor is a dead man once I get my hands on him."

Harry might have felt the slight bit sorry for Lionel Luthor. The only problem was that he didn't feel sorry for the man at all, after all of he done. He just managed to skim through the files and he was pretty sure that this was just the tip of the iceberg. Working with people like Strange and Warren though, were not endearing Lionel to Harry.

He had plans to do some rather questionable things before the Justice League. Lionel just used the League as an excuse, along with the aliens, to get some kind of funding. Harry could see right through his game.

What was it with male Luthor's and losing their minds?

* * *

><p>Kara's rage was gone after what occurred. She felt tranquil, oddly so. She had finally been unstrapped from the bed and allowed to sit up in the lab. Karen crashed to sleep and was snoring, finally out.<p>

There had been no more dreams, no more visions. Not that Kara was going to get the vision out of her head any time soon.

'_So, how are you feeling?' _Kat asked her.

'_I feel like I got bashed on the head with a Kryptonite mallet,' _Kara thought. She crossed her arms and legs frowning. _'Without any shield.'_

'_I can see, that would really suck,' _Kat thought.

All Kara had was a dull ringing sensation through her head. She made her way over to get something to eat. The food remained warm and it tasted really good. She slowly nibbled on the food deep in thought.

It had been a really strange day.

"You know, last time we were together, you almost took my head off."

Kara turned around and saw Whitney standing there. The young speedster had a slight smile on her face. She walked over and handed Kara a cup of coffee.

"Not sure if I should be drinking this," Kara said. She turned to Whitney and saw that the girl had caffeine. "Not sure if you should be drinking this to be honest."

"Hey, I'm fine, I've got a lot of control over things like that, plus I can barely get a buzz because of my powers," Whitney said. She slowly sipped a coffee. "I can't even get drunk either, unless it's really strong."

"You know, someone your age really shouldn't be drinking," Kara commented to her with a frown.

"You're about as bad as Aunt Iris, not that she has any room to talk," Whitney said. She kicked her feet back on the chair. "You know, with Harry, there's always going to be some late nights…..at the lab I mean."

"Don't worry," Kara remarked with a shadow of a grin when she looked towards Whitney. "I knew what you meant."

"I think we all knew what she meant," Gwen answered. She made her way into the lab to join them.

"No super powers, yet, you're up here tonight," Whitney replied. Gwen smiled when she sat herself down on Kara's other side.

"The power of coffee is the only super power that I have," Gwen said. She shook her head. "And unlike you two, I don't have the super invulnerability to burn through it, so about four cups and I'm completely off of the wall."

Gwen shook her head and decided to say something else.

"You know, if you don't really get effected by coffee, why drink it?" Gwen asked.

"It keeps me off the edge," Kara said. After today, she was pretty edgy with what happened. "And now that my powers have been drained, I'm feeling it now for the first time."

"Now, I can see why you said that it wasn't a good idea for you to drink coffee," Whitney said. She fixed herself another cup.

"By the way, your tests ran out fine, you're physically fine," Gwen said. She placed her hand on Kara's shoulder gently. "I would wait for Harry's okay before you step out into the sun again."

Kara shook her head. She was physically okay, that much was for sure. Mentally on the other hand she was all over the place. Kara felt like she was her double, in the inside of that lab and no matter how many times she tried to ignore what she was thinking, she kept mentally going back to what she saw.

Suddenly, there was something in her eye. Kara slowly rose to her feet.

"Oh shit, not again," Whitney grumbled underneath her breath. Gwen got up to her feet and was about ready to call for back up.

"Help, need help," Kara said. She couldn't use her heat vision, so she picked up a sharp metal object and started to carve her way into the walls. Whitney and Gwen watched her nervously, when she kept carving the symbols into the wall.

Faora appeared outside of the lab. The signal that was given summoned her to the lab right away. She could see Kara carving the symbols in the wall and recognized it as a message of some sort straight away.

"Could you please tell me what's going on?" Gwen asked. She was looking at the symbols and she frowned in response. There was a lot of gibberish on the wall to her.

"It's a message, a message in Kryptonian," Faora said. She was looking at the symbols that had been carved in the wall.

"So, that's why we aren't able to read it?" Whitney asked. Faora nodded in response. They didn't understand it. "So, what should we do?"

"Unless she becomes hostile, don't do anything," Faora informed them. She was keeping a close eye on Kara. Her powers were still functional, even though Kara's had been drained.

The girl continued to carve the message on the wall. Her hand lowered down onto the wall. Her eyes snapped open when she looked at the symbol.

Karen rose out of bed at that second and she walked over. Her legs were a bit rigid and the busty blonde stopped. She saw the symbols on the wall, the message that was carved on it.

Kara could feel Faora's hand on her and she spun around quickly. For a brief wild second, Faora thought that Kara was going to take her head off, or at least try to do it. Kara's body slackened and she started breathing in and out heavily when she looked at her.

"It happened again, didn't it?" Kara asked Faora.

"Look at the wall, and see for yourself," Faora said.

Karen was the one that joined them. She swept over the symbols and closely analyzed them all. She could feel a full body shudder going through her. "These are the same symbols that I saw in my dream."

"She was punished when she saw caught writing them, she didn't finish the message," Kara said. She was held up by Faora.

"But we've got enough of it to figure out what is going on," Karen said. "It's directions of some sort."

"So, it appears that our others are aware of a link as well, aren't they?" Kara asked. She frowned deeply when she shook her head. "I don't know if…"

"You're thinking it might be a trap because of the conditioning, aren't you?" Karen asked. She frowned. That was something that she thought about strongly.

"I'm thinking that it might be a trap," Kara agreed. She didn't know what else to go. "But what if it isn't? What if it's a genuine distress call for help? They are us, aren't they?"

'_We agree,' _Katrina, Laura, and Kat all said in unison.

'_I see the symbols, I'll check it out,' _Harry thought. _'If its legit, it's one of the off the book facilities for Luthor.'_

'_It's always a Luthor, isn't it?' _Karen asked them. That was something that went without saying.

* * *

><p>Harry was on his way to the facility in Metropolis that Alexa had given him the address to. He had smelled something rotten, although he couldn't really piece it together. There was more credence to the fact that Kara and Karen were cloned by someone. There were many ways that they could have gotten their hands on the DNA in question and none of them were honestly really good. Harry hoped to make them pay if they hurt the sisters of his wives and potentially his future wives.<p>

He shook his head when he walked into the lab. He was constantly in a communication link with Faora when he entered the lab.

'_So, the symbols point to the address, do they?' _Harry asked.

'_Yes, they do,' _Faora agreed with him. _'It just goes to show that you're on the right track or you're walking into a trap.'_

'_Well, that wouldn't be the first time Harry had to walk into a trap,' _Sara admitted. She thought about some of the battles that she had with Harry, where he walked into traps and came out better.

'_Sometimes, it's worth it to walk right into a trap,' _Harry thought.

The ground floor seemed like a regular office building. Harry knew by now that appearances were not all of what they seemed. In fact, he knew that appearances were rarely what they had seemed all of the time.

He walked across the office. There was a desk up front, but it was for appearances. Harry made sure he allowed his cloaking to be put on.

It was a good thing as well, because there were security cameras all over the place. Harry looked to the left and he looked to the right as well. Suddenly, there was something that caught him unaware. It was sudden and at the same time it was extremely unnerving.

'_Help!'_

That caused Harry to jump nearly halfway up off of the ground. He heard a cry for help.

Harry made his way to the elevator and stepped inside. He fiddled with the panel to go up one floor. It took some doing because it was configured in an extremely finicky way.

The door opened and the ground floor was pretty much the same as this floor. Harry pressed another button and made his way up a floor once again.

The elevator door clicked open and the floor was the same. Harry frowned and he decided to peal back the panel. Harry was looking at it. It looked normal

'_Twelve floors, all of the same ,something is up,' _Harry thought to her.

'_Help,' _another whisper voiced through the back of his head. _'If you're here, help me, someone help me.'_

'_Okay, I'm not the only one that's hearing that, am I?' _Harry asked. All of the girls shook their heads from within the bond link. _'I thought that I was losing my mind, but there's certainly someone here….Barbara, I've got a link, let's see what you can make of this security system.'_

'_Right,' _Barbara thought. She cracked her knuckles and got straight to work. _'It turns out that elevator is a dummy. The real elevator is across the hallway. There is a panel hidden behind a portrait that you should activate it. It leads you down to the main part of this facility.'_

Harry stepped out of the elevator and somehow he knew that things were not going to be easy. He could see a trio of girls make their way down. One of them was a female who had a costume that resembled Deathstroke's. She held a sword. The other was a blonde dressed in a tight white bodysuit that wrapped snugly over her curves and the other was a fiery redhead that was dressed in a red bodysuit that clung tightly to her.

"Rose," Harry said in recognition. The daughter of Slade Wilson was there, and she was brainwashed and crazy. Granted, there was always a chance that she was off, but this really was taking being off to an entirely different level.

"Back off," she said in a rough voice. She brandished her sword in a warning manner and charged Harry, swinging at him.

Harry's armor shielded him from the sword attack. The blonde in the bodysuit attempted to teleport right behind him, but she teleported onto some explosive gas balls. The explosion caused her to be rattled.

She wasn't rattled as much as the running kick to the face from Helena. Helena swung a punch and she teleported out of the way.

She teleported out of the way right into an electrified mine that disrupted her teleporting powers.

Alicia Baker screamed out loud. She couldn't teleport even if she wanted to. This was pain that was completely unbearable to say the very least.

Claire Selton, codename Volcana, decided to add her own flare into the battle. She lifted her hands into the air and shot a blast of fire at her enemies. Her enemies avoided the attack and Black Canary rushed in suddenly, dodging the attacks.

"What's the matter, too hot for you?" Claire taunted her.

Dinah jumped up over the fire and planted her kick right into the ribs of her enemy. Her enemy slid backwards against the wall where she crashed with what could only be described as a sickening thud.

"No, I think that you're the one that needs to clear out of the kitchen if you can't really handle the heat," Dinah said. She looked down at the downed form.

Ravager rushed towards her. Dinah dodged her attack and put her in position for a leaping roundhouse kick from Sara.

"I'm going to go and investigate the distress signal," Harry told them. "Unless, you can't really handle this."

"Don't worry, we can handle it," Sara said. She grabbed Ravager around the head and whipped her face first into the ground. She held onto the ground.

Harry was glad that they could handle. The more he thought about it, the more credence that there was towards the theory that they were being lead into a trap.

"You're not so dangerous," Ravager taunted.

"You're obviously not yourself," the White Canary said, when she stuck a flip and landed on the desk. Ravager dove at her from the desk, but she dodged the attack. She kicked her down onto the ground. "So, I'll go easy on you, well mostly."

Sara had to avoid getting her tendons slashed to death by Ravager's wild knife swing. The golden haired assassin dodged the attack and knocked her back with a violent kick to the face. Sara reached from behind her and threw a grenade.

It missed hitting Ravager and exploded near the wall, causing a sonic blast to knock her over. Sara, Dinah, and Helena had ear protection against it. Ravager didn't, so she fell to the ground with a migraine headache.

* * *

><p>Harry thought that he was stepping into a scene that had all of the hallmarks of a really bad B-Movie. There was the creepy mysterious lab under the seemingly innocent office building. The workers in the lab were moving around in a rather robotic and unsettling manner. All of them looked to be rather dead on their feet. They redefined the term paycheck zombies.<p>

The young sorcerer was perched on a ledge above them. He could hear the voices in their head.

'_Okay, is it just me, or am I the only one that is really crept out by this lab?' _Gwen thought. She was getting the hang of the bond link.

'_First of all, it's not just you, it's all of us,' _Barbara thought. She frowned. _'There's something down there and I'm not sure if it's the good type of something either.'_

'_You're pretty close actually, Harry,' _Kara thought. Her tone was extremely dry and she didn't really have anything much to say. After her latest episode, she had been put pretty much out of all things considered. _'I remember the inside of this lab and it's not for good reasons.'_

'_So am I close to where your sisters are being held?' _Harry asked to Karen and Kara.

'_Yes, extremely close,' _Karen agreed. She was waiting for the other shoe to drop. She had a sense that there could be some pretty utterly nasty things down in this place.

Harry managed to get a full look out on the works and where all of them were. They were packing some heavy weaponry. That was something that Harry was just going to have to deal with. He did a mental inventory on all of the weapons that they had.

'_Some of these are high tech,' _Harry thought. _'Not sure if they're moving them or using them right now.'_

'_It would make them pretty dangerous regardless of what they're doing, wouldn't it?' _Dinah asked Harry.

Harry nodded in response. It would make them pretty dangerous. He kept creeping around. He had to take out all of the guards without him being seen.

He reached down and yanked a guard into the shadow. The guard screamed, but thanks to Harry, no sound came out of his mouth. The guard slumped down onto the ground, breathing heavily when he had been taken out.

'_Can I just say how unsettling all of this is?' _Barbara thought. She clutched her knuckles together until they grew white.

Harry managed to drag two more guards in the shadows. There was three down and five more to go. He was pretty sure that there used to be more down there, but he wasn't going to question this at all.

Down went the rest of the guards. Harry would have to say that he barely broke a sweat. All of the guards were taken out before they could radio for backup.

'_You know, they know that you're here if the girl goon squad attacked us upstairs, don't you?' _Sara asked.

Harry agreed with that point. There was one guard that he left semi-conscious and that was the one that he needed for interrogation. Harry lifted the guard off of the ground and held him upside down.

The guard slowly, groggily, managed to return to a somewhat coherent state. "What are you doing?"

"I could ask you the same question," Harry said. His grip tightened around the guard's shoulder. "What were you doing down here?"

"I'll never….." the guard managed. He could feel Harry's grip tighten around his arm and there was a loud pop when it started cracking and snapping. The guard screamed out loud.

Harry healed the injury just as soon as he created it. He did leave the guard with a fair bit of pain to consider.

"Just consider your position and how…..no one will know that you're down here and you're an expendable pawn," Harry said. The guard looked at Harry, and tried to reach for a weapon, his radio, anything, but he had been stripped of anything that he could use against Harry. And now he was dangling upside down in the air. "So, are you going to tell me what you're doing down here?"

"We were cleaning up, this base had been compromised," the guard said. "Mr. Luthor ordered for us to get everything on the truck to move it to the other base…."

"Where is it?" Harry asked, in a demand.

"I won't tell you, my life….." the guard said. He could see those green eyes and he felt chills go down his bones. He was looking into the eyes of a hardened killer, a murderer of some sort. That caused more chills to roll down his spine than anything else.

"Oh, your life depends on it, doesn't it?" Harry asked. He seemed more amused than anything when he looked down into the guard's eyes. He could see fear beyond all recognition on his face. "Telling me would save your life, as miserable as it might be."

"I think that it's in Smallville, but I'm not sure," the guard said. He felt compelled to tell him everything, no matter how much that sickened him and twisted his stomach.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Harry asked. The guard shook his head.

Harry could hear the distress signal one more time. He looked around and came to one frustrating conclusion. They had been moved since they got here.

'_She was yanked away before she could complete the message,' _Kara thought. She screwed her eyes shut in concentration. No matter how hard she thought, she couldn't reestablish any link and that was frustrating her to no end.

'_Just relax, Kara, I think that they found a way to seal off the link because it was too dangerous,' _Harry thought.

He placed his hands on the side of the wall. Harry gave it a brief push and he caused the wall to give way.

There was another lab and there was a white skinned female in the lab, looking absolutely terrified where she was. It was obvious why, she was surrounded by a flaming cage. The fires taunted her body, trying to break into the cell to attack her.

Harry walked over to the machine and turned the dial. The flames around the cage went down and allowed the girl to look up towards him.

"Thank you," she commented in a fearful voice. She was looking towards him. The girl shifted into a more mobile form.

'_Martian,' _Kara thought to herself.

The Martian shifted into a green skinned teenager with freckles and long red hair. She had what could be described as a bit of a schoolgirl uniform on. She had a tight red and white blouse on her, with a flowing red skirt, and boots. She technically didn't have clothes on still, they were organic.

"Thank you, I wanted to shift into a form that looks much more appeasing," the girl offered.

"You were white before," Harry said.

"Half and half actually," the Martian confirmed for him. That made her a misfit on both sides of the war and there was a nasty war that tore the Martian race. "But, I'm more comfortable in this form."

"I think that you should be comfortable in whatever form that you are," Harry informed her gently. "And you are….."

"M'Gann M'orzz," she said, shaking her head. "And you have to be….you're him, aren't you?"

"Yes, I'm Harry Potter, if that's what you're asking," Harry said.

He could see the lab had been cleaned out for the most part. There were a couple of specimens left there. A Star Fish creature remained dormant in the tank. Harry's eyes fixed on it for a second. There was something a bit suspicious about such a creature.

"Yeah, I know that you are, well I mean of course you are," M'Gann told him. She shook her head. "You're looking for them, aren't you?"

"Yes, I'm looking for them, if you mean the clones of my wives," Harry said to her. The girl hung her head in numb shock and she couldn't meet his gaze. Harry reached towards her and placed his hand underneath her chin. "What's wrong?"

"I did some really horrible things to….help condition them, help Strange," M'Gann said. She shook her head. "All of them in fact…I didn't mean to do it…."

"Strange and Luthor did this, not you," Harry reminded her. "And if you had a role in this, then you can help us undo it."

"Yes, anything," M'gann said. "All three of them…..they were terrified and they didn't want to do Cadmus's bidding…"

"Wait a second, three of them?" Harry asked. That caught him off guard and he wasn't the only one that was caught off guard as well.

* * *

><p>The three females were tied up. Helena, Sara, and Dinah felt pretty pleased with themselves all things considered.<p>

"Brain washed and crazy," Sara commented. She shook her head. "Don't I ever know about that?"

Dinah raised her eyebrow and she was about to ask if she wanted to know. Honestly she didn't want to know and the fact that her sister spoke very casually about being brain washed and crazy was alarming towards her.

Helena looked up. Her instincts were heightened and she could see something flying out of the corner of her eye. Her head snapped up and she shouted one thing. "Look out!"

A large metal ball busted open on the ground and exploded, which sent a cloud of gas in the area. Sara and Dinah threw themselves to the ground to avoid some throwing daggers. The daggers were coated with an explosive fluid that blew up the desk.

Dinah rolled over, avoiding the splinters flying into her face. She could beat this girl in a head to head fight, but she had a feeling that this girl wasn't looking for a head to head fight. A fair fight was the furthest thing from her mind in fact.

Shaking her head, Dinah slowly got up to a standing position. She could see a flying kick aimed towards her face.

She blocked it and Sara jumped up and engaged the woman in battle. The younger Lance sister was rammed face first onto the ground. There was a dagger that was aimed towards the back of her neck.

Helena pushed the girl off, but she got flipped halfway across the room. The leather clad assassin aimed a huge palm strike into Helena's ribs and doubled her over in pain. Another cloud of smoke appeared.

"And speaking of brain washed and crazy," Sara said. She felt more humiliated than anything. The girl craned her neck back and looked around.

She would be lying if she liked the looks of this. The blonde crime fighter didn't like the looks of this one, at all.

The shadowed figure jumped into the air and tried to aim a kick at her.

At the last second, the foot was caught and she was flung down to the ground.

Cassandra Cain dropped to the ground with a huge smack and landed on the ground. The wind was knocked out of her. She pulled herself up to her feet with a grimace and could see the figure moving from the shadows.

"Cassandra, what has happened to you?" Lady Shiva asked.

Cassandra sensed a familiar face. She was confused. The woman's body language indicated a dangerous threat, but the look on her face indicated that she didn't really want to hurt Cassandra.

That might have been a fleeting emotion and Cassandra decided to strike first. She went for a spinning back punch. The wrist was caught and Shiva slammed her down onto the ground face first, holding her arms behind her back in an attempt to subdue her.

"Listen to me Cassandra, you need to snap out of it," Shiva said. Cass struggled underneath her grip. "Whatever Strange and Luthor did to you, they'll pay."

Cass thought she was right, she was stronger than this. She managed to break the attack and jump into the air.

Shiva caught her in mid-air and forced her down. "I guess I'm going to have to de-program you in the only way that the League knows how. Sorry, Cassandra, this will hurt me a lot more than it hurts you."

Cass could see the images of her father brutalizing her, beating her a half of an inch to death, and locking her in a dark basement, in an attempt to condition her. More images of her being conditioned further by Cadmus had reflected in her head.

Shiva kicked her own daughter in the face and that caused her lip to split open. Cass was down on her feet and she tasted her own blood. A knife was up her sleeve and she was determined to use it.

Her mother showed why she was the deadliest woman alive by blocking the knife and turning around, grabbing Cass around the arm and throwing her. She was flung through the remains of the desk.

Shiva rushed forward towards Cass and one huge kick to the head later, the woman was down for the count. Cass slumped down onto the ground, knocked out.

"We should get her back to base, she won't be happy when she wakes up," Shiva informed Sara, pretty much ignoring the other two girls.

"Right," Sara said. She knew better than to disobey a direct order from the woman who trained her, at least in part.

There was a loud and sarcastic clapping. Sara's eyes could see a figure standing in the shadows and she mentally groaned. _'Oh, great, this son of a bitch, I was hoping to never see him again.'_

Shiva turned around and saw Slade Wilson, better known as Deathstroke. He approached there.

"They fought well, didn't they?" Slade asked. "But, it just goes to show you, you should never send a bunch of little girls to do a man's job."

"I don't see a man here," Sara commented. Dinah grabbed her sister by the shoulder and there was a frantic look on her face.

"What are you doing?" Dinah asked.

Slade intend to harm these women and in the worst way possible, but Shiva didn't seem too fazed by his presence. Then again, when was the deadliest woman alive fazed?

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on April 17<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	62. Unraveling Mysteries Part Two

**Chapter 62: Unraveling Mysteries Part Two.**

* * *

><p>Lady Shiva was going to give the devil his due. Slade Wilson was one of the top assassins in the world and he would be almost a worthy opponent. The problem was, Shiva didn't think of herself as one of the top assassins, she was the deadliest woman in the world. Shiva wasn't the type to get sentimental often. Still, the fact that he put her daughter in danger made him a prime target.<p>

She wasn't going to take any prisoners.

"You," Shiva stated through gritted teeth. She held a dagger in her hand and twirled it around when she went face to face with the assassin known as Deathstroke. She had a blade and he had his. "You helped break my daughter's mind."

"Her will power was strong, it was very interesting," Slade said. He circled around Shiva, measuring the woman. "Like mother, like daughter, and it should be about as satisfying to break you as well."

The two Canaries locked eyes with each other. Black Canary was about ready to jump in, but White Canary grabbed her by the jacket and held her back.

"What are you doing?" Black Canary asked her sister.

White Canary inclined her head and frowned. "If I know anything about Lady Shiva, she'd want us to stay out of her way when she's dealing with personal business."

Black Canary was about ready to protest. Huntress placed her hand on the side of Black Canary's shoulder and leaned towards her ear with a whisper. "Trust her; she knows what she's doing."

Black Canary did trust her sister's judgment one hundred percent of the way. Her eyes glazed over the battle between Deathstroke and Lady Shiva. Shiva was a dangerous assassin, but so was Slade. There was one difference between the two of them. Given what happened regarding Shiva's daughter, it should be painfully obvious that the deadliest woman alive had something to prove and a thirst for revenge.

"I'll enjoy picking you apart, slowly, painfully," Shiva said. She aimed her sword at Slade, but he dodged the attack. She didn't expect that one to hit.

"The feeling is mutual," Deathstroke commented. He tried to nail her with a vicious blow. Lady Shiva dodged the attack. Her attacks returned fire, it was all about maneuvering him for the kill.

With one fell swoop, she plunged the sword right through his body. Instead of the blood that she hoped to see, she saw sparks flying out of the man's torso. That caused her disgust to grow when she saw Slade fall to the ground.

"He's a robot?" Dinah asked. Sara nodded in response. "Of course he is."

Shiva was not too happy. She lifted her sword up and swiped it down onto the back of the head of the imposter Slade. She raised his hands up into the air and slammed it down again, causing more sparks to fly in the air.

"We better get them out of here," Shiva said. It should have gone without saying that she was planning on doing even more to Slade when she finally got her hands on the real deal.

The group of girls stepped back in awe and in amazement. Sara was less amazed, because she should be used to this. She looked really unsettled.

"Make sure Cassandra is out of here and safely to the lab," Shiva told Sara. Sara nodded and grabbed her around the waist, holding her up. She held the necklace that Harry gave her as a gift a while back.

Sara gently held up the dark haired girl. It was really terrifying to see who could do this to a child, even though she was technically into her young adult years by this point. The others were the same as well.

"Get the others," Sara said in a quiet voice. She leaned down and the necklace activated. It transported them back into one of the main RAO labs.

Chloe was waiting for them in the lab. The blonde nervously folded her arms when she looked down. She recognized one of the girls and she took a step back in surprise.

"That's….that's….Alicia Baker," Chloe murmured underneath her breath. She was caught completely by surprise when she shook her head. She was the last person Chloe would have expected to see in a situation like this. "I thought that she was dead."

Sara couldn't help, but give a really un-lady like snort. "Yeah, that's worked out well for me at least about three or four times."

"No, that's…..well yeah, I guess," Chloe said. It was hard to see a former classmate, one that she thought was dead, right in front of her face. The woman looked her over. There was a real helpless look in her voice. "What did you do?"

"Drugged them with a sedative, so they couldn't wake up and try and skewer anyone to ribbons," Sara informed Chloe. Chloe frowned. "Do, you know who the other one is?"

"I'm going to have to do a facial recognition to check," Chloe admitted. Her frown grew extremely deep when Gwen, Whitney, Caitlin, and Sue all made their way into the lab.

"I could have sworn that I've seen this one before," Whitney said. She had dealt with a couple of meteor mutants, obviously not as much as others had.

"She has pyro-kinetic abilities," Dinah said. She could see Chloe fly over to the large computer and start typing like a madwoman. "Does that help?"

"Immensely," Chloe replied, with a half distraction when she kept working over the keyboard and typing like a madwoman. She got to work, frowning when she was typing up a little bit of a storm. She had hit the jackpot. "Her name is Claire Selton, she was a runaway. Experimented on the government and given training to be their attack dog. She escaped from them and burned some people pretty badly, pun intended."

"Yes, thank you," Sara said. "And the other one, her name is Rose Wilson."

"Slade's daughter?" Chloe asked.

"The very same," Sara agreed. "Slade had a few bastard children in his day. One of them was completely off of his rocker. I had the misfortune of dealing with him one time."

Sara had an extremely difficult relationship with the entire Wilson family, she wasn't going to lie. The girls were put their way into containment units.

"The best we're going to have to do is to sedate them and treat them of all of their injuries," Caitlin said when she looked them over. "The physical injuries shouldn't be that hard to treat."

"It's the mental and emotional injuries that will be a problem," Sue said. The meteors messed up people something fierce that were if they were allowed to survive.

That was the big if, if they survived. Sometimes they didn't survive and what happened to them was bad. If they did survive, they were extremely fortunate to have what passed for their sanity intact.

"The good news is that when Harry is able to de-program them, he should have some valuable resources at his disposal," Chloe said.

"Well, at least you have your priorities in the way that you should," Gwen teased. Barbara made her way back inside now.

* * *

><p>Lionel Luthor didn't yell, he didn't scream. Those two things were beyond him and really beneath him. He was at the point where he didn't need to yell, nor scream. He was as calm as calm could be. If he wasn't calm, he would have flipped out a fair amount of time ago.<p>

He was calm, he was collected, and he wasn't going to lose his mind. He took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. Mentally he counted as hard so he could calm down.

Miles Warren was a few steps away from Lionel Luthor. He could tell that the man was just this close from snapping at him.

"We underestimated them," Lionel said. He put his glasses back on and turned around towards Miles. "You know what happens when we underestimate people, don't you?"

Warren didn't respond to that question. He frowned deeply because he knew it was a rhetorical question and more importantly Lionel knew it was a rhetorical question.

"We get beaten, we lose ground, and we lose money," Lionel said. He was gaining momentum and about ready to go into rant territory regarding what he was saying. "More importantly, I lose money."

"It wasn't a complete loss, Mr. Luthor."

Lionel turned around and saw the calm and collected Slade Wilson walking down the hallway.

"I was able to scout them," Slade said. That caused Lionel to turn around. "And you better mind what you say to me next."

"If it wasn't for me and my partners, you would be rotting in a prison underneath an island somewhere," Lionel answered, looking Slade dead on in the eye. "I broke you out and gave you purpose. I gave you a chance for vengeance against Oliver Queen as well, but it isn't my fault that you didn't take the ball and run for it. You failed to grab the brass ring."

"The League of Assassins got to Queen first," Slade said with a scowl on his face.

"Excuses are not something that I take too lightly, Mr. Wilson," Lionel informed him. "Your services have been useful, but you're getting sloppy."

Slade grabbed Lionel around the neck and pushed him against the wall. There was a blade that was at the neck of Lionel and he pushed him into the wall.

"You forget who you're speaking to," Slade said. "You're dealing with….ARGH!"

There was a sonic blast that almost split Slade's skull. He fell down to the ground and Lionel showed him a remote control device.

"I think you're forgetting who you're speaking to," Lionel said in his most deadly whisper. "All it can take is one more push of the button to make your head explode. And I wouldn't waste any time doing it. All you've done is given be disappointments. And I don't take well to disappointments, as you well know. Just one press of a button and it will be over for you."

"You're out of your mind," Slade said. He could barely hold his head up, much less stab Lionel in the chest. There was nothing that he wanted to do better than to ram his knife through that bastard's chest.

"I'm out of my mind!" Lionel shouted at the top of his lungs. He was about ready to lose his mind. "You're the one who tried to stab me, what do you think was going to happen?"

"Respect is for everyone, not just the rich," Slade commented. He practically spat in Lionel's face. "If you're going to kill me, get it over with. Unless you don't have the balls to do it. Unless you're just some gutless rich bastard who is trying to be the big man? Do you have it, Luthor?"

"You're still of some use to me," Lionel said. He made sure Slade could see that his finger is on the trigger. "If anything happens to me, you're going to go down as well."

"It's a sacrifice that I'm strongly considering," Slade said.

Warren looked a bit anxious and it was for good reason. He placed himself between Slade and Lionel. "Let's not lose our cool or anything."

"I've only begun to lose my cool," Lionel said. He stood up and his blazing gaze locked onto Slade's good eye.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your perspective, there was a rustling down in the distance.

Lionel made his way to the lab and he could see project Galatea was not going down without a fight. The scientists tried to subdue her, through their cruel means. This time, she fought back, ripping them apart.

"Restrain her!" Lionel yelled. Warren tried to access the locks to the door for the guards to get inside, but something had changed.

"We're locked out," Warren said. He tried to think of every combination of the code they used, but it had been scrambled.

"Get us in, or else!" Lionel snapped. He was rocking back and forth, teetering on the edge of madness. He was beyond the edge of madness in fact. He was this close to losing his mind.

"Yes, I'm…..yes, I think that I can find us a way inside," Warren said. His hands were pretty much shaking as he tried to access the lock to get them inside.

Galatea throttled one of the scientists and kept trying to scrawl a message on the wall. It was made of symbols that none of them understood.

"What is she doing?" Lionel asked.

"I believe that I have something that can help us get her under control," Hugo Strange said. He turned up pretty much out of nowhere, which was pretty impressive for a man of his stature and size. That caused them all to jump halfway up.

"Well ,what are you waiting for?" Lionel asked.

Strange didn't bother to say anything. He activated the small implant that was in her ear and that caused Galatea to fall to her knees, completely paralyzed. She was screaming in horror, trying to claw at the top of her head.

"I've got access," Warren said. Judging by the look of frustration on Lionel's face, the fact that he got access was not a moment too soon. It looked like Lionel might have ripped Warren apart in sheer principle.

"Excellent," Lionel replied. His tone sounded extremely agitated.

Galatea was down on the ground and she looked at Lionel like she wanted to light him ablaze with her eyes. Fortunately for him, she was really calm and tranquil and didn't attack him.

"You don't want to know how close you came to having your head taken off," Galatea said in a tired tone. She could feel her mind grow completely numb.

"A few more sessions like we've been having and this unfortunate rebellion will be crushed out of you," Strange said. He could see the horror in Galatea's mind and also the rage. "Yes, I understand that you might resent me now, but you will thank me later. The strong willed will have a rebellious mind. For now, go to sleep."

"Where are the other two?" Lionel asked. He noticed that they were missing.

"They have escaped, but they will be unable to leave this base without any assistance," Strange said. He seemed unconcerned.

Lionel scowled at the man. "It was almost like you anticipated this happening."

"It was very likely," Strange admitted in a grudging tone of voice. He could see Lionel's scowl deepening. "Give them the illusion of freedom and that will allow us to break them further. They can't escape, no matter how hard they try."

"For your sake, I hope that you're right," Lionel said. He kept his eye on Slade who had slipped into the room. Despite the fact that he had his finger on the trigger, Slade was not someone that he should not turn his back on.

"Of course, they would be the perfect soldiers….." Strange informed them.

"The League is right on our doorstep, we don't have time condition them further, we need weapons now," Lionel said. He realized that every moment he blinked, Harry Potter was coming closer to him.

The Dreaded Dragon was a dangerous enough business rival. That was just business through. Since he caught wind of what happened here, Lionel made it personal. He thought that they should have finished off Harry Potter when he was weak and powerless, but the Demon Head had forbid it and the rest of their associates had fallen into line with them.

Now they had a huge problem. A problem they couldn't put down even tif they wanted it.

"We can let him out of the box," Strange offered. His tone was extremely sly.

"I don't like that idea," Slade said. He knew what letting his bastard son out of the box meant. "He's too much of a wildcard."

"Yes, he is," Lionel agreed. He rarely agreed with Slade on some points, but this point he agreed with him.

"There are other options," Warren responded with a sinister glint in his eye and that got Lionel's full attention.

"Explain them."

* * *

><p>Kara's head jerked out of a fitful dream state. The dreams were getting worse and worse as the day went on. The connection, which she assumed should be weakening, got stronger. She couldn't close her eyes without seeing it. It would be invading her nightmares for some time and didn't go away at all.<p>

'_Oh, come on, I need a better sign,' _Kara thought frantically. She wasn't sure if anyone else heard her.

Her skin tingled as she sensed the pain that her sister was in. Thankfully she was able to control the path of rage that she would have gone on otherwise.

The image of the dream reflected in the back of her head. She shook her head in an attempt to return herself back to some level of coherent thought. The frustrating thing was that no matter how hard she tried, it was difficult to get a clear head.

'_Focus,' _Kara thought. She had strength.

The sketchpad in front of her was pulled into greater prominence. She slowly scribbled the symbols on it. It would be best to copy the symbols in Kryptonian and then she could translate them. It was possible that she got a partial translation this time again, and the message was not complete.

Kara frowned, the message was short, but there was two words that stuck out to her.

'_Fertilizer Plant,' _Kara thought. She scrunched up her nose at the thought of it. She racked her brain.

"Mother, could you look up something for me on the master computer?" Kara asked.

"Of course, Kara, what is it?" Alura asked. She was happy to help her daughter in any way, especially to potentially save her sister. This was a nerve racking situation.

"Look up about the LuthorCorp fertilizer plant, any of them really," Kara said. She hoped that her hunch was right.

The message was incomplete. The fertilizer plant part was the only thing that was coherent, other than the pleas to save her and rescue her and all that.

"There was one in Smallville, but it was shut down ten years ago," Alura informed her. "There were health code violations."

Kara frowned. Did she hit a dead end? Maybe not, she would have to call someone and check in. She slid her chair over to the phone and dialed the private number Harry had for Alexa's office.

The Kryptonian woman tapped her fingers nervously when she waited. Back and forth she rocked on the chair, waiting to see who would pop up on the other end of the phone.

"Hello, Harry?" Tess's voice asked on the other end of the phone.

"It's Kara," Kara told her. "Hey, Tess, is Alexa there?"

"No, she had to leave for an urgent meeting in the morning," Tess said. "She left me to keep an eye on things….what can I do for you?"

"I need to ask you about the old LuthorCorp fertilizer plant in Smallville," Kara replied to Tess.

She could almost hear Tess thinking on the other end of the phone. "That place was shut down a long time ago. It was a tax write off to begin with, but meteor infected cows caused anyone who used the fertilizer to get either really sick on the crops or gain extra powers. Or extra heads?"

The casual way Tess gave that statement caused Kara to be a bit unsettled, but she supposed that's how things worked in Smallville.

"It hasn't been used in official business," Kara said. She had a feeling that despite it was closed down, it was still on the books.

Tess rustled through the sheets of paper and nodded. "Yes, Lionel still owns the place, although he uses it as storage."

It was all coming to her now. Kara doubted very much that this was a coincidence. She turned around and saw Harry standing there.

"Thank you, you've been very helpful," Kara said. She was so focused on trying to track down her twin that she didn't pay attention to the people in the bond.

If she had paid attention, she might have noticed that Harry was coming up behind her. Kara adjusted her stance, placing her hands on her hips.

"For the record, I've been here long enough," Harry said to her. He made his way towards her and swept her into a warm embrace.

He was going to ask how she was feeling, but he had a feeling that was a question that went without asking. Harry pushed her hair back and revealed her face. He leaned towards her and kissed her.

"Sorry," Kara muttered. She backed away from him.

"For what?" Harry asked.

"For leading you right into a trap," Kara answered. Harry grabbed her hand and squeezed it in response.

"No, I wouldn't say that it was a bad thing," Harry said. He could see Kara tighten her grip around him. He allowed her onto the chair for the moment. "You've got it better together now, don't you?"

"About as good as I'm going to do so at this point," Kara said. She blinked suddenly and she had something to ask. "What do you mean it's not completely a bad thing?"

"I mean exactly what you might think that I mean," Harry said. "We're getting closer to rescuing all three of them."

That caused Kara to nearly jump out of her chair. Harry caught her in his arms and lowered her down onto the chair. He gave her a stern look, the type of look that told her that she should relax. So Kara did, even if it was just barely.

"Three of them?" Kara asked. She wondered what they did. "You don't suppose…"

"It wasn't me," Harry informed her. Kara blinked and allowed that to sink in. "At least it wasn't me this time."

Kara wondered what the hell was going on. She supposed that she would find out all too soon.

"They're at the LuthorCorp fertilizer plant," Kara said. She could tell that Harry was considering something. "I swear though, this time I'm not leading you into a trap, not that I was doing it on purpose at all."

"Well, I got some good resources," Harry answered to her with a smile. That caused Kara's eyebrow to raised when she looked at him. "Claire and Lois are in the area, maybe we can see if they can have a good look around."

"Maybe we can," Kara confirmed. She really hoped that they would be able to get some answers, but right now there were just a whole lot of questions.

* * *

><p>Lady Shiva stood on the other end of a glass wall, her arms folded. She hated to see her daughter like this.<p>

Gwen got the shivers. This was an imposing woman and one of the more dangerous women in the universe. Actually, she wasn't going to speak out loud that she thought that Shiva was only one of the most dangerous women. She was perhaps the most dangerous women in the world.

"Progress report," Shiva said. She grabbed Gwen on the shoulder.

"Well, brain washing takes time to undo," Gwen said with a frown. She could see the doors open and Harry made his way inside.

"Yes, I'm well aware," Shiva said. She folded her arms underneath her chest when she looked forward. The deadliest woman alive had a look directed towards Gwen.

"Gwen, just say what we have to do to potentially undo the brain washing," Harry told her. Gwen turned towards him and was deep in thought about it.

"We've got all of the chemicals flushed out of their bodies, but they're still resisting it," Gwen said. "I believe that a strong neural shock will be the one thing that will drive them over the edge."

Shiva nodded in response. "It has been known that a stimulating activity will be the thing that would push anyone under the influence back to life."

"And coupled with pheromones, you should be able to bring them back to normal," Gwen informed him. She touched her hand on his shoulder. "There is one force in the universe that is stronger than any brain washing and that is love."

"Or good loving in that case," Harry told her.

"Yes, good loving would be the best example," Gwen said with a smile.

Shiva placed her hand on his shoulder. Normally it would be a bit firmer, but it was surprisingly gentle. She pursed her lips towards him. "Do what you have to do to make sure my daughter is completely whole again? If you do this, I will be in your debt."

Harry smiled when he looked into her eyes. They showed fear for the first time. "I will do it, regardless of the fact that you're in my debt or not."

He slid the door open and made his way to the lab. Cassandra was released from her containment unit. Gwen, Shiva, and M'Gann, who had just turned up, were watching closely.

The dark haired female approached Harry and looked him over. It was almost like she was figuring out what he was all about. His body language was something that she never felt before.

Harry approached her, closing the gap between the two of them. He placed his hand gently on her back and pulled her in closer towards him. Cass looked at him, frowning when she drew him in closer.

He kissed her gently on the lips. Cass was confused by this action, but she accepted it. Harry's hands ran over her athletic body.

He removed the gown that she was wearing and revealed her toned body. There were scars over her body. She flinched when he saw her in this state.

Harry smiled and gently ran his hands all over her body. Cass shuddered when she felt his hands roam her body. Each jolt of pleasure flowed through her body when his hands worked her over.

Harry leaned her back and he stepped back. He unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it off. His pants were off as well.

"Need it," Cass said. She didn't speak that often, but she was pleased to see what she did. Her foot slowly brushed over the bulge in his pants.

* * *

><p>M'Gann blinked afterwards. It pretty much took every bit of her self-control not to jump in there and have fun with her. She really needed to rest after her ordeal, but she would have her moment to be honest.<p>

Gwen placed her hand on the back of the young Martian Girl's shoulder. She figured that she would join in.

"Are you okay?" Gwen asked and that caused M'Gann to nearly jump halfway off the ground and smack into Gwen quickly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," M'Gann said. She shook her head.

The erotic thoughts coming from the other girls were still buzzing through her eyes. Her fingers were sticky.

"Are you sure that you're fine?" Gwen asked. She smelled the arousal on the girl. It was really potent. Thankfully for M'Gann, she didn't have to answer that question.

Rose Wilson was the first one that exited the room. She was looking extremely agitated for many reasons. Alicia, Cass, and Claire were all resting after their fun. Shiva and Harry made their way a bit behind her. Harry noticed the scowl on Rose's face and he placed his arm around her.

"You're not happy," Harry said. He grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her around. "I'm honestly surprised that I didn't fuck all of the rage out of you, with as hard as we went at it. Did I disappoint you?"

Rose shook her head. He really did have a high opinion of himself and rightfully so at this point. The fact he managed to sustain holographic duplicates and pleasure several girls at once was amazing.

"The sex, I'm very happy about actually," Rose informed him. She could feel an aching pleasure between her legs. She turned towards him. "Actually, I'm very pleased with that fact."

Rose shook her head and frowned deeply about it. She could see the images flashing through her mind. Her father's taunting voice echoed through her mind. The more she remembered, the more pissed off that she felt.

"We should really run some more tests," Gwen said. She could see Rose's heated gaze locked onto her. The two girls stared down each other.

"Run as many tests as you want," Rose said. She made her way over to the table.

There was one thing that was going through her mind. She wanted revenge on her father. That bastard used her as some kind of lab rat and pretty much sold her out to a bigger bastard in Luthor. She wondered if he ever had any paternal love to her.

Harry grabbed her shoulder firmly. He made sure Rose's full attention was on him"I know that you're angry, but don't…..do anything that you're going to regret."

'_Her stamina really isn't a problem, given that she pretty much healed the moment that you got done with her,' _M'Gann thought. _'She doesn't need to be out there. The rage that she has, it's pretty bad.'_

'_It's pretty bad,' _Harry agreed with her. He frowned when he ran his hand down Rose's shoulder. He managed to calm her down. _'So are you in position?'_

'_Yeah, we're in position, we'll let you know if we find anything,' _Lois thought.

It went without saying that they would. They were getting close, so close that Harry could almost taste it. Soon they would be able to wrap it up.

* * *

><p>"All things considered, this is just like old times again," Chloe commented over the mission support. "Right down to the lurking around in the LuthorCorp base, just waiting to get in all sorts of trouble."<p>

Claire was making her way inside the base, which was the old LuthorCorp Fertilizer factory. It was nowhere near high tech as the base that they broke into in Metropolis. The dark haired female looked around. The woman of steel was glad that she was not alone.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it?" Claire asked. "All of the insanity that we went through when we were younger."

Lois showed up at her girlfriend's shoulder. She used her Lantern ring to scan the area. So far they were going down a bland and boring hallway. "Yeah, it's a wonder that none of us are dead."

"And some of us still haven't learned, have we?" Claire asked. That caused Lois to shake her head. The woman's hands were placed on the top of her head. "It's quiet in there."

That caused Lois to want to smack herself in the face. She turned towards Claire with a grumbling tone of voice. "I swear, Smallville, if you even think about saying that it's too quiet, I am going to use my Lantern ring to gag you."

"Oh, that sounds like a challenge?" Claire asked, raising her eyebrow. The truth was though that the base sounded a little bit too quiet. They were beginning to think that they were in a morgue. "So, did you find out anything, Chloe?"

"Yeah, there's a whole bunch of shit here," Chloe said. She paused and added as an afterthought. "And I mean shit as the literal shit, not the figurative type of shit, although I'm pretty sure there might be some figurative shit around here as well."

"Just be careful not to step into it," Lois said. She paused when she realized what she said and she gave a long sigh. "Okay, that was kind of bad, even for me. I'm really sorry about that."

Lois could feel the tension. She could smell something in the air and it wasn't just the fertilizer either.

'_Tess mentioned that this place is still used for storage,' _Kara informed them through the bond link. She closed her eyes and relaxed a little bit. She wanted to fly out there, but it might be too dangerous in case she had another episode.

'_Yeah, I can tell,' _Lois said. She crunched her nose and felt a sickening feeling enter her stomach. _'We're literally in some deep, deep, deep…..'_

'_Yes, thank you,' _Karen replied. She could sense a tingling. Her clone wasn't connected to her as strongly as Kara's was, but she could still feel something. _'I think that you're getting close.'_

Claire could see that she was getting close. She could hear something whoosh around in the distance.

"Lead lined walls," Claire said. She held Lois back at least halfway. "That means we've got to be extra careful."

'_I don't know if Lois knows that term,' _Iris said. She shook her head in response. _'And yes, I honestly' don't have any room to talk, so thanks for not bringing it up.'_

Chloe shrugged. _'It's a curse of a reporter.'_

The wall had rotted in some areas. At the same time, there were other areas that were much better maintained. The better maintained areas meant that there was some kind of functional lab area.

Claire could tell that the lead lining was even stronger. She frowned. That was one of the fundamental flaws in a lot of people. If they tried to hide something, they really overcompensated in that fact.

"We're pretty close," Claire said.

Lois could see an area where the two walls didn't connect quite as much. One of the walls was put in there at least a year ago and the other wall was far older. It was hard to see in the dark and most would be overwhelmed by the smell.

The hairs on the back of Lois's neck pricked up and she turned around. Her Lantern Ring flashed in the distance.

"Hey you, stop there!" Lois yelled. She felt really foolish what she heard. She could see her in the distance.

She stood in the shadows, her arms crossed. She wasn't wearing a single stitch of clothing. At first, Lois could have sworn that she was looking at Karen's twin. The only problem was that her hair was a jet black instead of the brilliant shade of blonde that Kara had. And her hair was a bit longer as well.

"You've got to help me and my sister," the woman commented. She could feel them approach her. There was a subliminal message that told her to attack them, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

"Who are you?" Lois asked.

"My name is Divine….I was created off of DNA from Power Girl," Divine said. Her hands began to shake nervously. Her frown deepened when Lois and Claire approached her. "You should stand back a little bit, I don't want to hurt you, and she's down here as well."

Claire could hear something. It was a low growl, almost animalistic sounding. That caused the Kryptonian hero to step aside.

Lois didn't take her eyes off of Divine. She wondered if this was some kind of trick.

"It's okay, we're going to help you, everything is going to be okay," Lois managed. She was trying to sound reassuring, even though she was having a hard time convincing herself more than anything.

There was a growl and something sprung out of the shadows to attack Claire. Claire grabbed the female and flung her to the ground with a thud.

It was a young female of around fourteen or fifteen years old. She was dressed in a white and silver bodysuit with the very familiar silver "S" symbol etched on it. Claire thought that she was looking into some distorted funhouse mirror to the past.

It was a younger teenage version of herself and this girl was not happy. The glowing of her eyes clued her in for the first time.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on April 20<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	63. Search and Rescue Part One

**Chapter Sixty-Three: Search and Rescue Part One.**

* * *

><p>The moment that Claire and Lois had broken into the Cadmus facility, there were other members of the League that were doing their own search and rescue missions. They had split into individual teams in an attempt to ensure that they covered pretty much all of their ground going in there and there was a sufficient amount of ground to cover.<p>

One of the teams was Harry, Kara, and Karen. Harry put himself between the two females, just in case they would have another episode. If anyone would be able to temper them, it would be Harry. Kara looked to be getting things under control and Karen did as well. At the same time, both girls looked like they were on pins and needles. All it would take was one shove and they would be brought down.

So it went without saying that Harry wasn't going to take any chances and it would be for good reason.

The entrance Barbara found was not the most conventional in the world, but that was perhaps the point. The scent was stronger, which indicated to the trio that someone was covering up something.

'_Are you sure that you want to go through with this?' _Harry asked Kara. Kara responded by grabbing his hand firmly in response.

'_Yes, I'm sure,' _Kara replied without another word. Her hand was grasped so firmly around Harry's that there might be a danger of it cracking underneath his weight. _'After all that happened, Luthor has to be brought down.'_

Karen breathed heavily. Perhaps she was just being nervous for the sake of being nervous, but the last time that went in with the intent to bring down a Luthor, he didn't end in a favorable way for both of them. They had to have faith that they would get in there and get in there in due time.

Kara closed her eyes and her body shook. The girl gave a pained moan when her body was shaking all over. She was shaking her head madly when she was trying to keep her head up. Harry roughly grabbed her around the neck to steady her.

"No, no, not now," Kara said.

'_We're here with you, just hold on,' _Harry thought. He could tell that Kara was in the process of having another episode.

There was something flashing before them. Galatea was strapped to a table and was being tortured. She was being bombarded by Kryptonite. Kara's entire body shook all over and her breathing was heavy. Even though she was personally shielded from the Kryptonite exposure, Kara could still feel her sister's pain.

"Her sister, she's escaped, and now she has to suffer for it," Kara said. The more steps that she took, the more jolts of pain rocked through her body. "We got to…..she's almost there…..she's pretty strong, everything will be okay."

Karen grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around.

"Maybe you should sit this one out," Karen said. She was concerned by the pain that Kara was going through.

"No, we're too close, we can't stop now," Kara answered as she bunched her fists up.

She nearly collapsed in front of the door. Harry grabbed her and propped her up. Kara shook her head and stood up as straight as she could.

Kara might have stumbled into something. Harry was going to know in a minute. He raised his hand and the doors swung open.

The trio broke into the lab and could see that there were several tubes. Harry could not see exactly what was in them, and in fact, to see what was in them was going to have to wait.

They ran head to head with Miles Warren. Warren looked at Karen and Kara and a bright, wide, and slightly creepy smirk spread over his face. It was another to give anyone who had the misfortunate of coming across him the creeps.

"Well, it's the original copies," Warren said. He stepped towards them with an obvious leer on his face being obvious. "I was wondering when you were going to show up."

"As far as the public knows, Lionel fired you," Harry said. He approached Warren, who had a gun on him. Harry casually flicked his hand and knocked the gun away from him. "But, in reality he gave you a promotion."

"Yes, because working under Luthor for the rest of my life is really a promotion," Warren spat. His eyes fixated on the three of them. "I will say that he has given me an opportunity to continue my life's work and I have been able to achieve more than I have ever dreamed of down in this lab. I've spent an extraordinary amount of time perfecting the super soldier serum, a brand new version of it. The entire world will…"

Kara knocked him out with one punch. It had the comical effect of causing Warren to fly back onto the table and smack into the edge of it, knocking himself completely out.

"His voice was extremely grating and he was giving me a headache," Kara told both Karen and Harry.

'_Hey, we're not complaining, we would have done the same thing,' _Barbara thought.

Kara shook her head. The pain stopped for a moment. She was feeling a bit better and she was also feeling close.

The fact that she felt much better, that might have been a statement that was fairly premature. Even more pain racked through her body. Kara could feel every one of her nerve endings go wild, as if they were on fire.

"Kara, stay with me," Harry warned her.

'_She shouldn't be feeling pain, if we're all shielded from Kryptonite,' _Laura said. _'Right?'_

Faora had a theory to offer the youngest of the Kara's. _'Well, she can still feel her pain; there is some kind of link between them. They are twins.'_

Harry pulled Kara up to her feet and turned her around. He kissed her on the lips. That distracted her from the pain and caused her to focus. She was more focused that even before. Her entire body relaxed in Harry's embrace.

"I can still feel the pain," Kara said. "And I know she's pretty close. It's almost like we're on top of her."

"But how far up are we," Karen said. Kara nodded her head.

"There are parts of this building that are missing," Chloe answered. "At least off of the blueprints. I managed to get some guesswork in, but there are some surprises."

"Of course there are," Kara said as she shook her head.

* * *

><p>Claire could see her enemy fly at her with an excessive force. She looked to be a more feral teenage version of herself. It was almost like how Claire might have been if she was found by the government and molded into being a weapon.<p>

"You need to calm down," Claire said. The clone tried to punch her, but Claire blocked it. Claire tossed her halfway across the room.

Said clone bounced back off of the wall and fired heat vision at her. Claire dodged it and it blew up the section of the wall.

"I'm not sure if she's listening to you, Smallville," Lois said. She dodged a projectile that was thrown at her and used her ring to create a large energy fist.

The fist was dodged by her enemy. Said enemy jumped into the air and nearly punched Lois's lights out. Lois managed to create a shield that was just enough to block from her getting her head nearly taken off. The impact still did a wonderful job of knocking her backwards and causing her to land on her ass.

Claire got up to her feet and the girl took a deep breath. The Woman of Tomorrow knew what was coming and she rushed forward, placing her hand on the mouth of the duplicate.

That caused her to blow, but no air was released externally thus causing a feedback loop to return to her lungs. The force of it knocked the wind out of her and caused her to crumple up onto the ground like a piece of paper. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head in response when her entire body started to twitch.

"Okay, are you going to calm down now?" Claire asked, pulling her up to her feet.

The girl broke Claire's grip and slammed her against the wall. There was a series of rapid fire punches onto her chest, one of them that cut open her face.

"That's a resounding, no, I think," Lois said. She encased the girl in a green orb and pulled her away.

The girl struggled, trying to break the orb. As long as Lois had will power and energy in the ring, there was no way that this girl was going anywhere, anytime soon. No matter how much she struggled, she was trapped in a bubble.

Her demanding gaze was burning and directed on Lois. The demands to let her go were obvious.

"I'll let you go, when you calm down, and know that we're not your enemies," Lois said. She looked towards Claire.

"You've been brain washed by Cadmus and you've been tortured, we know that," Claire said. She knew that she was a handful when she was a teenager, but this was almost absurd. "Just take a deep breath and calm down."

Divine, who had been shaking off her near escape in the corner, nodded her head. "They're both right, you've been tortured."

Claire's teenage double looked at Divine and she frowned. There was a moment of clarity in her mind.

"Let me go," the clone demanded. She was not in a happy mood and at this point, there would be few people that could blame her.

"Time is running out," Divine said. Lois and Claire looked towards her. Eventually the girl passed out and dropped to the ground.

Claire injected her with what Harry gave them to sedate the clones if they got unruly. This one was unruly. She turned to Divine, a nervous look on her face.

"What do you mean that time is running out?" Claire asked. She had a sense of foreboding and it might as well have been proven right.

"Cadmus, they're creating weapons to go up against the League," Divine said. She was rather upset and flustered. More so of the fact that her sister was still trapped. She closed her eyes. "I….I was one of them, and Tea was one of them, and she was one of them, but there are others. They are creating something extremely awful as well."

"Define awful," Claire said. She didn't really know whether or not she wanted to know. At the same time, she had to know.

Divine opened her mouth and closed it. It seemed like she was not going to say anything.

"Congratulations, Smallville, I think that you've broken her," Lois said. She was using the energy shackles to make sure that Claire's clone was hooked up and wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. "Hope that this works."

"It should work, Harry assured us that it would," Claire said. That caused Lois to give her girlfriend a swift look in response.

Despite the fact they sedated her with something that Harry created, Lois wasn't going to take any more chances then she had to. The clone was shackled up and she wasn't going anywhere.

"What can no one hold, yet, what is always lost?"

Claire could hear this statement with her super hearing. The Kryptonian heroine took a step off to the side and opened the door.

Edward Nygma was a wreck suddenly. His mind had completely snapped.

"What can no one hold, yet is always lost?" Nygma asked. "Come on, it's an easy one. What is right only, but twice a day?"

"Hope and a broken clock respectively," Claire said. She looked at Nygma.

She was looking into the soulless and lifeless eyes of a completely shattered man. It was unsettling what she saw.

"He doesn't look good," Lois said. Her keen eyes and reporter instincts caught a file folder.

Nygma didn't seem to be aware of their presence; in fact, he looked to be completely shut off from the rest of the world. The lights were on, but no one was home. That was an extremely bad thing for him.

Lois picked up the file folder on the desk, making sure that their doubled was there.

"It's an inventory of everything that Cadmus is working on or is planning to work on," Lois said. She flipped through it. "And I'm sure this only scratches the surface, actually."

"Don't you think it's a little convenient that it was just lying on the table?" Claire asked.

Divine's ears perked up and she turned to the two of them. "Someone's coming."

"We better be going then," Lois said. Things were getting intense right now. The League was all over the base, putting out fires and dealing with problems.

Divine looked forward and stopped. She pointed down the hallway. "This way, trust me you don't want to be down there."

"What kind of dog has no legs and no fur, but can still keep itself warm?"

* * *

><p>Hugo Strange was looking over one of his charges. One had escaped and he had sent another out.<p>

"That leaves just you and me to have some time alone together, my dear," Hugo said. He looked over at Galatea. She was glaring back at him with contempt, although it wasn't as much as it normally was. Her eyes glazed over and she slumped over the operating table, breathing fairly heavily. "That's it; you don't want to fight me. You're cherishing these times that we have together."

Galatea tried to break free. Her strength was completely sapped. The mind was still intact, kind of, but it was fading by the pain. Soon her mind might be as broken as the rest of her.

"It's not enough to kill you, but it's enough to break you," Strange told her. "If you are an obedient little soldier, then we won't have that much of a problem."

The shackles held her down. He was about to bombard her with another dose of Kryptonite.

"Please, no more," Galatea whispered. Her voice was extremely weak.

She realized seconds after she spoke, the folly of what she said. She was playing straight into Strange's hands with words like this. Galatea found herself completely and utterly broken.

"If it was up to me, you wouldn't have to suffer like that," Strange said. The mad doctor looked her over. "But, unfortunately, you have decided to be rebellious. You must be taught a lesson."

"You're Luthor's puppet," Galatea spat at him.

"Lionel does pay me well to continue my profession and anything beats being locked up in Arkham Asylum, where a mind such as myself is only bound to languish," Strange commented.

Galatea realized, not that she was ignorant to it already, that Strange was completely and utterly out of his mind. The more that she struggled, the worse that it would be.

The built in survival instincts in her caused her to hold herself together. She would not be broken.

"Divine will come back for me, and save me, Galatea said in a rasp voice.

"That's what I'm hoping for, my dear," Strange said. He walked over towards the machine, about ready to continue his "treatment" of her.

Galatea closed her eyes and could see that her donor was getting near. She frantically pushed the thoughts forward. Hoping against all hope that she would hear her, and locate her to save her before it was too late. Her mind was very weak and the exertion nearly made her pass out.

'_Please hurry,' _Galatea thought. _'I'm one level beneath you.'_

She would love nothing better than to break out of her bounds and rip Strange's head off of his shoulders. He might look much better without it. The problem was that she was stuck here without a place to go.

"And now, you're going to hear…"

The door blasted open. Hugo Strange was surprised. Something lifted him off of the ground. There was no way that he could block it if he had the chance.

The force slammed him hard against the wall. It cracked him hard into the plaster of the wall and caused his neck to snap backwards.

The sound of Hugo Strange's neck snapping in such a matter was like music to Galatea's ears. She couldn't begin to say how happy she was that he was fired back against the wall at that rate.

She looked up and nearly passed out. Harry entered the room and undid the shackles that held Galatea in it.

"Weak," Galatea said.

"Just hang on," Harry said to her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself up. Harry dragged her out. She was looking at him through her blue-green eyes, with gratefulness when she was dragged out.

Kara smiled when she was safe. Galatea looked towards Kara and she gave her a weak smile in response.

"I knew that you would find me, sooner or later," Galatea said. Kara smiled at her and Karen smiled as well.

'_So, you found my sister,' _Karen thought to Lois.

'_Yeah, we found her, her name is Divine, and we also found a lot of trouble,' _Lois thought. She was speaking in a rapid fire rate. There were numerous thoughts that were going a mile a moment. _'Granted, we're always running into trouble, hell, I think that I should get my legal name changed to trouble.'_

'_Really, I've been telling you that for years,' _Chloe asked. She had her fun needling Lois for a few seconds before she grew really serious. _'And there's an emergency exit up a little bit ahead, so you might want to do it.'_

'_Yeah, I see it, and I see someone coming down the hallway,' _Lois thought.

'_I'm on my way…' _Diana thought. She ran into trouble. _'It's the Albino Gorilla that escaped from the zoo.'_

'_We're not going to let him escape again,' _Iris said. She was in a group with Artemis, Diana, and Shayera. _'Do you think that you can block his exit, Artemis.'_

'_Yes, one exit blocking cave in coming up,' _Artemis said. She loaded up the error.

'_And we've got a bit of a situation down at our end as well,' _Donna thought. There was a pause if they were saying, oh really. Donna hitched in her breath and prepared to explain. _'You were right about the meteor mutants being down there. There are dozens of them, some of them fairly deformed because of their mutations. Which I guess matches what they are on the inside now more than ever.'_

'_They're no longer human,' _Sara said. She and Dinah stood back to back, ready to fight them. _'We've got to take them out, and not let them get back up.'_

One of them touched everything and it withered to its touch. It went without saying that they had to keep clear of that particular meteor mutant.

"You better leave me here," Galatea said. Kara, Karen, and Harry looked at her. "I'm nothing, but dead weight, I'll just slow you down."

Kara's tone became firm when she looked at her sister. "You know, with all of the trouble that we went into, to breaking you out, did you really think that we were just going to leave you just like that?"

"Well, no, but you really should," Galatea said. "You don't know what they've done to me, I don't even know what nasty surprises they've left."

"We're going to have to worry about that later," Harry said. He figured that if anyone knew, it would be Warren.

He used a bit of his magic to heal Galatea, at least enough for her to stand upright and allow her to walk straight. She nodded, graciously at that point.

The quartet made their way down to Warren's lab. There was a lot of chaos going on and there were the sounds of fighting. Harry tried to keep locked onto everyone in the bond link.

'_No wonder he got away, he is a slippery bastard,' _Iris thought. _'But, he can't run forever.'_

Harry made his way back to Warren's lab. He could teleport inside of the base, but he couldn't teleport beyond the walls. He was pretty sure that he couldn't transport his way outside of the base either, which was done by design.

"You know, it's a good thing that you didn't kill Warren when you punched him," Karen said. Kara looked towards her. "I know that it was tempting."

"I would have snapped the bastard's neck," Galatea said. She stopped.

Kara, Karen, and Harry all stopped as well. They had hastily left because they caught sight of Galatea, so they thought that Warren would stay knocked out.

"He's not here," Harry said. He thought that he might have spoken the obvious, but it was a true statement.

"He has to be around here somewhere, he can't have gotten far," Galatea said. She picked up a large piece of equipment and hurled it against the wall. It was in an immense force.

Kara was about ready to stop her sister, but Karen grabbed her by the shoulder. "Let her vent, better not to keep it in."

Kara shook her head and gave Karen a cross look in the process. "Believe me, I understand that, it's just that she's giving me a headache."

Harry looked at something on the wall. In cases, there were several interesting specimens of spiders. He read somewhere that Warren experimented on them. Tess or Alexa might have mentioned it, he couldn't recall off hand.

Gwen shuddered in response. _'I don't know how you can call spiders interesting to say the slightest.'_

'_We've got him,' _Iris popped in. There were really too many voices and everyone was tripping over each other to report what they were doing.

'_Yeah, the bastard thought that he could get away, but we tripped him up,' _Artemis thought. She smiled. _'Smug guy as well.'_

"Stay here, I'll be back in about five minutes," Harry said to Kara, Karen, and a somewhat calmer Galatea. He closed his eyes and he locked onto Iris's mind. It was still unsettling to him why he could teleport within the base, but not out of the base. He wondered if Cadmus had some kind of magic support, crude as it might be.

There were really too many angles to consider with this entire Cadmus mess. Harry closed his eyes and focused on where he needed to go. He appeared in front of Iris. Diana, Shayera, and Artemis also surrounded him.

"You think that you're clever, but you don't know half of what's going on in this base," the albino gorilla said. "Much like that arrogant fool Grodd, your lack of information will be your undoing."

Harry smiled. He had the gorilla right where he wanted him. "Tell me."

* * *

><p>Miles Warren might have had a broken jaw, but that was a minor point of what he was going to do next. A broken jaw could be fixed after all. Warren didn't want to pat himself on the back too hard because of his masterful plan, but it honestly was a stroke of genius.<p>

He freed some of the meteor mutants next. These deformed monsters only were good for cannon fodder to distract the League, along with the fine folks in Cadmus. Warren dragged his feet underneath him.

Parasite and Livewire were the two that were released next. Livewire looked particularly pleased to be let out of her cage. Parasite in particular was also rather pleased, because it was feeding time for him.

Warren made his way over to the final cage. He looked at the occupant within the cage and he pondered something.

"Are you really sure you want to let me out of my box?"

Warren hesitated for a moment. He was weighing all of his options.

"Oh, you want to weigh all of your options?" the man in the box asked. "Then let me spell it out for you. You let me out of the box, and there's a pretty good chance that I'll distract a bunch of people. That will allow whatever nefarious doings that you want to do, to get done. On the other hand, it would get you some heat with your boss, but I have a feeling that you're at the point of no return with that one. And there's a chance that I could kill you, which would be what we call hilarious karma. It would be so funny you think that you broke your funny bone laughing so hard."

Warren had his hand on the switch.

"So, are you going to press your luck?" the man in the box asked. "Come on, let's do it. Big money, no whammies, big money, no whammies!"

Warren hesitated for a brief second, but it was only a brief second. He knew that he would serve as an even bigger distraction then all of the meteor mutants.

"Wait, I'm some kind of meteor freak in this universe?" the man in the box asked. There was a pause and he nodded. "Okay, let's roll with it…..yeah, winner, winner, Turkey dinner!"

'_I believe its chicken dinner,' _one of the voices in his head corrected him.

'_Hey, FanFiction Dot Net reviewer voice, you eat what you like, and I eat what I like,' _Deadpool responded. With another click, the one and only Wade Wilson, better known as Deadpool was out of the box.

X-X-X

Harry's interrogation with the Ultra Humanite raised some rather disturbing possibilities, but also raised a few more questions. He turned to Diana, who wanted his perspective on the matter.

The Ultra Humanite was down on the ground, knocked unconscious. He acted a little too smugly for Harry's liking, therefore he was rendered completely unconscious as a result.

"It's of utmost importance that we get Galatea, Divine, and Claire's clone out of here," Harry said. "I'm not sure what kind of failsafe that Cadmus put in them, or what kind of trigger programs."

'_Given how ramped out mini-Smallville was, I can see your point,' _Lois thought. _'That sedative, knocked her out for the night. Divine has been a help and what about Galatea?'_

'_She's still with us,' _Kara thought. _'Interrogation took a bit longer than Harry thought it would, didn't it?'_

'_It always does,' _Harry thought. He could hear the rattling off in the distance. There were lamps that were swinging back and forth and Harry didn't like that. _'And now things are going to take even longer.'_

Artemis and Iris looked up. There was a white skinned woman dressed in a tight black outfit with blue hair. She showcased her legs with a nice pair of thigh high boots.

Leslie Willis, better known as Livewire, was in the house. She looked towards the group, her eyes resting on Harry with a smile.

'_Could your luck get any fucking worse?' _Lois thought.

'_I wouldn't ask questions that you don't want to know the answers to, Lois,' _Harry warned her. She nodded in response, that much was true.

"So, did you miss me?" Livewire asked. She raised her hands and sent a jolt of electricity, causing them to scatter. "Because, I've been let out to play and I'm back on the airwaves."

"Great, she's off her rocker," Artemis said. She fired a series of arrows, but she blocked them with swinging lights above. They shattered, sending glass everywhere.

"And off of her meds, don't forget she's off her meds as well," Harry added.

"Please tell me you have something to sedate her," Iris said. She tried to rush in to get a shot at her, but the energy field blocked her attack. She was bounced off and Harry just barely managed to catch her before she slammed into the wall.

Iris groaned. To say that didn't go as well as planned might have been an understatement to say the very least. To be honest, that didn't go as well as planned.

"I've got this, that should short her out," Harry said. He knew that Livewire was out of her mind since the accident that caused her powers.

"I shouldn't be here, I'm not one of those meteor freaks!" Livewire howled at the top of her lungs. "I was struck by lightning. Sure Kryptonite was in the vicinity, but I'm not one of them, I'm not one of them….I'M NOT ONE OF THEM!"

Harry fired a metal disc at her. It released an EMP that shorted her out.

Claire flew up the stairs at that moment, nearly smacking into Harry. She was doubled over and a bit weakened. The look on her face indicated that she had symptoms that resembled the flu. Harry wondered why.

Actually there was no wondering about it, he knew why. Lois backed her way up the stairs. The clone of Claire was still in shackles and still being dragged up the stairs. Divine was right next to Lois.

"FEED ME!" The Parasite yelled at the top of his lungs.

Harry raised his eyebrow. He braced himself for the attack from the Parasite. His armor would protect him and his powers were too spicy for the Parasite. That wouldn't stop the insatiable beast for trying to drain them anyway.

Divine had other ideas that were beyond allowing the Parasite to venture up the stairs. She turned on her heat vision and fired it down the stairs. It caused the stairs beneath him to crumple and crash.

"Is that enough?" Iris asked.

"Doubt it, drained some of my energy," Claire said. She was using Diana as a support, to try and stand up.

"Don't try to move, just lean on me," Diana said.

Divine backed off, when Harry gently escorted her away. He slipped on a pair of brass knuckles on his right hand. He waited for the Parasite to come up the steps.

'_So, once he drains the strength of a Kryptonian, he also copies his vulnerabilities,' _Harry thought.

'_Should we honestly be surprised that you were prepared for this?' _Donna asked.

'_No,' _Dinah, Sara, and Helena all said at the same time.

The Parasite flew off of the ground. He smelled an all you can eat buffet coming his way. His eyes fixated on the hero with the codename of Arcane. "YOU! I've waited for a long time for this one! I've waited a long time to feed! I MUST FEED!"

"Well, you can feast on this," Harry said. He lifted his hand back and swung for the fences.

The Power of the Punch knocked Parasite for a loop. The burning of the Kryptonite radiation hurt him and the red solar radiation emitting off of the knuckle sapped his power. Divine's eyebrows raised.

"Come on, we're almost out," Lois told her urgently.

"What if I hurt you?" Divine asked. "They could activate…."

"I'm here, don't worry," Diana said. She was pretty sure that she would be able to hold her own. She was half escorting Claire.

"I don't understand why my powers aren't returning," Claire said. Artemis and Iris joined them on either side. Iris looked up quickly and pointed to what was hovering over their heads.

The red solar radiation lamps beat energy down upon Claire. Suddenly everything was becoming more clearly now.

"Well, there's that, yes," Claire said.

"Yeah, Smallville, there's that," Lois told her in a taunting voice.

"Okay, you two, quit flirting with each other and let's get out of here," Iris responded.

* * *

><p>Slade Wilson was good for many things and taking advantage of a chaotic opportunity was one of them. He knew that it was time for him to cut all of his ties from this entire adventure. Especially when one considered the fact that Slade had tormented the daughter of Lady Shiva.<p>

This Slade knew what Shiva did to his robotic duplicate. He needed to depart from the premises. It was time for him to depart and get out of here while he had a chance.

Someone came down from the rafters and dropped down in front of Slade. Slade took a step back and he could see his daughter, Rose, looking at him. Her eyes were focused on him.

"You're going to pay for what you did to me," Rose said.

"Yes, well, you should have done more action, and less talking, if you were intent to make me pay," Slade said. He charged forward and knocked her onto her back.

Rose tried to stab him with a knife when he was distracted. Slade rolled her over and pinned her onto her back. Her arm was behind her back and Slade had the knife that she had.

Slade slashed her in the face. There was a cut that opened on her cheek. She shuddered in response. Slade lifted the knife above the top of her head. "You have a lot to learn, now let me teach you a lesson."

Slade was nailed in the side of the face by a rubber band. That caused him to turn around and see his demented son standing there.

"Hi, pops!" Wade said, with a cheerful wave. "I bet that got your attention."

"Yes, you caught my attention," Slade said. He held the same knife and charged Wade. "But, are you sure that's what you wanted?"

"I've been waiting for your loving attention for some time," Wade said. He dodged the swing of the blade, which nearly cut into him. "And I'm not about to let it go now."

The two of them did battle with each other. There was a knife that was being struggled with.

Miles Warren watched the battle on the monitor. It was a calculated risk to allow Deadpool out of his box and it was one that that paid off.

Lionel Luthor was behind Warren. "I expect that you'll get this situation under control, Warren."

Warren smiled. "Yes, you want me to get something under control, don't you?"

"You allowed Deadpool to escape, and he's causing all kinds of havoc, half of our resources have been damaged, Strange is dead!" Lionel yelled. He was losing his mind.

"Yes, yes, he is," Warren commented. He had a syringe that contained the unrefined super formula in it.

He was about sick and tired of hearing Lionel Luthor's mouth and he injected it into himself. He could feel something, something is changing.

"You wanted me to be able to get things under control," Warren breathed. His vocal cords grew fairly raw the longer that he spoke. "Well, now I'm going to get things under control and it's going to be big trouble for you."

His features began to twist into something that was less than human.

"You always did call me a Jackal, Lionel!" Warren howled at the top of his lungs. "And now, I look more of the part!"

Harry, Kara, and Karen showed up seconds later, just in time to see the Jackal's grand debut. The clones had already been moved towards the nearest exit and escorted off by representatives of the League. The trio stood behind because of that.

"I think we found Warren," Karen said in a breathless voice.

Warren lifted Lionel halfway off of the ground and laughed.

"You've got to save me!" Lionel demanded.

Harry screwed up his eyebrow. He hated to admit that Lionel had a point, but he had a point.

'_You know, after all we went through, what's the harm of having him rip apart Lionel?' _Kara thought.

Harry didn't have a good reason why they shouldn't. He needed to take down the Jackal though.

"Drop the billionaire douchebag!" Karen ordered him.

"Actually, millionaire after this entire mess," Lionel muttered underneath his breath correcting her.

The Jackal's attention was now fully on them and that wasn't a good place to be.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on 424/2015. **


	64. Search and Rescue Part Two

**Chapter Sixty-Four: Search and Rescue Part Two. **

* * *

><p>"When we last left our hero, the one and only Merc with a Mouth, Deadpool, he was fighting his deranged Daddy, Deathstroke, better known as Slade Wilson. Since we last left, things had not gone too much better for our hero. He is playing a deadly game of dodge the katana. Stay tuned as the exciting conclusion of today's epic adventure, right now."<p>

Deadpool dodged the attacks from Deathstroke. Deathstroke tried to run him through with a sword, but Deadpool avoided the attack and the sword was run through the wall.

"You know, I've been meaning to have a word with you for some time, you never communicate with me," Deadpool said. He dodged his father's attacks. Slade seemed intent in offing the offspring."You don't come to my ballgames, you never went to any of my marching band practices. You didn't even push me on the swing. And you wonder why I'm fucked up in the head. You wonder why I'm completely and utterly out of my mind."

Deathstroke gritted his teeth and rushed Deadpool. Deadpool continued to dodge the attacks. He was nuttier than a squirrel's after breakfast shit and he had unconventional attack patterns.

"Is it because you thought that Mom slept with the milkman or was it the meter man?" Deadpool asked.

Deathstroke threw a pair of daggers at Deadpool to try and shut him up. Deadpool did an epic little flip in midair and stuck the landing. The daggers remained firmly grasped in his hand.

"Not bad, but you're going to have to get up a little earlier in the morning to beat me in a duel like this," Deadpool said. He waved his hands, taunting Deathstroke.

Deathstroke would love nothing better than to take him down. "I'm going to give you the beating I should have given you years ago."

"Oh, child abuse, that's lovely, really shows that you're such a role model," Deadpool said. Deadpool was grabbed around the throat and slammed onto the ground.

"Oh, I call it tough love," Deathstroke said. He wrapped his hand around Deadpool's throat, and squeeze. "What now, Wade, no quippy comeback?"

"Can't figure out what version of Slade you are," Deadpool said. "I'm guessing that you're some kind of weird mixture of the Arrow version, maybe along with the Teen Titan version, but who is to say at this point. You might just be your own unique snowflake, with your own fucked up….agh…problems."

'_I think we pushed things too far,' _one of the voices in Deadpool's head stated.

'_You know, we wouldn't be pushing things far enough if we weren't us, or something like that,' _another voice said.

'_It's hard to come up with the one liners, when you're being choked….like this," _another voice commented.

Rose got up to her feet and spotted the knife that Deathstroke used to stab her before. She rushed over and tried to stab him.

The last second, Deathstroke blocked her hand. He twisted her arm around and dropped her to the ground.

Rose screamed when she felt something dig into her left eye. Blood dripped everywhere when she went down from the ground.

"You should have stayed down when you had the chance," Slade said. "You're now going to get taken apart piece by piece, and I'm going to enjoy making you suffer."

Rose looked up at her father, she was really mangled from what happened and he was about to finish her off. The fact that this hallway around them seemed to self-destruct caused him to pause.

Deadpool shook his head, massaging the side of his neck. Blood dripped from his mouth when he pulled himself up. There was a cable lying on the ground and he knew what he had to do next.

"And you should have not turned your back on me while I was still breathing."

Slade turned around, just in time to get zapped in the crotch by an electrified cable. He screamed at the top of his lungs when he could feel the energy course through his body. His eyes rolled into the back of his head.

He was launched halfway off of the ground and was set flying, slamming down onto the ground with a huge crash that rattled his entire body.

"Okay, I'm pretty sure that was a robot," Wade answered. The next thing he knew, Rose got up to her feet and shook her hands together. Her eye was pretty messed up, but she was also blinded by rage. She broke the blade down into the back of Slade's neck, decapitating him in response. "And that was the definition of overkill, right now."

'_Hey, there's no kill like overkill,' _one of the voices in his head responsed.

'_True that,' _Deadpool said. He could see the sparks flying in every single direction and he knew that the time was ticking down. More sparks kept flying in every single direction and it caused him to be unnerved. _'And here come the timely explosions, which means its my cue to get out of here. _

An explosion caused Deadpool the cover that he needed to leave. Rose stood in the hallway, completely trapped by the explosions. She was completely lost, without a purpose or a reason. Especially considering her father wasn't really her father now.

Alicia popped in, grabbed her hand, and teleported her out. Just as that part of the base was going to self-destruct and take out Rose along with it, not to mention other people inside that particular part of the base.

* * *

><p>The Jackal dropped Lionel Luthor down on the ground. He crumpled underneath the attack, several broken ribs left with him as a souvenir. Karen, Kara, and Harry looked at how horrifically mutated that he was when he approached them.<p>

Lionel crawled on the ground, looking for his moment to get out of here. Even he would admit how much of a dangerous spot he was in.

"You, you, did this, you did this to me!" The Jackal yelled. He rushed towards them, with surprising quickness.

Kara dodged his attack and set him up for a blast from Harry that caused him to be knocked over a set of tables. It caused things to crack and a fire to erupt around them.

"No, my work," Warren howled. He couldn't believe that all of his work was down the drain. His yellow eyes glowed with madness. "You'll pay for that!"

'_Wow, can we be a bit more melodramatic, if we tried?' _Lois asked.

'_Oh, I'm sure that he could be more melodramatic if he tried, he is a supervillain after all,' _Iris thought. _'And a mad scientist as well, and they tend to be a bit melodramatic to be honest.'_

Harry noticed one thing and that was that his enemy had tried to replicate the super solider formula. That was a bad thing because he didn't do an ideal job with it. In fact, one could consider just how much of a botched job he did because of that.

'_He's running on pure rage and adrenaline, but his attacks aren't doing that well, we can take him out easily,' _Harry thought.

Kara shook her head when she saw a large piece of metal fly at the side of her head. She dodged it with about as much ease as she could. _'Define easy.'_

'_Well, it won't be as hard as it might be under normal circumstances,' _Karen offered. She could see pieces of equipment flung at her at a rapid fire rate. This was what one might call insanity at its finest.

She dodged the attacks one at time, punching one of the pieces of equipment back at the Jackal.

"No, I must….stronger, I'm stronger, more powerful than ever before, "Jackal said.

Harry noticed something. As powerful as the Jackal's body got, his mind was getting sufficiently weaker. That could be something that Harry could use to his advantage if he played his cards right. The Jackal's claws raised when he attempted to dive in to claw Harry to shreds. He dodged the attack just like that.

"You know, if you're so smart, you would have figured out a way to beat us without your brute strength," Harry said.

"Intelligent, smart," Jackal said. Those were words that didn't hold as much meaning to him as they used to. His head felt like it was seconds away from exploding. He howled when he placed his hands down on the back of his head.

"You're losing your mind," Harry said.

He was hoping for the Jackal to do something stupid. Harry got a scan from the syringe that man injected himself with.

'_So, do we have good news?' _Gwen asked. She was hopeful that she had good news.

'_Well, the good news is that his mind isn't going to be part of his body for much longer, the serum was improperly calibrated, to rush the time table ahead,' _Harry thought. _'Anyone who didn't have strong genetics would not have been able to handle it at the best of times and this is not the best of times.'_

The Jackal rushed them again. Karen dodged the attack. She could see where Harry was coming from. His attacks were getting more rage motivated and less calculated. That meant that the harder he kept coming after them, the more that he tapped into his powers. The more he tapped into his powers, the more blinded he was by rage.

Karen blocked his punch when it was nearly rammed into the side of her face. The blonde gritted her teeth when she was pushing the attack back. There was a loud crack when his arm was broken.

'_I think that you have the right idea,' _Barbara commented. _'Injuring him will force him to tap into more of his powers and make him less intelligent.'_

'_That's the idea,' _Kara thought. She blasted him into the back with the heat vision.

The brain of Miles Warren was slowly and painfully slipping away into the body of the beast, into the body of the Jackal. His head was nearly ready to explode with a huge boom.

"No, I must not!" the Jackal howled. He was not going to go down, at least not like that.

Harry lifted him off of the guard and caused him to fly backwards. The energy charging through that attack forced the Jackal onto his back.

Super soldier serum or not, that was not going to heal him any time soon. There was a loud thump, thump, thump, followed by a loud crash. Several large pieces of equipment fell down, crushing the Jackal.

'_I hate to be the one that brings up this point right now, but we kind of have a problem,' _Chloe commented.

Truer words had never been spoken. The Jackal might have gotten up, but the Cadmus base destruct sequence was about ready to be activated.

They picked pretty much everything of note that they could out of the base, most of the valuable resources. Some of the more deranged meteor mutants perished in their attempts to stop the League.

There was one very valuable asset that was missed and that was Lionel Luthor. Luthor had left the building, slipping out in the confusion. He was a slippery as an eel and he slipped out again.

* * *

><p>After the battle that was, everyone who took part in the battle was banged up, but they were in good spirits. Claire, in particular, was on the mend. Getting drained by the Parasite was something that never was fun and this wasn't the first time that it happened. She thought that it would get easier to cope with each time it happened.<p>

Claire couldn't even be more wrong if she tried.

"I think that you should learn to be more careful," Kara told her.

"That's words for all of us to learn by," Helena said. She had her share of a few new bumps and bruises, and scars that would never heal. "But, we got out of that one safely."

"We have several pieces of equipment from Cadmus as well," Iris reminded them.

Whitney, who unfortunately had to stay behind at RAO, was excited for a chance to look at these pieces of equipment. She might have been in the seventh level of Geek heaven to be honest. She was trying hard not to break into a smile.

"We are going to need plenty of help sorting through everything," Kara reminded her.

"I didn't mean to….."

"Trust me, you didn't mean to, but you were thinking it, and that's fine, because I agree with you," Kara said. "The more hands we have on deck, the better."

Sara stretched out on a chair. She closed her eyes and felt Harry's hand on the back of her neck.

"Must have pulled something back there," Sara commented. Harry's hands worked slowly down the back of her neck.

"Yes, you were going at it pretty hard out there," Harry said. "I think that you're getting a bit sloppy."

"No, just not the enemies that I'm used to fighting, assassins are pretty straight forward in their own way," Sara said. She could feel Harry's magical hands to slowly roll down her body. That caused her eyes to glaze over and she took a deep breath when Harry continued to work over the back of her neck.

"Right, that's true, but assassins can be pretty unpredictable in their own right," Harry said.

"They seem to be more predictable than some of the things we dealt with today," Sara argued. She could feel Harry's hands slow down.

Helena realized that another version of Harry was behind her doing the exact same thing. She commented with a smile on her face. His hands rolled over her lower back. She banged it up a little bit in the back. "It looks like that you are better at controlling the duplicates."

"They are really just solid holographic extensions of my will, the real me is patrolling a couple of things elsewhere," Harry said. That caused a lot of people to be caught by surprise in response.

"I wouldn't know it, if you didn't tell me," Sara said. Harry kept rolling his fingers around her lower back and that caused her to whimper underneath his efforts. "But, real or not, I didn't tell you to stop."

"I'm fine, but the effort is appreciated," Dinah said. Another version of Harry was behind her and a few girls got their own Harry duplicate.

"I'm not able to hold one duplicate for any more than an hour, before I have to renew it," Harry informed them.

"That might be for the best," Faora said. "The last thing you want is to have a duplicate that lives a life of its own."

"There's that," Harry agreed. The real version of Harry showed up. He made her way towards her. She got up to her feet and stole a kiss from him.

"We've got some interesting toys from Cadmus, and I'm not even talking about the clones," Faora said to him.

"They're currently resting right now, and we're checking them over," Lara said, when she popped up. "You do realize what this means though, don't you?"

"Seven different versions of me," Kara said. She looked at Karen with a smug expression. Karen grabbed Kara around the side of her face and looked at her.

"Okay, it was possible, are you happy?" Karen asked. Laura, Katrina, and Kat all filtered in and smiled in response.

"Yeah, we're really happy," Laura said. "Why, aren't you?"

"You know that I'm pretty happy," Karen said. There were a lot of resources that they could look over. She turned to Lara.

"Alura is checking them over, Claire's clone was the worst off of the three, as you could imagine," Lara said. Claire shook her head. "She has….some interesting tweaks to her, let's just say. If we look at her DNA."

"In what way?" Claire asked Lara. She was fairly confused with what her mother was telling her.

"You weren't the only one who had given her DNA, there was another person who had given her DNA to your younger sister," Lara said.

Claire cupped her hand underneath her chin. "She's really messed up though, mentally speaking."

"Given how much all of them had been worked over by Strange and Warren, it's not that big of a surprise that they all are messed up," Kara said. There was an echo in the back of her mind from what happened and she was sure that when Galatea got healed, she would have gotten healed as well. At least that was her plan. "We're going to fix them, fix all three of them."

"Yes we are," Harry said. He could see a certain blonde folding her arms together when she watched outside the door. "Yes, Gwen, may I help you?"

Gwen answered promptly. "There are a couple of things that Caitlin, Susan, and I need for you to check out. Nothing major, but we don't want to mess with them without your permission."

Harry nodded in response. He walked off with Gwen.

A small spider watched with interest and crawled down the wall.

The Harry duplicates were beginning to fade away with a series of pops. They completely faded out of existence.

"Well, that was good while it lasted," Sara said. She stretched herself up. "I've got to go check out something, so….tell Harry that we're going to have to continue this later."

"Where are you going?" Dinah asked.

Sara looked at her older sister and smiled. "You know, there are just some things that you're better off not knowing. You should know that Harry knows, and that's all that matters."

"He knows?" Dinah asked him, raising her eyebrow.

"Yes, he knows, relax, Dinah," Sara said. She gave her sister a soft kiss on the lips. "Don't worry, you know that there are some things that I have to do, especially with Harry's faction of the League."

Dinah really was told more than enough. There were multiple factions in the League. She didn't want to bring up the elephant in the room that was Nyssa. She had disappeared after the fall of her father. Talia had tried to get into contact with her, but Nyssa had gone underground. She had a number of resources where she was able to keep herself from getting caught.

Even though the mess with Cadmus was concluded, there were still some things to do.

* * *

><p>Galatea felt like her mind was clearer than it had been her entire short life. Her mother was working through her mind and making sure that there were no triggers. While Warren and Strange had been destroyed, Lionel was still out there and that was a problem.<p>

"So?" Galatea asked. She was wearing nothing, but a long white shirt that covered her body. It fit around every single curve of her body.

"You're completely clean," Alura said to her. "We've looked over every inch of your mind. The only dirty part of your mind is the thoughts that you've had for Harry."

Galatea's eyebrows arched up in response and she looked rather amused because of that fact. She couldn't help, but shake her head in amusement.

Divine wore a black bra and a pair of black panties. Her dark hair was disarray and she stretched herself out on the bed with a smile on her face.

"What about me, about the same thing?" Divine asked.

She was glad that she recovered from that ordeal. She was able to lean back onto the bed and stretch out. This was a long road for recovery.

"There is no fail safe programs in your mind, you're good," Alura informed her. Divine's lips curled into a wide grin. "I'm certain that would have been the eventual point when the first round of brain washing was done, but it didn't happen to you."

"What about her?" Galatea asked.

"She's fine, she'll recover when she wakes up, but it's a long time coming," Alura said. Healing took a long time and she took to the attempted conditioning the worse of all three of them.

There was a knock on the door and Alura's eyes looked up. She smiled when she looked at Harry on the other side of the door. "Come in, Harry, it's open."

Harry entered the door. Galatea bounced up to her feet in a second and pounced herself at Harry. She nearly put him into the wall.

The emerald eyed wizard was glad that he was able to block himself from going into the wall. He gripped Galatea's firm ass in his hand and looked her into the eyes.

"So, I'm guessing you got a clean bill of health," Harry told her. Galatea smiled and snaked her legs around Harry's waist, holding him in place.

"Yes, a pretty clean bill of health," Galatea said. From her tone of voice, she was almost purring. Her hands ran down Harry's chest. "Kara could see everything that was going on with me when I was woken up."

"It served us well," Harry said. Galatea smiled and invited Harry to sit down on the bed in the lab. Harry did as he was asked.

"Yes, it served us well," Galatea agreed. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed herself into him.

"Yes, it served us really well," Divine said. She scooted closer towards him. The bra she wore was about ready to give way and release her breasts right into his face. She placed her hand onto his chest and grinned at him. "Really well, we saw what Karen and Kara felt and we felt what they felt."

"Oh?" Harry asked her.

"Yes, oh," Divine said with a teasing tone to her voice. She slowly ran her hand down his chest and grinned when she massaged his abs through his shirt. She had it almost off.

"We were able to feel it and see it, but that's not as much as the real thing, is it?" Galatea asked. She kissed him on the side of her neck. "We want to thank you for saving us, Har-Zod."

"Don't you want us to kneel before you?" Divine asked. She squeezed his bulge through his pants and she closed her hands. Divine grabbed her hand up towards his abs and then back down.

"Yes, why don't you do that?" Harry asked.

Galatea sped behind Divine and released her sister's breasts, causing them to be exposed to Harry. Her gorgeous tits exposed right in front of Harry's face. His cock throbbed in response to what she had to show him.

* * *

><p>Lionel Luthor was able to get away from the scene at Cadmus labs without any trouble. He was pretty sure that part of the lab was destroyed. The man was currently on the phone with a very important contact. What he was hearing over the phone was not something that was really to his liking. He pressed the phone up to his ear and frowned deeply.<p>

"Yes, yes, I understand," Lionel responded. He pressed the phone to his ear and he heard it. "Make sure you recover what you can…"

"Potter managed to get most of the important material, but there are just a few things that we managed to get," his contact said over the other end of the phone. "The clones have all been grabbed, Warren's spiders have been smashed and killed. Warren has been smashed and killed in response, and many chemicals are damaged behind repair. Including his attempts to replicate the super solider serum."

"Given what the super soldier serum turned him into, that's no loss," Lionel said. His pilot drove the helicopter around a particular sharp turn. "Make sure we get out of the country, until the heat dies down."

The pilot continued to fly. He wasn't blinking, not even saying anything in response.

Lionel stretched out. "What was able to be recovered?"

"Just the star fish creature that we've been studying," the man over the other end of the phone told him. "Is it….."

"We studied it for a long time and it's nothing worthy, just get rid of it, and burn anything else that you hadn't found," Lionel said. The good thing was that he had more than enough money for him to lie low for a long time. He clapped his hands into his waste. Something jolted and Lionel realized what it was. The helicopter stopped in mid-air. "Why are we stopping?"

The pilot didn't say anything. Lionel leaned forward and grabbed the pilot, turning him around. He came face to face with the masked face of Wade Wilson. Lionel gasped when he leaned back in surprise.

"You!" Lionel yelled in response. He shook his head in response when he got up. He reached into his coat to pull his gun out.

"Yeah, it's me," Wade said. He set the helicopter set to autopilot. "Bet you didn't see that one coming, did you?"

"You son of a bitch, I'll….." Lionel said. He realized that he didn't have a gun.

"Looking for this," Wade said. He waved the gun in front of Lionel's face.

Lionel stared right in his face in response. "What do you want?"

"Oh, there are a lot of things that I want," Wade said. He tapped Lionel on the head. "Maybe the two of us can make a deal, maybe we can't, but you don't know until you try."

"Look, I didn't do this to you, this was…."

"Lionel, don't play innocent with me," Wade said. He shook his head. "You're a Luthor, it doesn't become you."

Lionel's mouth was hanging halfway open. The gun was hurled out of the helicopter and it landed on the ground. Wade grabbed Lionel around the shoulder and forced him to turn around to look at him.

"You know, I can give you anything that you want," Lionel said. He was looking at Wade.

"You intended to shoot me if you had half of the chance, I know how you Luthors work," Wade responded. He cleared his throat. "But, perhaps the two of us can cut a deal. You're a businessman after all, and you're a pretty reasonable guy."

For some reason, Lionel saw his entire life flash before him. He was up in the sky, with a complete madman. His only weapon had been hurled out of the side of the window to the ground beneath.

"Yes, I'm a businessman, I'm a reasonable guy," Lionel said. "I can give you…..I can give you anything."

"I'm not deaf, I'm not dumb, and I didn't fall off of the Turnip truck yesterday, Lionel," Deadpool warned him. "I know what kind of game you're playing and I don't like it, at all."

"Just tell me what you want," Lionel said to him.

"You can't give me anything….actually you can give me something," Wade said. He was face to face with Lionel and his breath was nearly in his face. The Merc with a Mouth was nearly on top of Lionel, practically straddling him.

'_You know, if this was a slash fan fiction, this would be the set up for something that would cause the teenage fan girls to cream themselves in their panties,' _one of the voices in Deadpool's head stated. Deadpool hushed the voice inside his head and continued.

'_I'm trying to build up dramatic tension.'_

"You know, I think that we can make a deal," Wade said. He flicked his hand through Lionel's head. "You give me what I want and you can leave this helicopter."

"What do you want?" Lionel asked.

"I want your head on a pike, naturally!" Wade said. Without any other warning, he grabbed Lionel's tie and wrapped it around his throat, choking the life out of him.

Lionel gagged when the tie wrapped around his neck. He could not believe this. And the helicopter was not going to be flown right. In fact, it was crashing down on the ground.

"Whoop, Whoop, Whoop!" Wade cheered, bashing Lionel's head over and over again against the window when they were about ready to crash down into the cornfield below.

It was poetic in some ways. Lionel orchestrated what he would consider the perfect getaway, only to see that he was about ready to be to be killed by Deadpool.

There was an explosion. Deadpool was about the only thing that survived, with Lionel and the helicopter being plowed down into the field.

'_And that was the end of Lionel Luthor,' _Deadpool thought. _'Nineteen seconds later, all was well.'_

* * *

><p>M'gann leaned back against the wall. She was just happy to lend a helping hand with Caitlin, Susan, Gwen, and Barbara when they cataloged things that they found.<p>

"Some of these are far more dangerous than they should be, I don't know what Cadmus was thinking having such things here," Barbara said, shaking her head. That was one of those things that she'll never know what someone like Cadmus was thinking.

"Your guess is as good as mine,' M'gann said. She spent a long time imprisoned and now she was going to make amends.

Gwen stepped back with a sigh. She could see it fall to the ground right next to her.

"What's that?" Susan asked. She could hear Gwen's gasp of horror.

"Oh, it's just a dead spider,' M'Gann said. She tried to read its mind. "Don't worry, it's perfectly harmless."

"Why did we think that bringing dead spiders back was such a good idea?" Gwen raved. She shook her head in response.

"Maybe because Warren used them to test his little super soldier formula that he went all crazy with.'

Harry could see the girls jump up straight. It seemed like that he caught them off guard again, well except for Barbara who was all too used to Harry popping out of nowhere. The other girls were surprised to see Harry there.

"You know, one of these days, I'm going to see you coming," Gwen said. She decided to steal a kiss from Harry in response. She pulled away from him. "Oh, we're mostly done by the way, it's just that….."

Harry held his hand up in the air and he could hear a cell phone go to life. Gwen stopped speaking and allowed Harry to slip off.

"Hello, Alexa, can I help you?" Harry asked.

"This hasn't gone through the news yet, but I'd figure that you should know from me better than anyone else," Alexa informed him. Harry wondered what direction she was going in. "Lionel has been found dead in a corn field in the middle of Smallville."

Given the obsession Lionel had, that was kind of an ironic end for him.

"He's confirmed to be dead right, it's not a clone or a trick, or anything?" Harry asked. "Not that I'm trying to be paranoid or anything, but…"

"No, I understand what you're talking about, and that won't be the first time that Lionel used a body double to fake his own death," Alexa answered. She shook her head to clear it over the phone. "The LuthorCorp board is freaking out because the stock could go down. This might be a time to strike before one of his fellow League of Douchebag Businessmen representatives comes in and ruin it all."

Harry frowned in response.

"So, what do you want?"

"I've got a business proposition for you, and yes, it's the one we've been talking about, but the time is right to strike now," Alexa said. She paused and added. "Or rather begin to strike. "I'm sure there's a lot of legal loopholes and all that bullshit to navigate through."

"Yeah, that's unfortunate, but that's how it really works," Harry answered her. "I'll be there in a little bit."

Gwen was helping them clean up some of the more broken parts. She could feel a pinch.

On her sleeve, there was a spider. She really hoped that it was dead.

Gwen brushed it off into the garbage without another word. She must have been working hard because she was sweating.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on April 27<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	65. Bask in the Aftermath

**Chapter Sixty-Five: Bask in the Aftermath.**

* * *

><p>Harry thought that finally he would have a chance to calm down and just kick back to relax. At least that was the theory that he had, but he should know better. After everything that happened, Harry knew that their problems might have just been beginning. Lionel wasn't the only backer of Cadmus and there were others.<p>

'_The problem is they didn't leave that much of a paper trail, therefore we're just grasping around in the dark without a rhyme or a reason,' _Helena thought. She shook her head in response. _'But, we're going to find out soon.'_

'_Yes,' _Karen thought. _'We're already searching pretty much every angle that we can go with. We'll find something, anything. Don't worry about it."_

'_Believe me, with you two involved, I never worry about anything for long,' _Harry said. He smiled when he stretched out. He made his way into the handsome LuthorCorp main lobby. There were many parts to a working machine.

Harry made his way towards the receptionist on the front desk. He greeted her with a winning smile on his face. "My name is Doctor Harry Potter, I'm here to see Alexandria and Lutessa Luthor."

His name got the desired reaction. The receptionist tried not to look too surprised that he arrived. This was pretty much something that she failed at. "Oh, Doctor Potter, I just need to check with Ms. Luthor for a second. No offense meant, but it's standard procedure, security measures are….'

'Trust me, I understand," Harry said with a gracious smile crossing his face. No one seemed more gracious than the receptionist who was really excited. Harry walked over and parked himself on the couch waiting.

'_And, you always cause a scene everywhere you go,' _Lois thought. She could sense some snark coming up on the tip of people's tongues. _'And yes, I'm not one to talk about it.'_

'_Ah, you beat me to the punch,' _Chloe said. She folded her arms to response. Claire started to laugh. _'Yeah, you can laugh all you want, you know.'_

Harry wondered what the holdup was. He was extremely patient and he could wait. Harry looked at the clock and the receptionist was in hushed conversation with someone. Harry craned his neck in an attempt to listen to her, but decided not to. Even if he could use his super hearing to hear every last word she said.

'_Ah, you should listen to her, you're no fun,' _Galatea said.

'_Well, I could, but I'm sure if Alexa wants me to know, she'll tell me,' _Harry thought. _'And if she doesn't want me to know, it's bound to come out anyway.'_

'_It's not the destination that matters, it's the journey,' _Jaime reminded them. Harry smiled, that was fairly true.

The receptionist's talk with Alexa or maybe it was Tess, Harry didn't know, ended right away. Her eyes snapped towards him with an apologetic look. "Sorry about that, after Mr. Luthor's timely interference, Ms. Luthor has been running herself ragged trying to appease the board of directors."

"Oh, Lionel is missing?" Harry asked. He sounded calm and collected and like he didn't know anything about what was happening.

"I'm certain that it's not going to stay out of the news for long," the receptionist said. She looked a bit sheepish that she told Harry about that, but she recovered. "Given that you have certain reporters under your employ at the Daily Planet who have a knack at finding these things out."

Lois was trying hard not to seem smug. It was a point that Lana called her out on. _'Don't hold your feelings Lois, just let it out.'_

'_What, what, what did I do?' _Lois asked. She shook her head, smiling as smug as she could be.

Harry allowed himself to make his way up the stairs. The only problem was there was someone who came down the steps about as fast as he was going up them, and she did not watch where she was going.

There was a loud smack when the two of them collided head on into each other. Harry staggered back and she fell on her backside at one of the landings.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry," the girl who landed on the steps said, shaking her head. "I'm so totally a klutz."

Harry got a look at her. She was a gorgeous brunette that appeared to be in her late teens or maybe in her early twenties. She wore a pair of glasses on the bridge of noses that she just barely caught. She wore a female business woman assemble.

"That' s okay, accidents happen," Harry said, helping her up.

"Yes, they do, and around me," the girl piped up. She shook her head in response. "My name is Katherine Pryde….I'm new….I was an intern for the longest time."

"I think that I've seen you around a couple of times," Harry informed her.

"Maybe you have, and….oh my God, you're Harry Potter!" the girl commented. She shook her head. "Yeah, I know, I'm such a spaz, but I mean, I can't help myself, because you're, you and, well you're you."

"Yes, I'm me," Harry answered, chuckling in response. He remembered where he heard about this young girl. "You were hired by Tess as her personal assistant, Ms. Pryde."

"Yes, she was, Harry."

The brunette girl stood up pretty straight. Tess was standing there. She had a calculating smirk, and her assistant scrambled to get all of her papers up.

"You do need to learn to relax, you start making mistakes when you don't," Tess said. "Harry and I have some business to attend to with Alexa, so just make sure you pick up all of those papers."

"Right, right, right, sure," the brunette commented. She was gobsmacked that she came face to face with the one and only Harry Potter. "Um, it's a pleasure to meet you, Doctor Potter, sir and I'll get out of your way, so you can do business type stuff….unless it's more personal, not that I'm trying to pry into your personal life, because that's really not my thing to do."

She realized that she had put her foot firmly in her mouth. She groaned and scuttled off.

Tess turned towards Harry with a smile on her face. "So, you met Kitty."

"An interesting girl," Harry responded casually.

* * *

><p>Alexa waited for Tess to escort Harry into the office. She currently had a bottle of champagne out and she was in a pretty good mood.<p>

"I can see you're in pretty good spirits," Harry said to her. Alexa smiled when she looked at him.

"Well to be fair, I got some pretty good spirits here," Alexa said. She gestured to the cabinet and then gestured to the chair where Harry sat down in front of her. Tess decided to take a seat on his lap, rather daringly, which caused Alexa to give her the evil eye and Tess to give her a grin. "The Board of Directors are being difficult, especially since the news is about to come out."

"And what news is that?" Harry asked. "It's something beyond Lionel disappearing."

"Well his disappearance has been upgraded to death," Alexa said. She looked rather remorseful towards something and Harry gave her a look of surprise.

"You know, you don't seem to be the type that mourns your father's death," Harry replied to her. Alexa shook her head in response.

"I'm not mourning the death of Lionel Luthor," Alexa informed him. "I'm more upset with the fact that it had to end like this. I had it all planned out. It's a rite of passage of sorts. It was supposed to be a well-planned hostile takeover. I watch as he loses everything that he has, slowly, step by step."

The fact that they had been buying up company stock was sending Lionel well on his way of losing it all.

"Then, the only thing that he has left is his miserable life," Alexa informed Harry. Harry frowned when he looked at her. "And when that's the only thing that he has left, I'll take that from him as well, it will end just like that."

Maybe it was a bit wrong to see her as attractive when she was vindictive and murderous, but Harry did think that she had a style about herself. And after how Galatea, Divine, and Cir-El suffered at the hands of Lionel or rather under his orders, he found his sympathy for the man.

"Instead, he was popped up by….well to call him a common nutjob might be an insult to him and really underplaying what he's capable of," Alexa said. She poured herself, Tess, and Harry a glass of champagne. It was obviously not her first. "He's an exceptional nutjob."

"You're referring to Deadpool?" Harry asked her. Alexa gave him a smoldering smile in response and that was coupled with a slight mocking bow.

"The one and only," Alexa confirmed. She kicked off her shoes and propped her feet up onto the desk. "He hijacked Lionel's helicopter and crashed him out into a field in the middle of the country. Given the obsession that he had, the irony should not be lost on you."

"No," Harry confirmed to her. "It isn't."

"Excellent," Alexa said. Her skirt raised up a little bit, to show her stocking clad leg. If Harry shifted in the right direction, he could find a bit of a hint of lacy black panties.

Harry was not the only one Alexa might be trying to seduce. He could sense an arousal coming from Tess.

"But, I shouldn't cried over spilled milk, if that bastard is dead," Alexa said. She held up her glass and drained it. "But, we shouldn't celebrate too prematurely. It could still be a clone."

"Given what he was doing, that would make perfect sense," Tess said. She was pretty sure that Lionel may have cloned himself, multiple times over at least.

"We're going to have to make sure that he didn't do that," Alexa said. She smiled and she looked towards Harry with a smile. "So, now that Lionel is out of the way and the Board of Directors are pretty much toothless, I'd say that it's a cause for a celebration."

Harry smiled when he looked at Alexa, who slowly rose to her feet.

"Between the stock we bought and the stock you got, we should be able to get the company and then we can fold LuthorCorp and all of its assets into RAO," Alexa said. When she said the term assets, a button on her blouse appeared to come undone, which gave Harry a view her cleavage. She placed her palms on the desk and leaned forward.

"Just how much did you drink in celebration?" Tess asked.

"You didn't drink enough, loosen up and celebrate," Alexa said. Tess took the drink in response, knowing that it was unwise to challenge her sister in circumstances like this. "And why shouldn't I celebrate….it isn't every day that you get to celebrate something like this?"

Tess was nudged off of Harry's lap. She pouted. Alexa was onto his lap. Harry blocked her hands.

"I'm sure I know what you want, but you're not going to get it," Harry said. Alexa gave him a little girl pout when she stared at him. "You're only going to get it on my terms."

"Oh, on your terms?" Alexa asked him. There was a certain tone of sauciness to her voice. She could feel the heat start pumping between her legs and she let in a slight breath. "What do you have in mind?"

"You've been a naughty girl with all you've done," Harry said. "Get off my lap."

Alexa rose up off of his lap and looked at him. She bit down on her lip. "Are you going to spank me?"

"Turn around," Harry informed her. "And place your hands firmly on the desk."

Alexa stuck her hands firmly on the desk. She didn't dare look over her shoulder. Harry placed his hand on her lower back.

"That's a good girl," Harry commented to her. "You're going to learn some respect."

Alexa could feel her panties being pulled down and her skirt following. She was naked from the waist down other than a pair of stockings and a garter belt.

"On my terms," Harry said. "Twenty five slaps to your ass, one for each year you've been a spoiled brat."

"Yes, Daddy, please Daddy," Alexa panted. Harry smacked her on the ass hard. "I've been a bad little girl, Daddy, spank me rich bitch ass."

"Count them out, or it doesn't count," Harry informed her.

Harry spanked Alexa's tight bottom. He paused and she counted it out.

Tess got Harry's unsaid order. She walked over towards him and slowly pulled down his pants, along with his boxer shorts.

Harry gave her a look and she understood that to kneel. Harry kept spanking Alexa's desk, causing her to stain the desk with each slap on her ass. She counted them out.

"Remember, you miss one, and you start again," Harry told her. He could feel Tess's mouth beneath his waist and she was about to go to work on him.

* * *

><p>Kitty stood outside of the office, her mouth hanging halfway open. There was a part of her that really couldn't believe what she was seeing. Her nipples hardened from the other side of her outfit and she raised her hand up, pinching them through her shirt. She knew she couldn't but she honestly couldn't help herself.<p>

There was a slight amount of pleasure that spread through her body. Kitty closed her eyes and could feel something go through her.

She shook her head and realized that they were likely done in there. Kitty needed to make herself scarce.

Little did she know that her being an impromptu voyeur for this little show was far from an accident, it was far from spontaneous, it was planned.

* * *

><p>Harry thought that this business meeting went rather well and he was in the process of getting all of his ducks in a line for another one. He held the phone pressed up to his ear when he talked. "Yes, Carol, I understand."<p>

There was a pause when the woman who was on the other end of the phone was running something by him. Harry allowed her to finish what she was saying. He waited patiently. "Okay, Carol, that all sounds good. I'll run that by Carol to make sure that she knows what's going on. Okay, talk to you later Carol."

Harry put down the phone that he was talking about. Kara was looking at him, with a grin on her face and she wasn't the only one. Galatea had a grin on her face, although she was more bemused than Kara was.

Pretty much without another word, Harry dialed up the phone. He waited a couple of seconds to allow it to ring. Once he got through, he decided to say a few words. "Hey, Carol, yes, it's me. I just got off the phone with Carol."

There was a long pause over the other end of the phone. Harry waited and listened to hear what his contact had to say.

"Yes, Carol said that would be for the best and she would know better than anyone else, wouldn't she, Carol?" Harry asked her.

'_Oh, my head is spinning,' _Iris thought.

'_Are you sure that's not just some Speed Force related thingy?' _Claire asked her. She understood perfectly what Harry was talking about.

"Yes, Carol, I'll talk to both of you, if that's okay with you," Harry said. He waited for confirmation on the other end of the phone and smiled. "Okay, I'll see you then, and Carol and I will be there. Okay, bye Carol."

'_I swear, he just said the name Carol about nineteen times on purpose,' _Lois thought. She could feel a headache coming on.

"So, that's not going to confuse anyone, or anything, is it?" Kara asked. She barely was keeping a straight face.

"Sorry, I had to clear with Carol, what Carol wanted," Harry told them in a nonchalant voice.

Galatea finally broke the poker face that she had and burst out into laughter. The other members of the Council of Kara broke out into a loud round of laughter.

"I see that you're recovering quite nicely from your ordeal," Harry informed her. Galatea folded her arms and smiled.

"Well, after the therapy that you gave me, there should have been no way that I should have been anything, but happy," Galatea said. She bounced to her feet and wrapped her arms around Harry. She could see why Kara saw something in him or any other girl. "Divine is currently sleeping, after what you did with her and Karen earlier. She still hasn't gotten used to….this not so little thing."

Galatea slowly stroked him through his pants for emphasis. Harry smiled and gave her a look that told her to behave. She grinned and looked away.

"And Cir-El, she didn't get to experience it, but….I guess she was the most damaged goods of us three," Galatea said. "She was the first one out of us, so I guess she was going to be wrecked. Thankfully she didn't go all insane and Bizarro on us."

"Yes, thankfully," Harry said to her. He was glad that she was fine. He kissed her on the forehead and Galatea looked pleased with him. "So, I'll see you later."

"Yeah, I will," Galatea said.

Harry moved to the lab. He practically almost ran into Whitney, who for her sake, managed to put the brakes on before she ran head long into Harry.

"Sorry, just running through everything, we've got a lot of things to catalog," Whitney said. She was speaking at the speed of light. "And there are a couple of questionable things, but I'm sure that you could sort that out later if you want to."

"Hmm," Harry muttered, more to himself than to her. He noticed someone was missing from the lab, well two somebodies actually.

A quick look allowed Harry to see that Sue was invisible. She greeted him with a flirty smile and a wave.

"Hey, Babs, have you seen Gwen?" Harry asked her.

Barbara snapped her fingers when she realized something. "Gwen wasn't feeling well and I thought that it was the best to send her home."

"I hope that it wasn't anything serious," Harry said. "What was she handling before she got sent home?"

"Well….we cataloged the spiders, but they were all dead," Barbara said. Caitlin nodded in response towards her.

"Some of the experimental serum is still active, although I'm not sure how close they got to replicating the super soldier serum," Caitlin said. She frowned and added something. "Of course ,without the original super soldier serum, it seems like a crapshoot to even try and replicate what had been lost."

Harry nodded, that had been lost forever. He did wonder if one or the two spiders might have survived and bit Gwen. That could be something that he was going to look into.

He tried to reach her on the bond link, but he found something deep within her, there was pain. Barbara stood up straight, but didn't say anything.

"Just wrap up what we have, I'll be back in a little bit," Barbara told Whitney.

Whitney paused and nodded. She fully understood Barbara's concern, especially when it had to do with Gwen. She could finish it up here right now, wrapping things up with Caitlin and Sue.

Barbara turned towards Harry. Harry offered his arm to her and he took it. The two of them teleported out of the lab, without another word offered to any of them.

"Okay, I'll never understand how he does that, half of the time," Whitney said. She shook her head. Caitlin was about ready to open her mouth and Whitney cut her off. "I swear, if you say that it's magic, I won't be very happy."

Caitlin didn't say anything. Laura joined them, breaking into laughter and decided to help them all.

"Just making sure everything is in order," Laura said. She was trying very hard not to break into a rapid fit of giggles. She was struggling to keep it up.

"Oh that's very funny," Whitney said.

"Actually, I thought it was a bit hilarious," Laura added. She patted Whitney on the shoulder. "And you know, you and Kara still haven't had that race technically."

"Technically, I didn't want to make her feel bad by saying anything, but I would have still had her eating her dust," Whitney said. Laura raised her eyebrow. "I mean, you're all pretty good, don't get me wrong, but I'm just that much better."

"We'll see," Laura said without another word. There would be another day, another race.

Now that Lionel Luthor was gone, one would think that their entire mess with Cadmus was done, but they had a lot more to do. They had so much more to do. One would think that their trouble was over, but it was just beginning.

"Okay, I believe that this is most certainly something that's bad," Caitlin said. She held up a miniature cannon, waving it around. It was slowly heating up in her hand.

"Yeah, one would think that," Sue said. She quickly snagged it away from Caitlin and placed it in a shield. She took a breath and thought for a moment that it was about ready to explode. Thankfully, for her sake, it didn't, even though it came close.

It was back to the drawing board in more ways than one. Sue set it down on, taking a deep breath in response.

* * *

><p>Gwen thought that something might have been extremely wrong with her when she got bit by that spider. She drank plenty of fluids, got plenty of rest, but the moment that she woke up, she looked extremely ragged. It was like that someone worked her over, and in all the wrong ways. She felt like she was almost going to grow four extra arms.<p>

She shook her head. Four extra arms, that much would be a talking point. She could see three versions of Harry Potter standing before her the moment that she woke up.

Normally, that would be one of her wet dreams, to get gang banged by an army of Harry Potter clones. She was pretty sure that this was some side effect of what happened to her.

Harry reached towards her and helped her up to a sitting position. Gwen was shaking and Harry held her up carefully, making sure she could brace herself. "Here, take this."

Harry handed Gwen a vial of something. She took it and she pulled a face when it touched her throat. "That fucking tastes terrible."

"Well, it wasn't supposed to be a soft drink, it was supposed to make you feel better," Harry informed her. "Is your head clearer now?"

"Yes," Gwen replied. She got up to her feet and nearly slid forward. Harry grabbed her around the waist and held her up, to prevent her from doing a face plant on the ground. "There is something seriously wrong with me."

"Yes, I can tell," Harry told her. His voice was calm and collected. Barbara stood on the other side of the door. "Barbara told me you have a lab in the basement area."

"Yes, doesn't any scientist?" Gwen asked. Her snark had not left her after she had not been feeling herself, or about as close to not feeling herself.

"Well, we're going to need to get you down to the lab, because that spider bit you," Harry said. His gaze locked onto Gwen's. "Why didn't you tell anyone that spider bit you?"

"I didn't think that it was important," Gwen answered. She folded her arms over her chest and acted like it was no big deal, even if it was a really big deal.

"Of course she didn't think it was important," Barbara said. She shook her head, Gwen had always been one stubborn bitch.

'I'll be the judge of whether or not it's important, because….the formula could have side effects," Harry said. Gwen frowned. "There's a pretty good chance that you could be growing an extra set of arms or something like that."

"What are the chances of something like that happening?" Gwen asked him. Harry frowned when he looked her straight in the eye.

"I'll be the judge of that one," Harry said. He grabbed Gwen by the arm and lead her over towards her lab.

He had to admit, it was pretty well done for a college student. Judging by the look on Barbara's face, this wasn't the first time that she had been in this particular location.

"So, does it pass the muster?" Gwen asked. "Or do you want to look around a little bit more?"

"Sit down," Harry said, pointing at the lab table.

"So, we're really playing doctor," Gwen said. She crossed her arms and smiled. She leaned towards Harry and placed his hand on the chest. "So, are you going to take my temperature?"

She looked at him, biting down on her lip, with a sultry expression on her face. Harry gripped her underneath the chin.

"Maybe later," Harry said. She leaned forward and tried to rub herself against Harry's hand. The fact that she was wearing her shirt and a pair of panties, along with nothing else made things a bit more exotic. "We need to make sure that there aren't any side effects."

"Oh, I'm sure that you have the medicine to cure me, right there," Gwen said. She cupped his crotch through his pants.

'_Kara, come here, please, and bring your mother and Lara,' _Harry thought. He could see that he was not going to make any kind of headway.

'_Some kind of elevated pheromone levels or something?' _Karen thought. Kara already bolted off to do what she was asked to do.

Harry wrapped his arm around Gwen and pulled her onto his lap. She straddled him with a kiss.

'_Barbara keep it together,' _Harry warned her. He could feel Barbara's hand easing down her pants and he looked at her.

'_Oh, she's going to fuck you right here, even if your clothes are still on, and I can't do anything,' _Barbara said. She shook her head. _'I don't know, I can't keep it together.'_

Kara made her way through the door and Barbara smiled when she advanced on her. Kara took a half of step back and stopped her in her tracks. "Whoa, down, Barbara."

"Sorry," Barbara said. She took a step back and oddly enough, she didn't seem too sorry at all. She could feel her thighs sticking together.

"You weren't kidding by the high pheromone output," Lara said. She could see Harry run his hand all over her scantily clad body.

"I do wish that he would have found a less distracting way, to distract her," Alura said. She watched Harry's hands cup Gwen's ass, before he returned to work all over her body. She shook her head, clearing her throat ever so slightly.

"Well, it wouldn't be distracting if he could find a better way to distract her, I assume," Alura said. She frowned even more deeply when she was scanned. "You're right, these are some extremely elevated pheromone outputs. It's getting to the point where they're highly distracting."

Gwen was tilted down and Harry pinned her wrists down behind his head. It took all of the will power that he had to keep it high together.

"I believe that her output may be only the strongest after the seventy two hours after she's bitten, but we need to keep her monitored," Alura answered. Harry kissed the side of her neck and made his way down, pulling up Gwen's shirt.

"If you be a good little girl and cooperate, you're going to get a nice reward," Harry said. He ran his fingers down to the waistband of Gwen's panties and that caused her to shiver in response. She lifted her hands up.

"Oh, do I get a nice hard lollipop to suck on?" Gwen asked him. Harry smiled when he worked between her legs and exposed her center.

Kara moved her way between them. The fluids that was coming between her legs was intoxicating and it made her head spin around. Kara took a deep breath and she turned towards Harry.

"You might need to help me contain her, in case she gets out of hand," Harry said. "And Alura, ready to run the tests when you are."

Alura was momentarily distracted by her daughter crawling between the legs of another girl and about to devour her womanhood. She shook her head. "Yes, I'm ready, to run the tests."

The full extent of Gwen's powers would be determined when Kara did her dutiful duty in distracting her.

* * *

><p>After what happened, Cadmus had a lot of incriminating information to destroy and deal with. They did lose many of their resources, but a lot of the resources they still had, needed to be deatl with.<p>

The scientist wheeled a large tank from the Cadmus base. He had been given a task by Lionel Luthor to get rid of this tank and any other information. The best place to get rid of the tank was the deepest part of the ocean.

It was really early in the morning. He maneuvered himself around the debris and the fallen garbage that was down on the ground. He frowned deeply when he kept walking forward.

He stopped short and dumped the filing cabinets into the water. They landed with a splat. He didn't know what was inside, and now no one but the sharks would know what else was down there.

The next thing he was doing was going for that large tank. He tapped up the side of the tank.

"There's nothing, but an ugly starfish creature in there," the man commented. The scientist held his head down and sighed. "I don't know what they expect to do with some kind of ugly star fish in this tank."

He lifted a screwdriver and pried the tank open. It was time to release this ugly creature back into the wild.

If the scientist thought about it, he might have considered the consequences of reaching into that tank and pulling the creature out.

The creature's eye opened up. It had a rather demented eye.

The scientist stopped for a moment and backed off. The creature jumped completely out of the tank and latched onto his face.

There was a muffling groan sound as the scientist's arms rushed around. He tried to grab onto the starfish creature that was latching onto the side of his face. He screamed out loud when he could feel it dig into the side of his face.

The scientist fell to his knees. There was silence when his heart started beating. Whatever this starfish creature did to him, one thing was for certain. It smothered him to death.

Then the scientist rose up to his feet, his arms and legs are extended forward and he rose to his feet. A low gravelly echoed that most certainly was not his own.

"STARRO LIVES!"

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued May 17<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	66. The Man Who Laughs Part One

**Chapter Sixty Six: The Man Who Laughs Part One. **

* * *

><p>Gotham City might have been a hotbed of crime and mayhem, but there was one thing that was also common in Gotham City. There were a few high society events that allowed the rich and famous, along with the rich and infamous to step out into the city and make their presence known. It allowed them an attempt to look really good at the expense of others.<p>

"We are sad to hear the losses that these children in Gotham City have suffered, but I vow to clean up crime in this city and make sure that fewer children have to go through these losses," the booming voice of Mayor Hamilton Hill stated. "I will ensure that they will not ever live in fear and we will bring order back to Gotham City. These children are our future and the world will be a lot better off for what they can do for us. Today, is their day, and we thank the various charities around Gotham City for sponsoring this event. These orphans will find new homes, new lives, and new hope."

The orphans of Gotham City received new toys and clothes, along with the orphanages getting a steady donation. Free balloons and food were passed around. Mayor Hamilton Hill watched everything. He had the entire crowd eating out of the palm of his hand.

This was the type of thing that the general public just ate up with a spoon during an election year. Hamilton's smile grew deeper and extremely bright. This was in fact the ticket to get him straight to the top and he couldn't wait to rise even higher after that.

The GCPD were there as always, to oversee the event. Namely the duo of Renee Montoya and Harvey Bullock.

"Quite the turnout here, isn't there?" Renee asked.

Bullock chewed on his toothpick and looked around. "Yeah, lot of people looking to kiss ass and looking around for favors. Guess that's what you get in a place like Gotham City, this time of year."

The children looked rather happy, and Hamilton walked amongst the crowd, shaking hands with the orphanage officials.

"Guess, if the kids are happy, then that's what matters," Bullock replied in his gruffest voice. He shifted in a bit of an uncomfortable manner. "Surprised nothing's going down, after all of the crime that has been happening."

"That's why Gordon is having us here, and the Mayor jumped on the high security," Renee said.

There had been an intense crime wave that gripped over Gotham City over the past several months. Some of the victims had been mobsters, making them think at first that it had been a gang war. Then there were some innocent people who had gotten caught in the crossfire.

The man in question didn't discriminate who he attacked and there seemed to be no clear motive and no clear suspect. The man didn't leave one trace of DNA. Gotham's finest minds were baffled.

"Even the Bat is scratching his head at this one," Bullock said. He wasn't the biggest fan of the Dark Knight Detective, but he did a good job.

And the fact that he was so confused by this spooked Bullock to put things mildly.

"And I hope that the children of Gotham City today, will grow into the leaders of tomorrow," Hill said at the podium. He had his hands placed on the shoulders of the young children, two of the cleaner looking orphans with big smiles.

In fact, all of the orphans looked pretty clean and well groomed. It was almost like Hill took the orphans from the more well to do orphanages. But one could never tell because it was PR 101 at its finest.

"And now, refreshments will be provided, and I hope that you all come out to the General elections next month," Hamilton Hill said. "Unfortunately, I don't see my opponent out here, but I'm sure that you won't hold it against him. After all, he must be busy with all of his lady friends."

"Mistress," Bullock coughed, barely able to clear his throat.

There was a slide whistle that could be heard and some laughter. A group of clowns made their way into the scene. One of them was riding atop a unicycle.

Bullock groaned when he saw them show up. There were enough clowns around here, with the Mayor and his lackeys involved. One of the clowns tripped and did an outlandish pratfall, landing on his face.

There was laughter from the children and one of the clowns did his little trick with the slide whistle. He whistled three times in succession.

"It's Gordon, there's been another attack, we need to go," Renee said.

"And just when it was getting good," Bullock said, shaking his head in disgust. He wasn't going to complain though. He detested clowns and he had enough problems with them working on the force. He joined Montoya in leaving.

The clowns did a lot of high end acrobatics and laughed merrily. Hamilton watched them, looking a little bit confused. This wasn't in the plans to what was going to happen today. He wondered what was up here.

There was some laughter suddenly and one of the clowns pulled out a red bouncy ball. He bounced it off of the ground and it smacked the Mayor in the face. That caused the children and some of the members of the press to laugh at Hill looking quite foolish.

"What's going on here?" Hill asked.

"Just trying to put smiles on the faces of these Orphans Mr. Mayor," the clown said. He bounced the ball three times and squeezed it.

There was a low emitting sonic wave and the balloons the children held suddenly all popped. At first, the children seemed upset, but then they were laughing.

Hill backed off in surprise. His bodyguard made his way to his side.

"We got to get out of here, Mr. Mayor, you've been compromised," his bodyguard said. Hill was turned around as there was panic.

The laughter of children echoed through his ears. His two bodyguards pushed him through a limo, one of them put a gas mask atop his face.

If the Mayor had been a bit more with it, he would have questioned why they thought that he needed a gas mask. The door of the limo opened and the Mayor slid in the back of the limo.

Hill realized that this was not his normal driver. He caught a look at the man in the driver's seat.

His face was pasty white, there was green hair that went everywhere, deep sunken in eyes, and there was that smile. That smile was hideous and sunken in. It was the type of smile that was what terror was made of.

"Buckle up Mr. Mayor, this is going to be a bumpy ride."

Hamilton Hill tried to force his way out of the limo. The problem was that the side doors were locked and he couldn't get out of the limo. He was resigned.

"If you want money, I can give you money!" Hill yelled. He was practically begging but the limo backed out, nearly taking out a van that was parked right next to it.

The madman drove out of there. All that the Mayor could do was hang on for the ride and hope that it all came out okay.

* * *

><p>"Amazing, this is amazing…..I've….well this is amazing," Whitney babbled. She bounced up and down on her heels. Harry could see that she was gaining a great deal of speed.<p>

"Calm down, you're going to wear out my floor, Whitney," Harry told her. Whitney's cheeks reddened when she turned around towards Harry.

She shook her head when she cleared the cobwebs. Whitney stood next to Kara and Harry as well. They were helping Gwen undergo a second round of tests. The first round got a little sidetracked, after Gwen had a blast of pheromones because her hormones were heightened after the initial mutation.

Now that was pretty much out of the way, Harry could run some further tests on her.

"Sorry, sorry, it's just….wow," Whitney said.

"Yes, the scientific prodigy is wowed," Kara teased her. Whitney gave her a glare.

"Work out your sexual tension later and focus on this," Harry told both of them.

That caused Whitney and Kara to both shut up and their lips to curl into pouts. There were protests that were about to be said, but Harry wasn't about to hear either of them.

'_That was really well played to keep them in line,' _Iris thought. She sounded practically gushing with her praise for Harry.

'_You just have to know how to keep them in line and keep them in line well,' _Harry reminded her. He could barely keep the grin that he had off of his face when he spoke.

"So, how am I looking?" Gwen asked. She was sated and sedated as well. She was in a separate room, dressed in nothing but a lacy black bra and a matching pair of panties. After she had been put through the paces earlier, she was hungry for more.

"Your libido looks pretty healthy," Whitney said. She closed her eyes. "And you're looking pretty good other than that….very good in fact. You're looking amazing, and that's not a word that I throw around really lightly."

"Except for the fact that you just did," Harry said, slightly teasing her. That caused Whitney to hold her arms underneath her chest.

"Yes, well she's great," Whitney said. She looked at the two reports. One of them was a scan that was done a few hours ago and one was a scan. "Her DNA shifted and settled. There was something in her body that caused her to get settled….let's just say that if this quality didn't exist in her body, things might not have ended as well for her."

The spider DNA mutated and warped Warren.

"You mean that she could have been a meta human already, even before the spider bite?" Kara asked.

Whitney nodded. "There's some qualities inside many of us that allow us to change and survive the experience, both physically and mentally. There are external factors that could cause the change without that one special meta gene inside us, like a particular accelerator explosion or meteor rocks or some kind of chemical disaster or something like that."

Whitney pinched the bridge of her nose in response. She tried to focus on what to say. Sometimes she could be quick with her words and other things; it was almost like she hit a mental stumbling block. It was exceedingly frustrating when this happened.

"If they don't have the meta gene, they'll lose all sense of sanity," Harry offered her.

Whitney snapped her fingers in response. "Yes, that's it, thank you."

Whitney looked at the print out report. She saw Gwen watching her from behind the plate glass. A smile crossed Whitney's face when she looked over the report, carefully analyzing it every step of the way.

"It says here that she has hyper sense, hyper reflexes, and enhanced strength," Whitney said. "She is also capable of emitting a venom blast that can paralyze an opponent and she might be developing stingers."

Whitney realized something.

"The spider's DNA combined with the super soldier formula and Gwen's own meta gene, it's enhanced her in different ways, hasn't it?" Whitney asked. Harry gave her a side long look. "So is she going to shoot webbing out of her….."

"I don't think that we're going that far into the realm of spiders," Harry said.

"At least, I hope not," Gwen said. She wondered if that would even be possible. She shuddered when she thought about how painful that might be. "So, I think that these powers…..I could really do some good with them."

"When we're sure that they are safe for you to use, I'm sure that you can do plenty of good with them," Harry told her.

Gwen nodded. She thought that if those powers were good, then she should use him. There was great power. Didn't with great power, there would come great responsibility?

"We're going to have to get you some good training, but that shouldn't be that much of a problem," Harry said.

'_And since I owe you a favor, I can do it,' _Sara offered, shrugging her shoulders. _'And I'm sure that a few others might want to be in on the training as well.'_

'_I know that a few others might be,' _Harry offered.

"And, I just noticed something," Whitney said. She paused and frowned when she looked what she noticed over. "Gwen's metabolism is high; she burns through food a lot….."

"Not as fast as you and Iris though," Gwen said.

Whitney shook her head, but before she had a chance to elaborate she could hear something beeping. "Um, business in Central City….gotta go, but I'll be back in a flash."

Kara grinned when she looked at Whitney leaving.

"Do you get the feeling that someone picked the worst possible time to pull a heist?" Kara asked. She could see Gwen's hormones elevated.

"I think it's time for another treatment," Lara said. Her tone was absolutely nonchalant when she said it, it was almost like she expected something like this to happen.

"I would concur," Harry agreed. His lips curled into a little bit of a smile.

Gwen looked at Harry, with a hungry expression in her eyes. She knew the many perks and benefits of what this would bring to her. Her legs stuck together with pleasure. She wanted this so bad that she could taste it.

Harry brought her up to a standing position and wrapped his arms around her in a kiss.

Kara slipped into the room before the door closed. The female stood behind Gwen and wrapped her arms around her waist as well.

The door would be closed so anyone couldn't get in because of the intensity of what was going to happen. Kara and Harry decided that they were going to make a Gwen sandwich with them.

"I can't wait to have my pussy wrapped around your hard throbbing cock again," Gwen breathed. Her eyes shifted over with a sultry gaze and she licked her lips.

"If you want it, why don't you take it?" Harry asked. Kara backed off a moment, she had worked Gwen's panties down.

Gwen didn't need telling twice. She pushed Harry's pants down and revealed his massive manhood for her pussy to devour.

* * *

><p>The bodies of several poisoned children were being taken out of the area in bags. The best thing about this was, as morbid as it sounded, were that these children were orphans. Therefore, there would be no one to call to tell them that their child was dead. That was the worst part, telling someone that their child had died for any reason.<p>

The really bad thing was that the death toll of today's event ranged into the triple digits. Batgirl arrived, but it was way too late for her to do anything of value and it was much too late for her to formulate any kind of antidote. That left her lost and without too much hope. She really wished that she could do something to help now.

Batgirl moved over and she could see a looming shadow hovering behind her. She turned her head around and frowned.

"So, I figured that you would be here," Batgirl said.

"You shouldn't be here, things are getting dangerous," Batman said in his usual tone of voice.

Batgirl shook her head. It appeared that Batman was in a really funny mood and it wasn't the usual kind of funny mood that he was in. He swooped down onto the ground, with Batgirl following behind him.

"You don't know who is behind this, don't you?" Batgirl asked.

"Someone dangerous and insane," Batman replied.

"Yeah, well I know for a fact that there's this mysterious boogeyman that has been attacking everyone in Gotham City, and you've been chasing him for almost a year," Batgirl said. She folded her arms and looked at him. "Yeah, you're not going to pull the wool over my eyes, I know that he's been killing both mobsters and civilian. What's his story?"

Batman didn't say anything. The clown gang who had been seen there was down. There was nothing left at any of the battles. He scanned the air. There were trace amounts of the toxin still in the air, even though the worst part of it had been burned out. He would have to check it against all of the chemical databases. He saw Batgirl doing the same thing. He gave her a side long look.

"The databases at RAO are some of the most sophisticated in the world," Batgirl said.

Batman didn't do anything, other than offer a crisp and clear nod.

"Most his attacks have been against mobsters, haven't they?" Batgirl asked. "Civilians have been caught in the crossfire, sure, but this is the first time that anyone has been attacked that are considered civilians. And orphans at that….."

"One of the orphanages had been funded by Salvatore Maroni," Batman said. "Maroni has been struck hard by this man."

Batgirl was stopped cold by these words. The fact that innocents got attacked really disturbed Barbara, and she looked at him, frowning when she thought about something.

"Didn't Maroni go underground because of that botched circus job a couple of years ago?" Batgirl asked.

"He had, but there are rumors that he is back in town," Batman said.

The interesting thing was that Maroni left town because he was worried about Batman. He came to town to have to deal with something that was a lot worst. The Dark Knight Detective spoke utterly calmly. "His influence is still strong as ever before in Gotham City, even though he was out of town. Something forced him to come back."

Batgirl supposed that she wasn't going to get answers when she asked him these questions. She sighed. _'Always the talkative type.'_

"The cops were called away on another incident, so this was planned," Batman informed Barbara. Barbara raised her eyebrow when she looked at Batman. Her frown increased over her face.

"They….this was planned?" Barbara asked him. "And the cops just went along with this."

"There was a real attack," Batman responded in respond. "It wasn't the planned objective though."

'_We're dealing with something really dangerous then,' _Dinah piped in. She could feel Barbara's frustration growing instantly and she couldn't really blame her how frustrated that she was. She would be frustrated if she was in the same situation. _'Someone that would kill people just to set up more attacks later. It's insane.'_

'_Insane is one way to say it,' _Helena thought. Each passing attack meant that she was dealing with one of her worst nightmares ever.

"I've got the chemical sample back to RAO, and I'll be seeing what it belongs too sooner rather than….later," Barbara said. She half expected Batman to disappear right there, because that was just what Batman did.

There was another individual that arrived, Commissioner James Gordon showed up. The man looked like that he hadn't slept for a week. Barbara would believe it, there were some times that her father really did hit it hard from both ends.

"Rough night?" Batman asked, breaking the silence.

Gordon nodded without missing a beat. He took a breath. "The two of us are having the same night and it's getting worse. The attack down by the docks is just a ruse to get the GCPD over in the other direction."

"A ruse that killed thirty people," Batgirl said. The modulator in her cowl disguised her voice so her father didn't know who she was underneath that mask .

Even if she pretty much figured that her father might have a slight idea who she was. Barbara didn't know and wasn't about to bring that point over dinner.

"It's just another statistic to him," Gordon said. He dealt with serial killers of the colorful and creative type that were really insane as well. This was Gotham City after all. "But, we now know who his target was."

"It was Hill," Batman said. "He was the one who held this rally, so he would be the one that would be nabbed."

Gordon slipped off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. Of course it was Hill and now they had a problem. There was no way to track the man in question after he drove off into the night. The man left no finger prints and they didn't know what his game was. The most frustrating thing was the lack of motive.

The other frustrating thing would be that he wouldn't be the first Mayor that they would have to fish out of the Gotham City River later that day. The Commissioner turned to Batman, only to find out that he had vanished.

Gordon turned to Batgirl. "Do you ever get used to him doing that?"

Barbara could appreciate the amusement that she had by having this particular conversation of all conversations with her father of all people. "No, not really."

"I thought that you wouldn't," Gordon said. He looked up and saw Batgirl was gone. He decided that he should copy that motion.

'_Really, you pulled the disappearing act on your father?' _Dinah asked. She could not believe what she did.

'_I was in a bit of a hurry,' _Barbara thought. _'Is the chemical analysis done?'_

'_Ace chemical plant, not that I needed to have a detailed analysis to figure that one out,' _Helena thought. Each bit of evidence pointed to the conclusion that she didn't want to go to. _'But, we both know that there's one man in Gotham City that should be able to tell us what the hell is going on here.'_

* * *

><p>Huntress and Arcane were in Gotham City within a few hours. The private jet Harry owned allowed them to get into town legally, but in a pinch, there were any other ways they could get in. They decided this way was the best way for them to go.<p>

Barbara bit down on her lip. While the two of them told her they were coming through the bond link, she wasn't going to lie. They had that ability to show up at any time. Given that Helena was a Wayne and Harry was Harry, that shouldn't bother her in the slightest.

'_And you would think that you would be used to that by now,' _Kara thought in amusement.

Harry greeted Barbara, who grinned when she saw that Harry was here. The leather clad heroine leaned closer towards Harry.

"So, we're meeting outside of the Iceberg Longue, why?" Barbara asked.

"Well, Cobblepot will know anything, about anything, if there's something to know," Helena said.

"I'm not sure if he's willing to talk though," Barbara said. She had known the Penguin to be rude, crude, and socially unacceptable even at the best of times. While the fat bird had gone on the straight and narrow, he still was crude bastard. He was just a more legit crude bastard.

"Oh, I'm sure that he'll see our way if we convince him," Harry said.

Barbara was both parts excited and apprehensive. There was more excitement in her tone than apprehensive.

The Iceberg Lounge was one of the hot spots for the elite in Gotham City. The rich and the famous along with the rich and infamous were here. Rumors were traded as much in this place as slightly illegal goods were. It was a hub for activity like that and it was easy to see why given that their owner had his fingers in many pies.

Sure enough, they saw the Penguin sitting at the front of the table, holding court. He looked up with his beady looking bird eyes and gave an angry squawk in response to Huntress, Batgirl, and Arcane showing up. "Oi, you've got to be bloody kidding me."

"No, we're not bloody kidding you," Arcane said. He caused a slight light show with the shadows. "None of you are being indicted for anything. For all I know, you're perfect legit businessmen."

"But, we need to have a word with the big guy in charge, in private," Batgirl said.

"Now," Huntress said.

Penguin was indignant and he stood up proudly, his arms extended towards his size, looking like his namesake. "Now see here, you can't tell me what to do…."

"Now!" Huntress said. She held her crossbow towards the Penguin.

"Hey you can't do that….."

The Penguin was hauled off by the wrist and he was dragged to a private area. Arcane looked at the men and women who were looking at them. They backed down underneath his intense glare and all scrambled out of the club.

The waddling bird of foul play was incensed at what they just did. His arms folded up against his sides. "What the bloody hell are you doing? You're going to scare away on my business, I should have charges pressed against you…."

"Seems to me like I'm not the only one giving you and your boys trouble," Arcane said. That caused the Penguin to shut up flat. The man was looking like he got smacked in the face with something extremely hard.

"Yeah, there might be some trouble, but there's plenty of trouble in Gotham City, with that psycho clown running around," The Penguin said. "They call him the Joker, which is ironic because I don't find a bloody thing that he does very funny."

The Penguin's lips curled into a frown. It was almost like he was trying to weigh how much he was willing to tell them about the clown.

"What's his deal anyway?" Huntress asked.

She had encountered the Joker in her world, but she never knew the man's origin story. She wanted to see if that lack of a backstory was something that held true in multiple universes, or if it was an anomaly in her universe.

"Word on the street is that he was some mob hitman named Napier that fell into a vat of acid, set up by Boss Grissom," Penguin said. "And there's a word that the Bat was the one that pushed him in. Or he was the one that jumped in the vat to get away from the psychopath. Can't say I blame the guy, even though the chemicals that they had at the Ace Chemical Plant mutated into something else, something really bad."

That really tied into what they found out.

"And another word is that he's part of a cult of a bunch of psychopaths, and they wear some red hood, and the other theory is that he's some interdimensional demonic entity that takes the form of a murderous clown," the Penguin said. He frowned deeply in response. "If you ask me, he's the type of bloke that likes a multiple choice past."

Helena looked at him. This was what she feared, the entire multiple choice past mess. It was all coming back to her and it wasn't coming back to her in a good way.

"And he seems to have it in for Maroni," Penguin said. "I don't know what Maroni did to him. Maybe the bastard ran over his cat. That wouldn't surprise me after all Maroni's done."

"But Maroni flew the coop a couple of years ago," Harry said.

The Penguin looked a bit smug and superior. "Is it true that the all seeing and all knowing Arcane doesn't see all and know all?"

"What do you know, Cobblepot?" Helena asked him. She held the crossbow on the side of his head and aimed it towards him.

Cobblepot decided that discretion was the better part of valor at this point. Especially when the discretion meant that he needed to avoid getting a crossbow bolt right between his eyes.

"I heard a rumor that Maroni slunk back into town, to take care of some business interests," Cobblepot said. "Between Black Mask and the clown, he's struggling to try and keep his head above the water."

It was a pity, he did some good business with Sal and he had been one of the more stable of the Gotham City gangsters. Granted, he had his problems. He had a fiery temper and he had caused more than enough problems.

"Well, you've been very helpful," Arcane said. He turned around and Huntress and Batgirl left with him.

Harry switched to the bond link. _'So what do you think about all of this?'_

'_I'm really glad that Rebecca is in Metropolis, with Cassie and Alex,' _Helena thought. She was distracted about this and Harry grabbed her hand. Their fingers intertwined with each other and she was glad that he was here to calm her down.

She thought that she might lose her mind if it wasn't for Harry. Thankfully, Harry was always here when she needed him the most and that was pretty much all that mattered. They all came to one conclusion though.

If they could locate Maroni, then their path to the clown was clear. Too many people had died in his name right now. It was time to put an end to this and sooner rather than later.

* * *

><p>Salvatore Maroni returned to Gotham City and he was absolutely a nervous wreck. He placed his hands on the top of his head and rocked himself back and forth. He thought that he was going to lose all sense of his sanity or what passed as sanity for him anyway.<p>

He mentally tried to reconcile what happened. He thought that once he returned to Gotham City, things would be better. The Bat was preoccupied with other manners. He wasn't going to worry himself with someone like Maroni.

That thought, that idea, that plan that turned into a nightmare. He was back in Gotham City and there was some psychopath after him.

Maroni heard the rumors that he had nabbed Mayor Hill. Maroni and the Mayor had gone way back. Maroni in particular funded the reelection campaign of Hill.

His hands ran together and they shook. He took a deep breath when he held his hands against the door and tried to open it up.

"Come on, come on, open up," Maroni said. He turned the key through the door and it creaked open.

They were in the basement. Maroni was jumpy like a cat who was caught underneath a room full of rocking chairs. He pulled the door opened and walked down the steps.

A group of mobsters sat around a round table. All of them looked in Maroni's direction, all of them were absolutely nervous.

"Okay, all of you need to calm down, so we can work together," Maroni said. "I came back, and just in time as well."

"Surprised you came back," one of the mobsters said. "A lot of us are thinking about cutting our losses. Things are getting too bad for us to stick it out here in Gotham City."

"That kind of talk is for quitters, and I don't know about any of you, but I'm not a quitter and more importantly, I'm no stinking coward," Maroni said. The men looked at Maroni like he was completely out of his mind. "Look, you can talk about all of the freaks who are settling in this town, but one thing's for sure. Organized crime still rules this city."

All of them stared at Maroni like he had grown extra heads.

"You don't believe me, do you?" Maroni asked. "Well if any of you aren't in, there's one thing that you can do. See the door over there? Try not to let it hit you on the ass on the way out."

None of them were willing to walk. They stood firm even though they looked around fairly nervously.

"We're going to do what's best for business in Gotham City," Maroni said. "And I got to tell you this, this fucking Joker, he's not best for business."

All of them nodded in agreement. There were a few times where they would argue with Maroni, but this wasn't one of those times. They were all on the same page, at least for right now.

A knock on the door could be heard. Instinctively, Maroni's bodyguard opened it. He was blasted in the face by a cloud of gas and he fell to the ground, laughing.

"What the hell is going on here?" Maroni asked. He stood up and saw the pale face, green hair, and wide smile of the Joker. "Oh hell no."

Maroni looked at the Joker.

"You know, all of you, you're so uptight," Joker said. He gave them a grin. "Everything is so serious, and I have to say, why so serious?"

"You're completely nuts," Maroni said.

"We should take him out," one of the mobsters said. He got to his feet and the Joker pointed a gun at him.

"And here's the idiot who brought a knife to a gun fight," The Joker said. "Tell me, my friend, have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moon light?"

The man paused and could see the gun on him. "What the hell….."

"Oh, just a little question to pass up the time, I like to ask that to all of my enemies before I blow them away," The Joker said doing a dance. "And, you're the lucky guest."

He pulled the trigger and a flag popped out of the gun. The flag flew with the word "BANG" etched on the flag.

"What the hell is this supposed to be?" the gangster asked.

"Oh, just a little joke, just my little joke," the Joker said. He started to laugh. The mobster looked a little sour when he stared back at the clown. "Come on, my boy, laugh it up. Laughter's good for your heart, you'll live a lot longer."

The Joker continued to laugh and the gangster chuckled. Suddenly, the Joker pulled the trigger again and the flag impaled him in the chest.

The other mobsters thought enough was enough. Unfortunately for them, the Joker had something up his sleeve. Namely some razor sharp playing cards he flung in every single direction, and sliced the tendons of the mobsters in response.

The Joker hurled a red ball down on the table. The ball smashed and released a cloud of gas. He reached over and grabbed Maroni, forcing a gas mask on his face

"Not yet, Sally boy, I've got something special lined up for you," the Joker said. Maroni struggled, but the Joker applied a nerve pinch to him. "Time for you to take a nice little nap for now."

Sal's legs went numb behind him. The Joker hauled him out of the door and towards an extremely crude van that was parked outside.

"Maroni, my boy, you sound like a gambling man, so let's see how well you take this wager," the Joker said, strapping Maroni into the chair.

"What the hell are you talking about, you psycho?" Maroni asked. He could see the Joker's gun go into his face and he backed off, just a tad.

"I'm saying that if you play my game and you win, I'll let you go free, hell, I'll even let you shoot me, in the head," The Joker said. "Or you don't play the game and I just shoot you right now. But I'm a sporting man."

The Joker's smile got even wider.

"Let's make a deal," The Joker said. "I wonder if the price is right. Will you win on the wheel of fortune or will you hit ultimate jeopardy? Come on, Maroni, press your luck, no whammies!"

The Joker laughed even louder in response. He was doubled over.

"So are you in or not?" the Joker asked. "The clock is ticking. If you win, if you get anything, but three lemons, then you'll go free. If not, well….."

The Joker made a slicing motion with his throat and laughed like a madman. There might have not been any like about it, he was a madman. He reared his head back.

"Yeah, fine," Maroni grunted.

He hoped that his men were coming. They were staked out across the street. All they needed was one good shot to blow the clown away.

"I really hope that you aren't expecting someone to save your skin, because boy aren't you in for a rude awakening," the Joker said. He cackled with delight. "So, a free shot if you survive and if not, well zap, zap, zap, sizzled."

Maroni tried to pull his arm free. The Joker pulled the lever. The slot machine hooked to the electric chair spun around.

It lit up and the Joker watched with a grin on his face. "One lemon."

Maroni was now sweating. He realized that there was a pretty good chance that none of this was on the level.

"Oh boy, two lemons, this is getting pretty juicy," the Joker said. He rubbed his hands together. "So, are you going to hit it, Maroni?"

"Look, what do you want?" Maroni asked.

"It's not what I want, it's rather you're going to get, and that's thousands of volts of electricity, right about now," the Joker said. He rubbed his fingers together.

The moment of truth passed them. It hit and three lemons.

The electricity blasted through Maroni. A lethal intense amount bombarded him. Maroni shook violently against the chair, thrashing when he was shocked to death.

His body slumped against the chair.

"Let me you in on a little secret," The Joker said to Maroni's body. "Like most slot machines, this might have been a tad bit rigged."

He exploded into an insane round of laughter that got more boisterous the more that he cackled. He looked at Maroni's smoking, charred body, and laughed even more.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on May 19<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	67. The Man Who Laughs Part Two

**Chapter Sixty-Seven: The Man Who Laughs Part Two.**

* * *

><p>The grisly charred remains of Salvatore Maroni were found stuffed in a garbage can and dropped out behind a restaurant that the Maroni family owned. It was an obvious lesson that some of the mob bosses of Gotham City were going to be taught. No matter how safe they thought that they were, no one was completely untouchable. The rules changed and it was not for the better as far as they were concerned.<p>

It was for the absolute insane as well. The politicians, which might just be a slight step up from the mob in the eyes of some were absolutely not beyond being taken down. Even if you're were at the top of the corruption food chain, you were still subject to be wiped out by this crime spree. Mayor Hamilton Hill's body was found with a smile on his face and a hole in his chest. It was a grisly combination.

A shadowed figure made her way into the room of the GCPD morgue where Hill's body was being kept. She moved with a purpose. One could argue that this entire situation was really personal for her and anyone who said that would and should agree. She stepped into the scene, frowning deeply.

"I would ask why you're taking this so personally but…"

The man behind her showed up. He grabbed her by the hand when he heard the footsteps approach them. There was a flash of light that cloaked them both in the light.

'_So, even though we know who he is, tell me that you've found something out about him, please?' _Harry asked.

'_Well, there are countless tangible suspects,' _Chloe thought. She stroked the edge of her chin and shook her head. _'Yes, countless suspects, but there is no real evidence to tie this entire mess together.'_

'_So, we're essentially just stumbling around in the dark hoping for something to tie them together,' _Barbara added. She cupped her hand to her chin and sighed. _'That's about right.'_

'_This is insane, there are no finger prints, no DNA, absolutely nothing, there is nothing that can trace him back to anyone who might behind the makeup,' _Chloe thought.

'_We know that face isn't makeup now,' _Karen thought darkly. _'I don't know about you, but the demonic theory is getting to be something that's more and more plausible every single day. Perhaps that's just me, though.'_

'_Maybe,' _Helena thought. She was rather short and moody about the entire Joker subject, given that her problems with the clown in her world.

They would need to look at Hill's body and try and piece together the evidence. Helena closed her eyes, recalling every single moment she encountered that monster in that world. He was a more experienced individual than he was in the world that he left. The Joker was younger and hungrier and it was hard to tell where some of his more destructive traits were tempered over time.

Given who the Joker was, it might be just likely that some days he was almost insane and some days, he redefined the term insanity.

Helena knew the clown all too well, but she didn't know his origin story any better than the next person. Frustration only barely began to show how she felt.

She placed her hand on the top of her head, tilted it back and sighed. Harry grabbed her hand firmly and squeezed it.

'_I'm alright, alright as I'm going to be,' _Helena thought. She stiffened in response when she thought of some of the murders that he did back in her world.

It was all coming back to her. Harry gently pulled the sheet back. He paused suddenly and turned to her. _'If you don't want to be on this investigation…..'_

'_I have to be in this investigation,' _Helena protested. She was in one of those moods that indicated that there was no room for argument.

She was glad that Harry gave the chance to think about this. Helena situated herself. She actually grabbed Harry's arm and stopped him from pulling back the sheet. She caused herself to become steadied.

Her steely nerves were on edge. There was a prickling feeling and there was a bad feeling about this. Helena and Harry locked eyes with each other and she turned her head towards him. She spoke to him calmly out of the side of her mouth. _'Allow me.'_

Harry shrugged his shoulders. If Helena wanted to be the one that was going to take the plunge, far be it for him to argue with her. Helena took a deep breath calmly and pulled the sheet back.

It was one of those things that had to be done fast. It was like a bandaid being ripped off. Helena stepped back to get a closer look at the victim in all his glory, if that's even the word one could use.

'_And….that's disturbing,' _Sara said. She hung her head down. _'And I'm the hardened assassin who has seen death a load of times and I'm telling you that's disturbing.'_

The look on Hill's face resembled someone who was both horrified to death and laughing himself to death. It was like his mind could not figure out what emotion to go under.

'_And technically speaking, the toxin must be something weird if his face didn't settle, despite him getting poisoned,' _Patricia thought. She nervously folded her hands over her lap and leaned back, closing her eyes tightly. _'Sometimes, I wonder…..'_

'_You wonder for a really good reason, Patricia,' _Harry informed her all too gently. He ran his fingers through the back of his head. He swiped the hand scanner over the body and it transmitted the toxins to the RAO main data frame.

'_All of the chemicals have one place in common, and that's they're manufactured at the Ace Chemical Plant,' _Barbara thought. She folded her arms over and bit down onto her lip, so hard that she was leaving an indent down on it.

They were all pretty much thinking along the same lines, or at least all among the same idea. Either the origin of the mob hitman being pushed in the vat of chemicals was the story or he was using the Ace Chemical plant on purpose, mind fucking them all.

'_I wonder if the Joker even knows his own origin story anymore,' _Patricia thought.

Helena piped in as calmly as she could be. _'I'm going to tell you that he doesn't remember it, but it's just one of those things where you never know for sure. He's told the false story so many times that he even tricked himself into forgetting what really happened.'_

'_Looked into things deeper,' _Barbara thought. _'Pretty much every single high end mob family in Gotham City has been visited at least once….except for the Falcones.'_

'_So, the Roman is not in Gotham City anymore, and there are rumors that he passed away,' _Karen said, consulting her notes. _'But, his son, Alberto, he's still hanging around the area of Gotham City and regularly makes a nuisance out of himself.'_

'_He is at the Sunset, that high end club for the rich and famous on the border of New Gotham, but right before you get to Old Gotham,' _Barbara thought. _'Which, that's a really curious place to put a night club.'_

'_Maybe,' _Harry thought. _'We're going to have to go there. There's a chance that the Joker might strike there next.'_

'_Do you honestly think that he would do anything that predictable?' _Diana asked.

Harry didn't answer. If there was one thing he learned, the predictable often became the unpredictable in a blink of the eye. He would just have to wait and see what happened.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere in Gotham City, Batman was doing the Batman thing, which involved his own solo investigation. The two big setbacks in the past year involving his beatings at the hands of Ra's Al Ghul and Owlman caused Batman to take a step back and focus on himself. It only served to make him more of a brooding avenger of the night and a bit less social that he had been in the past.<p>

That really was saying something.

He was obsessed with taking the Joker down and solving this crime. The entire GCPD had been running ragged trying to figure out the clown's motives. Even the World's Greatest Detective was baffled at them, and he felt that it challenged pretty much every single rule that he knew of conventional crimefighting.

The Detective closed his fist extremely calmly and tapped his foot on the ground. He reached into the side of his belt and removed a device that would allow him to crack the lock.

A few seconds of waiting was all he needed for the lock on the edge of the building to bust open. Sparks flew in every single direction and the door swung open.

The first thing Batman heard when he entered the room was a lot of thunderous laughter that echoed through his ears. The laughter really got even more louder.

It was insidious. Batman crouched down and scanned the air with a device on his glove. So far, it's so good. He didn't run into any trouble, at least any trouble that would trip him up or worse choke him out.

He went deeper inside the meat packing plant. There were large slabs of meat.

"And here at Baldini's, you can beat their prices, but you certainly can't beat their meat!" the insidious voice cackled. He laughed in response. Batman remained calm and he was trying to access the source of the signal. "Hello, hello, is this thing on?"

Batman did what Batman did best and that was become stoic. He was trying to find out that man.

"Oh, we've got a tough room here, but that's okay, I'm always one step ahead of you all," the jolly jester commented. He cackled. "Here's something that will turn that….well you're not really frowning, are you? Are you capable of any emotions? Let's find out with a nerve gas that is going to be able to fix a grin on the face of the greatest sour puss."

The Joker's cackling got even more intense in the background. Batman reached into his outfit, slipping on a gas mask.

"Smilex….may cause drowsiness, constipation, and sudden death….please consult your doctor, or rather the nearest coroner!"

His laughter got suddenly louder and more obnoxious by each passing moment. The Joker's laughter ceased when he realized that Batman slipped on the gas mask.

"Hey, hey, hey, that's cheating!" The Joker yelled at the top of his lungs. "You weren't supposed to be prepared for that!"

Batman placed a device on the wall and spun the dial. It vibrated against the wall and caused the vents to seal up, before sucking the gas out of it. He had to thank the RAO corporation for developing that particular device. It allowed him to remove the toxins from the equation.

"Just who are you?" Batman asked.

"Oh, that seems to be the million dollar question," The Joker commented. He shrugged his shoulders with a wide grin on his face. "You know, I'm just a guy, who wants to put smiles on people's faces, if you can believe that. And I've done more to put smiles on someone's face than you have."

The Joker's laughter resounded. Batman could see the signal bouncing all of the place, it was almost like he was at three separate locations.

"You've heard all of the stories, all of the rumors, and all the plain creepy innuendo about me," The Joker commented. "Maybe some of them are true, maybe they're complete and utter BS, but all you have to worry about is the bombs."

Batman stood up straight and stopped scanning for the Joker.

"Yeah, that's right, the bomb!" The Joker yelled. "There's a big ass bomb that's going to blow this city block to Kingdom Come if you don't stop it. In about, three minutes, or so….I'm bad with math. Tried to take advanced trig, drove me absolutely looney tunes!"

The Dark Knight ignored the Joker's words. He kept scanning the surrounding area in an attempt to pick up the bomb. Something binged on the scanner that he had in his hand.

He went into the next room and pulled back the side plate. He could see the bomb ticking down. He removed the wrist topic computer and plugged it into the side of the bomb. He did a few presses of the buttons.

The bomb deactivated.

"Bravo, Batman, bravo, I'd take my hat off to you, if I was wearing a hat that is," The Joker responded. His laughter rang through his ears. "But, there's just one teeny tiny little project. By deactivating that bomb, you just activated for more and armed them to explode. It's like the hydra, you chop off one head, and two more grow in its place."

The Joker cackled in his usual diseased manner. Batman was on the hunt for the other four bombs.

"Perhaps you can indulge me in a little bit of curiosity of my own?" Joker asked. He tapped his finger underneath his chin in a mock thoughtful manner. "What possesses a man to dress himself up as a pointy eared rodent?"

Batman found one of the bombs, or at least he was on top of it.

"Not much of a talker eh, well that means that you enjoy listening to me yap!" The Joker yelled. "I've looked long and hard for someone to listen to me, a sympathetic ear, even if it's a pretty pointed one. But I've got a theory about why you are what you are. It's like this, you had a really bad day."

Batman was almost into the access of the bomb.

"You know what they say, all it takes is one bad day to drive a person completely and utterly insane," The Joker said. He snapped his fingers. "Oh, and I forgot to tell you, if you don't disarm those bombs in a right order, ba-bing, bada-boom, Deadest Bat in the Room!"

Batman felt himself nearly disarming the bomb and he decided to take the plunge. He knew what the worst was that could happen, but he might as well just go for broke, lest he got busted.

"Tick tock, you're up against the clock!" The Joker cheered.

It didn't help that he was racing against time. He got the bomb open and disarmed it.

The bomb hissed and the timer sped up. Batman could not even save himself.

"Oh, boy, the wrong one, this should be fun, but you want to me to let you in on a little secret?" Joker asked. "All of them are wrong. I'm sure that you're just thinking about that….right about….now!"

The bomb blew up and sent a shower of confetti shooting up in the air. A balloon with the Joker's smiling face rose out of the remains of the bomb.

"Oh come on, it's all in good fun, Batsy, lighten up!" The Joker yelled. There was a loud explosion from above him. "Oh damn, one of them was real, who saw that coming? Thanks for playing and I just kept your Bat breath away from the real target!"

Batman threw himself beneath one of the holes and dropped down into the sewers before the meat packing plant was brought down on the top of his head.

* * *

><p>The Sunset was one of the hottest new night clubs in Gotham City. There was a virtual who's who of goons and gang members who turned up around this club. Some politicians were there, but this was in reality a hot spot for some of the mobsters in Gotham City to swap their goods along with some rumors.<p>

Batgirl, Huntress, and Arcane slipped into the night club. They were ready for anything. The Joker might not be the most obvious person that would cause damage to them. At least that's what they were thinking.

'_Let's face it, we're not exactly the top people on the guest list at a place like this,' _Helena thought. Barbara turned up at her shoulder and gave a frown.

'_Which is why we're going through the back door as opposed the front door,' _Barbara thought.

'_Time is of the essence, the Joker and his goons could already have snuck their way inside,' _Harry said. His jaw was set in response. _'Although, I'm not sure how someone like the Joker is going to hide all that easily.'_

'_Well, this is an interesting theory,' _Chloe commented, mostly to herself than anyone else.

Lois jumped on this statement from her cousin like a dog diving on top of a bone. _'What, what is interesting?'_

'_No, it's nothing, really it's nothing,' _Chloe said. She clasped her hands together in an attempt to look calm.

'_It obviously isn't nothing if you were the one who brought it up,' _Lois thought. She slowly prodded Chloe. _'Come on Chloe, tell me.'_

Chloe shook her head in response and shrugged her shoulders. _'Okay, fine, I'll tell you. There was a rumor that there was a comedian caught in the meteor shower and….'_

'_You're thinking that the Joker might be a meteor mutant?' _Claire asked. The Kryptonian female sighed long and hard. _'You know, you're going to really have to let go of this obsession with seeing meteor mutants in everything, Chloe. I know…'_

'_To be fair, we did see meteor mutants everywhere when we were in Smallville,' _Chloe thought to herself. She frowned deeply. _'And Lana will back me up on this.'_

'_Hey, I was nearly killed by some psychopath meteor mutant at least once a week,' _Lana thought. She sighed. _'But do you really think that the Joker is a meteor mutant?'_

'_I don't know, it's possible,' _Helena thought. _'We don't know what the Joker is, and I doubt that we ever will, because he's not willing to tell us.'_

'_I don't suppose you're going to have a chat with him before you put him down,' _Karen thought. She knew that the Joker was on the top of the list of those criminals that were beyond all rehabilitation. He could go sane and still be dangerous. Maybe not as creative, but he was a dangerous man. The accident just amplified these dangerous abilities tenfold.

Helena didn't say anything. She wasn't going to have any kind of conversation with the Joker. She could barely stomach to look into the man.

'_I'm sure that whatever the Joker is, the entire truth is likely much more disturbing than any of the dozen theories that you girls have told me,' _Harry thought. He closed his eyes in response.

'_And how do you know that?' _Kara asked.

'_Just think about it, the truth is often much more disturbing than any fantasy ever is,' _Harry reminded her.

The group inched their way into the Sunset. They could see some of Gotham's most infamous moving around with each other and talking in low grunts with each other. Harry acted casually, placing his hands on Barbara and Helena's and making sure they stand in the shadows.

'_Are you even sure that Falcone is going to show up?' _Lois asked.

'_He shows up here every night, clock work around the same time,' _Barbara reminded her. She chewed on her lip. And his usual flavor of the night is on his arm as well, she needed to remind herself of that.

'_With this entire Joker mess, it's been anything but clockwork,' _Sara thought. _'Wish I were here….'_

'_Sara, you have your mission, we all do, don't forget that,' _Harry thought to her. He cupped his hand back and sighed when he thought about it.

The doors of the front of the club opened up. Sure enough, the man himself was there. Alberto Falcone showed up, with some vapid bint on his arm. It was obvious that he regretted inviting her, given that she clung to his arm extremely hard. His bodyguard stood at his shoulder and leaned towards him, saying something to him.

All the trio needed to do was to wait for the other shoe to drop. They needed to wait for the Joker to show up. No doubt he would introduce himself in an insane and over the top manner that would make sure that they knew him.

'_The moment he comes through, we take him out no questions asked,' _Huntress said. She wanted to nip the clown problem in the bud.

The music bombarded into the ears and the Sunset was rocking. If it wasn't chalked full of mobsters and corrupt politicians, Harry thought that this wouldn't be a bad club. He kept his scanner on at all times, half expecting gas to come through the club.

The trio stood there for an extremely long time and waited. They waited, they waited some more.

It was long past midnight and Falcone left for the evening. He made his way into the limo, his hysterical date being held back by security, yelling that she wanted to have his babies.

'_And some girls have no taste, its official,' _Lois said. She shook her head in response and clucked her tongue in an extremely disapproving manner. _'Well, I guess there's one thing that we can figure out, above all else, the Joker didn't strike the club.'_

'_We made a mistake,' _Helena said.

She couldn't believe that she had been so gullible. They went for the obvious target, knowing that the Joker's targets were never obvious.

'_Is there anything strange happening in Gotham City?' _Harry asked to his eyes and ears on the police radio.

'_Oh boy, Harry, you just had to say that, didn't you?' _Chloe thought. _'Is there anything strange happening in Gotham City? Do you realize what you just said?'_

'_Yes, I guess I kind of walked into that one,' _Harry thought.

'_But there's something curious happening in Gotham City, if you really want to know about it,' _Chloe thought. _'There's an apartment complex that belonged to Rupert Thorne that got blown up. Also a Meatpacking Plant was also blown up tonight.'_

'_So, the Joker is up to his usual tricks,' _Helena said. She slipped her mask up a little bit to pinch the bridge of her nose.

'_He's starting a war, because of course he is,' _Patricia said. She tutted in response.

The group really needed to figure out the Joker's next move. The real problem was they felt like they were running around in circles like chickens with their heads cut off. Trying to predict the next move for a madman wasn't as easy as it looked.

* * *

><p>The Joker gave a grin to his men. "You know, I'm sure that the heroes are going to walk around, trying to figure out what my game is. I'm sure that I' driving them completely nuts. Which for some of them is a pretty short trip."<p>

The goons looked at the Joker. They weren't sure what they expected when they signed up for this. Then again, some of them really didn't sign up for it. They valued their lives, even though they were suddenly shorter when dealing with this particular madman.

"And now, Gotham City, the place where we can all kick back our feet and say, well that's pretty insane," The Joker said. He cackled in bemusement. "If I was in any other city in the world, I wouldn't have to think so far out of the box. I mean, crime, corruption, carnage, the three Cs, that's just another Sunday morning drive for the folks in Gotham City. I had to spice things up and upset the applecart!"

The Joker lifted an axe and smashed an apple cart. The wooden splinters flew in every direction when he wrecked the apple cart with a violent swing with his axe.

"And now, speaking of upsetting the apple cart, I'm sure the Big Bad Bat is trying to throw himself into a frenzy to figure out what I'm doing."

The vent off to the side of the Joker opened. A dusty, but still breathing and living, Batman stepped inside. He grabbed one of the goons nearest the door and pulled him up.

"You see, he wouldn't be half as fun, if he was twice as fun," Joker continued. He shook his head mockingly. "That guy, I swear, he could darken the sun just by looking at it. No smile, no laughter, no sir, not at all. And have you seen what he's wearing?"

Two more goons got a double knoggin knocker and were yanked into the shadows without another word.

"And here comes the Bat, all dressed in black!" The Joker sang. "Why would you cry? I'd just wish that he'd die!"

Batman reached over and grabbed the Joker. The man in question started to laugh, before his head exploded, causing Batman to be knocked back.

"Oh, the old exploding head trick, that's a good one!" The Joker yelled. "But, I prefer a good crowbar to the back of the head!"

As if on cue, one of the goons removed a red hoodie to reveal the Joker and he clonked Batman down onto the back of the head with a crowbar. He hit the ground running with a solid oof.

"Sloppy form, Bat Brains!" The Joker said. He cackled completely madly. "I'd give you a solid three out of ten."

The Joker's men, the one's that didn't get knocked out, stepped over.

"Hey, let's take off his mask, and figure out who the hell he is?" one of the men asked. The Joker responded casually by shooting him in the arm before he could to the deed. He winced when the bullet hit his arm. "Oww…what was that for?"

"Because, I'm not sure a bullet in your head would damage it," The Joker said, sounding scarily serious.

The goons backed up and the Joker looked at them. One of the goons finally spoke up, sounding braver than he really was.

"Don't you want to take his mask off and find out who he is?" one of the goons asked.

The Joker responded in a high pitched whine. "No, I don't want to take his mask off, and find out who he is."

The Clown Prince of Crime sighed. Good help was so hard to blackmail these days.

"First of all, he's likely has something rigged in this cowl thingy that will blow your hand clean off your wrist," the Joker said. "And secondly, if you take the mask off, Batman becomes just a man. Getting your ass kicked by some guy in a Bat suit….well that's pretty pathetic, but at least you can argue that he's put the fear of God into you. If it's just some guy underneath that mask, it makes you look like a bunch of little bitches!"

The Joker made sure Batman was knocked out. You couldn't really be too careful about this entire situation.

"I've got a far better idea, and this is going to be amazing, you're going to love this," Joker said. He snapped his fingers and grew suddenly serous. "Well, I'm going to love this, don't really care how much you punks really like it. But, I'm going to deliver Batman as a present to the fine men and women at Blackgate. His largest fan club resides there."

They all took a few steps back. The Joker still had a crowbar in his hand and he wasn't afraid to use it. It turned out that proved to be a good reason, when he swung the crowbar at the man who tried to unmask Batman and kept beating him upside the head, constantly.

"Just making sure that you all know what we're up against, we'll deliver the Bat, and we've got a banquet to catch," The Joker said.

The Joker paused and turned to the large man in the shadows. "And I'm really glad that you joined the party. Tonight, you get to feed big guy."

"Yes, the GCPD will be delicious, after they tried to put me away like an animal," the tall man in the shadows growled. "As for Batman, I'll save him for dessert."

He licked his lips. The Joker's goons chained Batman up and dragged him to the back of the van for transport to Blackgate prison.

* * *

><p>There were times where James Gordon questioned why certain things were done at certain times in Gotham City. One of those biggest questions was whether or not they should be having a benefit for the GCPD.<p>

The Mayor was barely cold in the morgue and the deputy Mayor thought that life should go on. Gordon reluctantly put the matter to a vote and sure enough, he was outvoted on the matter. So he put on a good and professional face.

Gordon sat down next to some of the GCPD's finest. He knew that some of these men bent the rules a little bit, but they were nothing compared to some of the corrupt people that had been on the police force in the past. Since he rose through the ranks as Commissioner, Gordon had been cleaning up things the best that he could.

"I know tonight, well it's going to be a rough evening," Gordon said. He tapped his spoon on the side of his wine glass, making a clanging noise. "We need to move forward, and work together. Mayor Hill's death was an unfortunate tragedy, but we will bring in this Joker and prove that justice still exists in Gotham City."

"If we ever find out who this nutjob is," Bullock reminded them. He didn't want to be the one to break it to them, but it seemed to be a mystery.

The door opened up suddenly and a rather stacked blonde in a slinky dress made her way into the next room. A large birthday cake on the cart is wheeled into the room.

Some of GCPD's finest sprung up to their feet straight away. They all looked like they were on a nervous hair trick.

"A special friend has ordered this Birthday Cake and he wants to share it with each and every one of you!" the woman commented, in a bubbly voice.

"Send in for the bomb squad," Bullock said.

One of the fresher faced and calmer minded cops looked at the woman. "No offense, m'am, but there have been a number of attacks. Unless you can tell me who order this cake."

"He…he wouldn't give his name," the woman stammered. "But I can assure you that the cake has not been tampered with in any way."

The woman removed some of the frosting from the cake and slowly licked her fingers. She closed her eyes and sucked the frosting from her fingers. She could see the cops looking at her, with raised eyebrows.

"But by all means, take a look at it," the woman said. "I have nothing to hide, and you can even have the cake, free of charge."

"Better be on guard, the cake could be a lie!" Bullock said. He couldn't believe that he was saying.

The bomb squad looked over the cake from every single angle. The woman who brought the cake in folded her hands underneath her chin and bit down onto her fingers. Her eyes widened when they looked it over.

"If it's a bomb, it's a pretty good hidden one," the senior member of the bomb squad said. Gordon looked at him. "We've combed pretty every single inch of it and there's nothing inside."

"See, I told you that it was okay!" the woman commented in a bubbly tone of voice, her Brooklyn accent even more prominent.

"Guess we were reacting to nothing," Renee said. She turned to Gordon, who looked at her, with his jaw completely set.

The deputy Mayor let out a groan and he turned towards Gordon. He obviously wanted tonight to go off without a hitch, mostly because he was set to get sworn in as the Interim Mayor tomorrow.

"Make sure that you toast Gotham City, for a brighter future, Gordon," the deputy Mayor said.

The bottle was corked and Gordon was about to make a toast. The only problem was that he didn't have a chance to. There was a gas that filled the room and caused the GCPD's finest, along with the politicians to drop down to the ground.

"And sometimes, a cake is really a cake!"

The Joker stepped inside the room. He helped himself to a slice of cake and ate it.

He paused and looked around the room. He tutted underneath his breath.

"Something's not right, I don't know what," The Joker commented. He mulled it over in his mind. "Wait a minute, these cops should be laughing themselves to death!"

"Maybe it's because you aren't really funny?"

Joker turned around and saw Huntress and Arcane standing there before him. His amused demeanor faded and he was serious.

"You ruined the punchline, you ruined it!" The Joker yelled. He backed up and held a gun towards them.

The gun was magnetized and lifted out of his hand.

"Well, this didn't go as planned, good thing I have an insurance policy!" The Joker said. He lifted his fingers to his lips and gave a whistle.

Whatever the Joker was calling, it would not be good. Sure enough, Killer Croc burst through the wall like he was the Kool-Aide man.

'_Well, I'll say one thing about Croc, he knows how to make an entrance,' _Barbara thought.

Killer Croc was big, mean, scaly, and extremely tall. He looked down at Huntress and Arcane. Their attention was diverted from the Joker onto this absolute towering beast of a monster.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on May 22<strong>**nd****, 2015. **


	68. The Man Who Laughs Part Three

**Chapter Sixty-Eight: The Man Who Laughs Part Three.**

* * *

><p>Killer Croc was far bigger than Helena remembered, but that was just his charm. The beast towered over both of them. He raised his arms into the air and gave a loud roar. Harry turned towards Helena and she set her jaw. She was determined to take the beast down a peg or ten, the best that she could.<p>

"You both look good enough to eat!" Croc growled. His eyes narrowed and he moved into the shadows to stalk them suddenly.

Harry closed his eyes and could sense Croc jump in from behind him. He spun around and knocked Croc hard onto his back. There was a huge impact when the monster was hurled down onto the ground.

He turned around and he could see that one shot was not enough to put Croc down. Croc got up and picked up a large section of the table. He broke it up and hurled it as a weapon.

Helena took a moment to dodge out of the way of the table being hurled at her. The table splintered onto the ground when it connected. She ducked her head and did a forward roll before popping up. She pulled out a crossbow and armed it. She fired a couple of steady shots at Croc. Croc deflected them with his beefy fist and his teeth curled into a devious grin when he stepped back.

"You're going to have to do better than that," Croc growled. He laughed extremely loud when he peered down at them.

Helena jumped halfway up into the air and she slammed her fist down onto his head. That didn't do much good. Other than serving as a distraction which did a lot of good in getting them into position for a far better attack.

Harry aimed a miniature stun rocket from his wrist gauntlet. It fired at Croc and caught him right in the chest. Croc was lifted off of the ground and slammed back with a thunderous snap. He bounced off of the ground with a crunch. Harry stood over the man's body and waited for him to get up.

Croc grabbed Harry around the wrist and forced him to the ground.

"You really don't learn, do you?" Harry asked. He closed his eyes and channeled the energy through the gauntlets on his suit.

Croc was lifted up off of the ground. He smacked against the ground hard. He got to his feet once more. His anger grew when he stormed towards Harry.

'_And here he comes, the gift that just keeps on giving,' _Kara thought. She wished that she could jump in, but she followed Harry's thought process and realized that he had a plan. It wouldn't be Harry if he didn't have a plan.

While Harry was busy playing tag with Croc, Helena was laying out traps in the room. They were setting up Croc for a fall.

She had fought Croc before, and knew a good way to defeat him. It just took some doing to defeat him. Helena fought Croc before in her native Earth and this one was just as big and just as mean as the Croc that she had to fight. He might have been even bigger and even meaner than the Croc that she fought.

Regardless of that fact, Helena set things up. She could see Harry blind Croc with a burst of light.

'_Just a few more minutes, I swear,' _Helena thought.

'_Okay, no sweat,' _Harry said. He could see that Croc's hide was resistant to magical attacks like a dragon's might have been. Not that magic was the be all end all to all fighting, but Harry filed that fact away for usage for later.

He had to use his magic to shield the downed cops from Croc's outrage. That made the fight pretty much difficult to do where he was.

He craned his neck back and he could hear Croc's thunderous tone in the distance. He knew that he was close to taking his adversary down.

"Time for feeding!"

"Here!" Harry said. He hurled the cart with the cake right at Croc. The cake cart smashed against Croc and knocked him back several steps. The beast smashed through the cake.

'_And he's not a cake person,' _Lois said.

'_Communist,' _Chloe piped up, shaking her head sadly.

Croc would not be deterred. He gave a thunderous growl and tore his way forward, and he dented the cake cart when he moved forward. "You think that you're pretty clever, don't you?"

"A little bit, yes," Harry replied in his driest tone of voice. He could see Croc violently rush him in an attempt to take his head off. Harry dodged Croc's attacks and Croc smashed head long into the cart which caused it to fly backwards.

Harry fired a series of rapid fire punches to Croc and doubled him over. These stinging blows caused Croc to stagger back. He was like a wounded animal, a feral wounded animal. His teeth gritted together.

'_Now would be a good time,' _Harry thought.

'_Good thing that I'm ready,' _Helena thought.

'_As usual, your timing is impeccable,' _Karen said.

Harry got the gist of what she wanted from him. The good news was that Croc was pretty riled up. Therefore there should no problem with getting him into position.

Croc landed on a mine and it caused an electrified charge to fill the beast's body. He gave a howl of absolutely agony when the mine closed around him. He breathed in and out when the electrified cage closed hard around him.

"You, you, you!" Croc growled. He tried to break free from the cage. A muzzle snapped around his jaw and shocked him into compliance.

'_So the GCPD's finest will be waking up soon with a severe hang over,' _Dinah thought when the dust finally settled.

'_Yes,' _Harry thought. _'We figured that it would be best to switch out the champagne bottle and attempt to lure the Joker into his own trap. He overplayed his hand.'_

'_He always did have a weakness for the drama,' _Helena said. She leaned against Harry and caught her breath. _'But there's only one problem and that's that he escaped through the back door.'_

That was the other main problem regarding the Joker. The clown always had a flair for the dramatics and he always tended to escape at the worst possible times. That was two of his more annoying traits. Those were two traits that defined the Clown Prince of Crime worse than pretty much anything else.

Harry frowned when he looked things over. He needed to figure out what the Joker's next move was and that could be difficult.

"There's a riot at Blackgate!" Chloe piped in suddenly. That was a statement that got Harry's attention. "Someone gassed all of the guards and cleared out all of the prisoners."

"It just so happens that I've got the same thing on my end," Barbara reported in. "I managed to find a way inside and….."

Her communication was abruptly cut off before she had a chance to elaborate this point. That caused Harry and Helena to turn towards each other and looked extremely worried. They needed to find a way into the prison and soon. The two left the scene, when some of GCPD's finest stirred away.

At least they didn't leave without giving them a present, one caged Croc. Now it was off to find the Joker.

* * *

><p>Batman felt like a ton of bricks had been dropped down on the back of his head when he slowly stirred away. It took him a couple of moments to mentally return to what he was doing. He was in the midst of fighting the Joker and trying to take the man down. Unfortunately, conventional crime fighting methods did not work against the Joker. The man had duped Batman in pretty much evert turn.<p>

Now he was waking up, he acknowledged his surroundings. His headset was cracked so he couldn't call for help even if he wanted to. He just hoped that Harry, Helena, Barbara, or someone else could pick up the fact that he was gone before it was too late. Batman hated to admit that he would rely on anyone for any single reason.

He could feel a rather rough boot prod the back of his head.

"Get up, Bats, it's time for you to face a jury of your peers."

One of the rougher goons surrounding him grabbed Batman up by the mask and slammed him down onto the ground.

Batman realized he was in the center of a ring of prisoners in Blackgate. The bright lights were completely on. He could see guards slumped up against the walls with wide smiles on their faces. Like victims of the Joker tended to have. The lights were on, but you better believe that no one was home.

He realized that he was surrounded by some of Blackgate's most notorious.

"You thought you're pretty clever, don't you, Bats!" one of the goons yelled at him. He held a wrench in his hand.

The bright side was that the goons might be fighting each other about as hard as they would to get to Batman. That might, and he stressed might, give him a chance to get out of there while the getting was good.

"I think he thinks he's pretty clever," one of the goons fired back. "He thought that he was good taking me and my boys down. I'm doing twenty because of this guy."

"At least you don't get the chair," one of the goons said.

"Wait, they have the death penalty in Gotham City?" one of the goons asked. He was surprised about this.

"Well, you don't know what I did, so they made an exception."

Batman could not focus on the back that his belt had been stripped of him somehow. The Dark Knight shook his head when he tried to get himself to his feet, but a rather large boot pressed down on his back.

"You broke my arm, you grim looking son of a bitch!" one of the goons said. He grabbed Batman's arm roughly. "How about I return the favor for you?"

There was a loud whistle and all of the goons looked up. They saw the Joker perched on the Catwalk. He had an oversized bean bag chair and he had a large soda cup and a carton of popcorn.

"No, don't mind me, gentlemen, just watching the show, it should be a hoot!" The Joker cheered. He sat down to enjoy the show, and see the party.

The mobsters looked very unnerved about the clown. He was not one of them. Sure, he gave them a gift of Batman for them to play with and pick apart at their leisure, but he was not one of them. He resembled one of those Arkham nutjobs that any self-respecting criminal steered far away from.

Batman slipped away from the mobster because of the temporary distraction. He nailed him right in the side of the face.

"Get him, he's useless without his toys!" one of the goons yelled.

"And there's your first mistake!" Joker yelled. "Underestimating your opponent, no wonder you guys ended up in prison."

The goons rushed Batman. Batman dodged their attacks with swift and able precision.

"And that was a low shot, but this is No Holds Barred, so I'll allow it!" The Joker cheered. He looked amused with Batman firing several shots at his enemy. "Oh, and that one is going to leave a mark when you get up in the morning. And there we go, brutal shot right there, pretty brutal, that's going to hurt!"

The goons decided to pool their resources. One of them broke a piece of wood over the back of Batman's leg and they all dog piled him. They punched away at him.

"And now, finally, I've got you," the goon said. He had a rusty bedspring.

"And time out!" The Joker yelled. The goons all turned towards the Joker. "I'm sorry, but you boys don't get the rules of the game."

"Hey, you gave us the Bat, and you told us to stop!" the mobster said. He stared down the Joker.

"I changed my mind, isn't anyone allowed to do that around here?" The Joker asked. He shook his head and he gave a lengthy sigh in response. "Yes, I know that you all had your hearts set on blasting the Bat and making sure that he went splat."

The Joker paused and gave a long chuckle. Shaking his head, his teeth twisted into a devious grin. "Boy, I'm a poet, don't I know it?"

His laughter increased even greater but he grew serious.

"But, I got you your time with the Bat and you didn't finish him off in time," Joker said. "And here I thought you guys were a bit premature on the draw. But that's just the impression I got when I asked your wives."

He cackled madly at his own joke.

"Hey, you can't do this to us!" one of the mobsters yelled. It sounded a lot braver than he really was. He stood up and looked at the Joker, looking him straight in the eye. On the one hand, his knees started to knock together. "We're not going to stop because some pasty faced freak asked us to do so. So why don't you go to Arkham where you belong?"

"First of all, that's racist!" The Joker snapped. The looked completely serious. Some of the goons backed off. When the man who laughed stopped laughing, it was time to get the hell of dodge. "And for the record, I wasn't asking, I was telling. GOT THAT!"

The Joker pulled out a really large gun and took aim. There was a loud bang that resounded and blew the brains of the goon out.

"Get with the program people, I'm not one of your run of the mill mob bosses, I'm a cut above the rest!" Joker yelled.

He could see another figure fly down from the sky. Batgirl already was there and she detonated a charge which shocked the goons in question.

"And they should have seen that coming," Joker said. He watched Batgirl take down the goons. "And why is it that all of the good guys get all of the really cool toys? Almost makes me want to go straight but….the fan girls would riot if I did."

The Joker chuckled and he pulled out a gun. He spoke more to himself than anyone else. "It does seem a bit cheap to shoot someone when their back is turn. But I can be a pretty cheap guy."

He took aim, with the gun pointing directly at Batgirl, ready to blow her straight to Bludhaven. She was too busy with the gaggle of goons to notice Joker setting up for the kill.

* * *

><p>Some time before, Huntress and Arcane made their way to Blackgate. They ran into some trouble, which might have been understating things just a little bit.<p>

'_There's a field cutting our communications,' _Harry informed Chloe. His frown deepened. _'That must be why Barbara got cut off.'_

'_So, do you think that she's in trouble?' _Gwen asked nervously. She thought about tracking her down, but she was nowhere near ready to be thrown out on the field.

'_I would have a sign that she might be in trouble,' _Harry thought. He moved around and scanned the area around the prison. _'We got a problem.'_

'_That's both extremely vague and never good,' _Chloe piped in. She hung her head with a sigh. _'What kind of a problem?'_

"_There are bombs that are all around the area of the prison_," Harry said. He was actually more impressed by the fact that Barbara found her way inside now more than ever before. And he was also extremely concerned that she found her way in as well. It didn't bode well for obvious reasons. _'If we open the door, we cause an explosion. If we step in a wrong place, we cause an explosion.'_

'_Right, I'm getting the scan you performed right now,' _Chloe thought. _'Although, I'm not sure how you can't disable the bombs using magic.'_

'_That's not the cure all solution for everything, Chloe,' _Harry lectured her. Chloe frowned and nodded in response. _'And besides, given the make up in bombs, a sudden jolt of magical energy could cause a chain reaction that could take out half of Gotham City.'_

Chloe figured that made a perfect amount of sense. She had the blueprints up and she tapped into the security feed. The grisly fate of the guards displayed right before her very eyes and it wasn't really pretty at all. It turned her stomach as a matter of fact. It sickened her beyond all belief.

She shook her head. Chloe had to pull herself away from that and just focus on what she needed to do.

'_Okay, okay, I've got something,' _Chloe responded. She pushed her hair out of her face and frowned. _'Or at least I think that I got something, you never truly know until you really look.'_

'_Just tell us one way or another, Chloe,' _Harry told her.

'_Right, right, of course,' _Chloe said. _'There is a gate on the East Side of the prison, right next to the stone wall. It's a bit underneath the water and a bit of a steep climb but….'_

Harry grabbed Helena by the wrist and both of them teleported over the gate and to the entrance point.

'_Or you can just teleport over the wall like a smart person and….somehow not land on a mine,' _Chloe said. She blinked. _'I'm not sure how that is done really.'_

'_Just got to trust my instincts, they rarely lead me astray,' _Harry informed her.

Chloe nodded and set her jaw. _'Okay, I've dug up an access code and I'm unloading it to your wrist computer right there. From there, I think that you're going to be cut off from the RAO main frame unless you can disable whatever device the Joker's using to cut things off.'_

The two of them agreed that. They still had the bond link at least.

Harry sensed that Barbara was pretty close by and it was time for them to make their way inside and see what they could do to find her.

Huntress and Arcane made their way down the hallway. The sounds and the signs of combat greeted them when they scrambled down that long and winding hallway.

Batgirl was busy taking out the goons one at a time. Batman joined the fight, despite the fact that he was fighting one leg. He grabbed the goon around the throat and slammed him back against the wall.

"Oh, what one to take out?" Joker asked. "Oh well, eenie, meanie, miney…HEY!"

Arcane sent a pulse of energy up to the rafters and knocked the Joker's gun out of his hand. He was hoisted up off of the ground and send flying back.

"That wasn't….you again!" Joker yelled. He could see Arcane and Huntress on the catwalk with him. "So, let me ask you a question? Have the two of you ever played butler?"

He flipped a deck of playing cards at them. The cards landed on the catwalk and caused it to explode underneath them.

Harry grabbed his arm around the Huntress and held her up. They pretty much hovered over the catwalk and kept looking forward.

The dust was close to clearing, but there was one thing that was true. The Joker managed to slip away again.

The goons on the ground were all down. There would be a problem regarding getting them all back in their cells, but one issue at a time was the call of the day.

The Joker also got away. Helena hated the fact that happened, and she was going to put a stop to it.

Harry placed her down gently. Helena aimed the grapnel that she had on her and it propelled her up the side of the wall. She climbed her way up in an attempt to find the Joker and she would find him and stop him one way or another.

* * *

><p>The Joker was a bit incensed that his plan didn't go as planned. Okay, to say that he had that much of a plan was going to be pushing it. Still he had something together and those do gooders just had to ruin it, like they ruined pretty much everything else in his life.<p>

He could hear the loud explosions down on the ground and he could see that several thugs had been taken down.

"This is absolutely nuts, madness even!" The Joker howled at the top of his lungs.

It was madness alright. Harry slammed two of the remaining goons on the ground. He could see Batman slumped over on the ground.

"I'm fine," Batman grunted. Harry wasn't about to argue about that point. Batgirl looked like she might, but Harry gave her one of those looks and that caused her to back off slowly. "Where's the Joker?"

Harry whistled in response. That was actually a pretty good question. He racked his brain for what he thought was a pretty good answer.

He was about to turn around but he found that Helena was gone. He came to one conclusion, she decided to go after the Joker on her own.

Harry was about ready to turn to Batman to inform him of this point. There was only one problem. Batman disappeared into the shadows once again. That left Harry standing there with his hands in his pockets.

'_Wonderful,' _Harry thought.

'_Yeah, and it must run in the family,' _Karen thought. _'I wonder if Batman is going to try and take her down before she reached the Joker.'_

Harry didn't say anything. He figured out that if it wasn't one thing, it was another thing. He moved up and decided to chase down Helena.

Helena was up the hall a little bit. She could see the Joker fumbling with the lock on the door. She pointed a crossbow.

One arrow slammed into the back of the Joker's knee. It caused him to fall back onto the ground. He screamed in agony when he slumped down.

"I used to be a homicidal maniac, and then I got an arrow in the knee," Joker said. He laughed, more to himself than anyone else. "Is that meme getting old to you, or is it just me? I can never tell."

Helena placed the crossbow at the Joker's face.

"So, is that it, you're going to kill me?" Joker asked. "You're going to kill a man who is down and unable to defend himself."

"I'll be doing the world a favor when I take you out," Helena said. The Joker laughed and that laughter dug into her skin and bothered her.

"Just keep telling yourself that, one day it might come true!" The Joker sang at the top of his lungs. He could see her blazing eyes down on him and he looked at her. "And no one knows how to take a joke anymore. Everyone gets so serious. And so personal, why do you take this so personal?"

Helena tried not to let herself be talked to death. "You killed my father."

The Joker didn't respond to anything other than that by laughter. She shot a crossbow bolt at the wall behind him. It pinned him against the wall.

"You're going to have to be a bit more specific than that, Huntress," Joker said. He paused for a moment. "For me, it might as well have been another Monday. Or was it Saturday? More like….."

Helena kicked him hard in the face. She was about ready to finish him off.

A grapnel shot out and pulled a crossbow out of her hands. She fell down onto the ground. Batman stood over her.

"What the hell are you doing?" Huntress asked. "He needs to be taken down."

"That's for the courts to decide," Batman answered. "That's not justice."

"And if you let him out on the streets, we can be condemning many more people to death, maybe you as well," Helena said. This was an argument she had bottled up inside her for a very long time. She wanted to jump out and yell at him because of this. Her frustration hit a fever bitch.

"Putting down the Joker won't solve anything," Batman argued.

Helena turned towards her. "Yes, it will. Trust me, you can't save him."

"She's right, I'm beyond all hope," Joker said. He shook his head sadly. "Should have killed me when you had a chance, instead of stopping to chit-chat."

The Joker pulled out a bag of marbles from his undercoat. He looked at them, his eyes shifting over them curiously. "And people thought that I lost these years ago."

The Joker was about ready to take them all out in one fell swoop. A flash of light came in front of his face.

Arcane blasted the Joker off of the catwalk before he could strike. The bag of marbles flew into the air and the Joker looked at them with wide eyes.

He started to laugh when the marbles landed onto the platform that he had knocked to. The explosions covered him.

"We've got to get out of here!" Harry said, when Batman looked like he was going to make a motion to grab the Joker. "He's gone."

Batman wanted to know who this man was, and what made him ticked. Huntress and Arcane grabbed him and saw Batgirl waiting for them. Harry grabbed her by the wrist and closed his eyes.

He teleported the entire group outside of the prison just seconds away. They could still hear the Joker's laughter echo through their ears.

Harry held them above the ground, and prevented them from splashing down into the ground hard. He held his breath for a few seconds.

The bombs all detonated one at a time. The field around his suit managed to protect the group from the entire blast.

One of the greatest massacres in Blackgate Prison history occurred. Would there be survivors? That remained to be seen. It seemed like the Joker intended to blow up everyone, prisoners included after a time. He wanted to destroy all of the competition after all, or at least a chunk of it.

All of them looked at each other. There should be no one that anyone could have survived that, but they knew better.

* * *

><p>The group found themselves back at the RAO Corporation. Batman remained in Gotham City. The latest news reports came in and Barbara, Harry, and Helena watched the reports.<p>

"The explosion at Blackgate prison have left numerous dead, although there were some survivors found in the wreckage thanks to the quick response timing from Gotham medical," Vicki Vale reported. "Many of the guards look to have been killed by the Joker, while some of the inmates survived. No one will know quite what happened or who made the 911 call for what happened at Blackgate. Regardless, many prisoners will make a full recovery, although some will lose usage of their limbs. In other news, disaster was averted at the GCPD benefit, when an intended poison champagne bottle did not murder its intended targets. Instead, a non-lethal knockout drug was utilized that only left Gotham's finest with mild symptoms that could be essentially compared to a hangover."

Vicki paused.

"Was this a mistake caused by the criminal or did the GCPD have a guardian angel on their side?" Vicki asked. "Notorious mob enforcer, former circus sideshow act, underground cage fighter, and suspected cannibal Waylon "Killer Croc" Jones was also found on the scene of the crime, completely sedated. This entire story has left us with more questions than answers. Including, who is the Joker and what was his motives? The GCPD has not responded to our inquiries at this time."

It was obvious to Harry that Vicki was not too happy about the lack of information. Of course, there wasn't any information to be had.

"We do know that his body was never recovered from the wreckage," Vicki continued to narrate over the news.

Helena's sigh could be heard from miles around. "Of course it wasn't, so we all know what that means."

"Yes, we do," Barbara agreed with her. She really couldn't say anything more than that.

Helena frowned extremely deeply. Barbara stripped out of her armor, and thankfully she didn't get too many injuries.

Helena was looking at the news report talking about how the Joker managed to escape his fate. To say she wasn't in a good mood would be understating things a little bit. Her mood turned fairly sour all things considered.

"I should have taken him down a lot quicker," Helena said. "I should have hit him with the kill shot."

"I don't think should haves will do us any good," Harry said. He frowned when he pondered a couple of points. "There's no sign that the Joker is still alive."

"But on the contrary, there's no sign that the Joker is dead either," Barbara reminded him. Harry corked his eyebrow. "Could be a problem?"

"Yes, it could be a problem," Harry agreed. "Someone like that isn't going to stay too quiet for long. But alive or dead, he's caused a problem."

"The cold war between the mobs in Gotham City is over, and Maroni's old territory is being fought by with some factions," Helena said. She got up and walked down the hallway. "If the Joker wanted to cause chaos, you better believe that's what he stirred up."

"You shouldn't blame yourself for that, Helena," Harry warned her.

"Yet, I do," Helena said in an absent minded manner when she walked down the hallway. Harry and Barbara followed her.

"I think that we need to do something to ease the tension," Harry said. "Because, make no mistake about it, we've all had a pretty tense night."

Helena was going to ask Harry what he intended for that to be. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a blistering kiss.

Her eyes widened and her body slackened underneath Harry's tight embrace. She relaxed when he pulled her in towards this extremely passionate kiss that got even more intense by each lasting moment.

Barbara pouted that she didn't get some. Harry was able to correct that matter sooner rather than later.

* * *

><p>Harry rested in bed with Barbara and Helena on either side of him. The two of them smiled in the afterglow of what happened.<p>

"I think that we all needed that after the mission that we had," Helena said. She spoke in a matter of fact manner as if this was the most obvious point in the world.

"I think we can both agree on that one," Barbara said. Lazily rested her head on Harry's chest. Helena was pressed against Harry's back on either side.

"And when you're ready to go again, just say the word," Harry told both of them.

Barbara responded with one of those smiles that could light the entire world on fire. "And what if we're ready now?"

"Then, I obviously didn't fuck you hard enough," Harry told her. He was going to correct that point right now.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on May 26<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	69. Take Flight

**Chapter Sixty-Nine: Take Flight.**

* * *

><p>Lois shook her head in utter bemusement and partial disgust. She wasn't sure when this argument between her and her sister started, but she could say one thing. It was utterly stupid and she wanted to end it.<p>

"Oh, you're so special because you're the perfect one, you're the hotshot reporter, and you're the one that never gets into trouble, ever," Lucy said. She looked her in the eye. "And you think that you're special because you got to know Mom, and I never did."

Lois stopped, her mouth open in shock. She wondered how they got around to that particular point. With her sister, it could honestly be hard to tell.

"I barely got to know her even more than you did," Lois argued with Lucy. She placed her hands on her hips and stared her sister directly in the eye. "I don't know why you're acting like a spoiled, entitled brat, but you better knock it off."

"Oh, now I'm being a spoiled brat," Lucy said. She placed her hands on her hips.

'_And it's like the loop that never keeps on ending,' _Chloe said. She was about ready to talk Lois down from doing something really stupid to damage her relationship with Lucy. She came to the grim and extremely real realization that it might not really do her any good. At least that was her assumption on the matter. _'Around and around it goes, where it stops….'_

'_Yeah, we shouldn't really be listening to this, this is getting kind of uncomfortable,' _Kara offered. She frowned even more deeply. _'Kind of like a train wreck, you can't really look away.'_

"Well, let's see," Lois said, ignoring the chatter from the peanut gallery. She tapped her finger on her chin in mocking thoughtfulness. "I had to come over to Europe, fly all the way over there, because you got yourself in trouble with that fence. And you should be thanking Harry on bended knee because he took care of them."

'_Nice to see my name is invoked here,' _Harry said dryly. He was keeping an able ear with his interest in this back and forth conversation. Both girls seemed to be trying to gain the high ground against each other, even though there was very little high ground to be had here.

"And you think that just because you're sleeping with Harry, you're better than me," Lucy said. While she was strongly considering the fact that she should thank Harry for all that he did for her, she was not going to do it because her uptight bitch of an older sister was the one that said so. She had standards, and she was going to do things her way, because that was the right way to go. She placed her hands on her hips.

"I never said that, you're the one that said that," Lois said.

'_You know, these arguments never end well, two sisters fighting over a man,' _Sara said.

'_Agreed, better to share and share alike,' _Dinah said sagely. _'Although the first man that we….'_

'_Do we need to bring that up, honestly?' _Sara asked. _'Anything before Harry was practice anyway…well any man before Harry.'_

'_Yeah, guess so, but….I suppose that we should respect the dead,' _Dinah thought. _'Especially when he brings a lot less drama than when he was alive.'_

"You think that you're going to replace Mom with me, well I don't have to listen to you, I don't have to listen to anything that you say," Lucy said. She was getting a bit hot under the collar when she stared her sister down. Her teeth pretty much bared when she glared at her sister.

'_And she envokes the mother replacement card,' _Chloe said. She placed her head down on her desk and sigh.

'_Look, I don't need a running commentary on this, okay,' _Lois said.

'_Well, then, you should shut the bond traffic off, if it's bothering you,' _Chloe said in a sing song voice. That caused Lois to grit her teeth and growl out something. _'What was that, Lois? I didn't quite make that out over the top of the teeth gnashing. _

'_I said that it gives me something to focus on so I don't strangle my sister,' _Lois thought. She frowned more deeply. _'Granted, it doesn't necessarily help at all, where that's all that my bond mates will talk about.'_

"And you are the one to talk about being a self-entitled brat," Lucy said. She folded her arms. She might have already folded them in the process. Lois couldn't bring herself to remember or honestly care at this point.

"You don't know what you're talking about," Lois fired back.

"Well, let me spell it out for you, do I need to even tell you about half of the shit that you did in college to get our father's attention?" Lucy asked. She pursed her lips to give Lois a nasty glare. "That was to make sure the General had all eyes on Lois, because she was the star of the show."

"Yeah, I did some stupid things, but that doesn't mean that you should do anything as stupid," Lois said.

There was plenty of silence.

"You know, I'm twenty years old, I'm old enough to do what I want," Lucy said. "I don't need you checking up on me every other day. "

"Given that you were about to be kidnapped and worked over by some very dangerous people, I'm glad that I can," Lois said.

"Oh, and I suppose that you're the epitome of all things rational," Lucy said. She got into Lois's face and it looked like for one wild moment that this little tussle between sisters was going to descend on the slap fights. "You report on things that are going to get you killed. But then again, you get off on it because Superwoman saves you. Are you sleeping behind Harry's back with her?"

"You know, that's really none of your concern if I am," Lois said coldly. She wasn't going to explain the ins and outs of the collective to her brat of a sister. "And you really need to check whatever attitude problem you have at the door."

"Well, if you think that I have an attitude problem, then you better just leave, because I'd hate to offend you with my attitude!" Lucy said. Lois turned her back.

"Fine Lucy, goodbye!" Lois said. She stormed off.

She wondered what this argument started with, and she remembered that she honestly didn't care. All she knew was that she was getting exceedingly more frustrated by it when time went on.

Lucy curled her nose up with a slight snarl and she kicked the ground beneath her. "Fine, Lois turn your back on me, see if I care!"

She shook her head; Lois thought that she was so perfect. Just because she was extremely beautiful and talented, that didn't mean that Lois had to act like such an uptight bitch. She thought that she was so special that she had a relationship with the perfect man.

And Lucy wasn't stupid, she knew that Harry had a group of many women that Lois was a part of. She felt kind of resentful because of that because Lois didn't invite her and had been going out of her way to cock block her.

It was almost like Lois didn't want her sister to have any fun. Lucy shook her head, her nostrils flaring with a snarl. She stamped her foot on the ground like a little girl that had been deprived of her favorite lolly.

"Who needs her anyway," Lucy grumbled underneath her breath.

She wondered if Lois expected Lucy to get on her knees and worship her after Lois got her out of trouble. It wasn't Lucy's fault that she was in trouble, well not completely. Okay, mostly, but she was not going to admit that to her.

She caught a glint of something in the grass. It was a glowing purple sapphire and Lucy was caught unaware regarding how exceedingly pretty it looked.

The younger Lane sister took a step forward. One thing that she had common with her older sister was a morbid sense of curiosity. She stepped towards the glowing shiny sapphire on the ground and picked it up.

It hummed brightly in her hand and engulfed her in a blast of pink light that sucked her inside.

Claire turned up right now. She showed up just in time to see Lois's younger sister. The alien woman's eyes widened and the Woman of Steel had one thought going through her mind that she somehow had the presence of mind to block from the rest of the bond. _'Lois is going to kill me for this one, somehow.'_

* * *

><p>Gwen Stacy found herself lying on the back on the ground. She learned a pretty powerful lesson.<p>

"Remember, just because you have the powers, doesn't mean that you have the abilities," Cassandra lectured from the point where she was sitting.

"Yes, noted," Gwen said. She struggled to get up to her feet. She faced off against Jade. The Assassin known as Cheshire was more than happy to put her through the paces.

"Your foundation is solid, but without the power build on top of it, you will get skewed alive," Jade said. She pulled out a pair of daggers and rushed Gwen with them. It was a simple effort to test her reflexes.

Gwen could hear a blaring sensation in the back of her head. After nearly getting hacked and slashed a few times, she recalled that was her Spider Sense. She propelled herself up into the air and landed on the ground.

The breath was knocked out of her body.

"You can handle yourself against the garden variety of thugs quite nicely," Jade said. She grabbed Gwen's arm and pinned it behind her back. She pushed her down to the ground and slammed her down to the ground. "But against the top most tier of fighters….."

"I haven't quite reached that yet, I know," Gwen breathed. She felt her arm snapped behind her back.

Connie Kent, the combination clone of Claire Kent and Alexandria Luthor, watched the battle from her vantage point. She was sitting with Whitney, Artemis, Rebecca, and Laura.

"So, how is your training going underneath Faora?" Laura asked.

"Intense, it's pretty intense," Connie informed her cousin. She shuddered when she thought about it. Laura placed her shoulder around her.

"Yeah, it can be pretty intense," Laura answered. She shook her head. "But at least you….at least you get the most out of your training and be the very best that you can be."

They all watched Jade kick things into hard gear and really knock Gwen down on the floor.

"I think that we have the worst arrangement of training, out there though," Connie said. She shook her head. "I mean, Faora is pretty bad when she trains us….it the training from hell….."

"I don't think that you really complain about training from hell until you trained under Helena," Rebecca said. "She's like Batman, only with monthly problems."

"Did you say that to her face?" Whitney asked. She would have paid any amount of money to see that. She had a grin on her face.

"No, I didn't, I prefer to enjoy my life long and living, thank you very much," Rebecca commented with a deep frown. "So what about you?"

"Dinah isn't too bad, although she can get intense sometimes," Artemis said. "Of course, the training I got from Lady Shiva takes it away and then some."

'_YES!' _Sara and Dinah chimed in in unison even though most of the girls couldn't hear it. _'WE AGREE!'_

Whitney shrugged. She supposed that she could consider herself lucky. "Well, I can't really complain about Iris too much yet. Iris is pretty fair with the training. Unless of course my ADHD runs wild….."

"Isn't that more of a consequence of your powers than anything else?" Rebecca asked. "Too many thoughts running at the speed of light. It's more than enough to make anyone feel quite overwhelmed."

"Yeah, I guess," Whitney agreed. She didn't really think of it along those lines, but explaining that to Iris. "But she does put me through the training from hell…."

"Please don't call it that, unless it's done by Lady Shiva," Artemis argued. She hung her head down. "Any training that's not done by Lady Shiva should be considered to be quite heavenly and there's no training from hell aspect to it at all."

"The Huntress is just as….."

Meanwhile down on the ground, there was quite the interesting little sparring session going on. Gwen was being knocked around and rocked by Cheshire.

Cassandra observed the training session. She mentally reported on her feedback, along with the verbal cues. Given the life that she lived, she was more at ease with mental communications than she was with physical ones.

'_Gwen is still standing even twenty minutes into the fight,' _Cassandra thought. _'That is pretty remarkable for her experience level. And I can tell you from experience that Jade is not taking it lightly on her at all.'_

'_When does she ever go light?' _Harry thought.

'_Certainly not now, Gwen has some raw reflexes,' _Cassandra thought. _'She could be a pretty good fighter once they get refined….and it's kind of hard to concentrate when there's a gaggle of teenage girls arguing above.'_

Harry was busy doing other things, so he was kind of out of the bond loop. He assessed that most of the girls in question weren't locked into the bond yet, but that could change before too long.

'_What are they arguing about now?' _Harry asked.

'_They're arguing who the harshest trainer is,' _Cassandra thought. There was a part of her that seemed utterly amused, even though it was kind of detracting from what she was trying to watch. _'And Artemis is correct….and so is Dinah and Sara, the answer is my mother.'_

'_I'm surprised I'm not in the running,' _Harry thought. He was half joking when he said this part. _'I'm going to work you girls harder._

'_Well, you do reward us at the end,' _Cass said casually. _'So that takes some of the sting off of everything, honestly.'_

Harry wasn't about to argue with that particular point. He pulled away from the bond traffic and allowed Cass to conclude her work.

Gwen found herself slumped against the ground and she was breathing extremely heavily in response. Jade smiled.

"No pain, no gain."

"Right," Gwen said. She tried to take Jade out, but Jade blocked her attack. She tried to do that, but Jade blocked her attacks again and again.

It was obvious that she was going to have to take a different line of approach, although she wasn't really sure what that would be like. Jade stepped back to give her room, although Gwen was almost certain that the room was to hammer her ass again.

And not in the good way, not that the good way would be the best way. Jade seemed like that the type that would dominant a female into a sticky pile of goo.

'_Pretty much, yes,' _Harry agreed, picking up on Gwen's thought with a chuckle. _'Just keep your eye on the ball.'_

* * *

><p>Lois Lane recalled when she had been sent to visit to the Principal's office when she went to school. She let a breath out and she wondered that if this was worst.<p>

There was a part of her that was an extremely confrontational mood after the discussion that she had with her sister this morning. Well, discussion might have been an interesting way to put it. A right and out argument would have been a better way to put it.

She was up before the blue headed individuals that ruled the galaxy, or at least policed the police force that policed the Green Lantern Lois.

"Lois Lane, Green Lantern of Sector 2814?" one of them asked.

Lois shook her head. She would think that they would know who she was given how many times she had been called up before them. Sometimes it wasn't for any really good reason at all. "Yeah, that's me, the Earth Girl."

"Your performance in that sector has been satisfactory, despite your….less than appeasing attitude at times," one of the guardians commented.

Lois snorted. She just called them how she saw them. Plus she didn't have about as bad of an attitude.

"Despite your performance being well, we do think that you are spreading yourself too thin with your responsibilities with the Justice League and the Green Lantern Corps," the Guardian said.

"I don't think that I'll be quitting the Justice League if that's what you're asking," Lois said in frustration.

"We are not asking that, Lois Lane," one of them said. Gathet, she believed that his name was. She could tell because he was one of the few Guardians that she didn't want to strangle for being an obnoxious asshole.

They tended to be that way a lot. There were a lot of the Guardians that Lois clashed with. It wasn't entirely her fault, well most of the time. Earth tended to have a pretty bad reputation in the universe for being this backwater planet where a lot of people are too stupid and would end up destroying their own planet within the next hundred years.

Granted, there were a lot of people that didn't help their cause all that much, but Lois digressed to be honest.

"We're not asking you to quit the Justice League, but do remember your priorities," another one of the Guardians commented. "We have decided that you should have a backup."

Lois whistled suddenly. She shook her head. "Yes, haven't we done this before? And hasn't it not ended up well?"

"We realized that Mr. Gardner was not a good fit to be partnered up with you," one of the Guardians commented. "Although you could have handled his behavior with a little more tact."

"Just did things in a way that would make the message sink in, sir," Lois said. She made that last word sound a little mocking and a little condescending, even if it might have been considered to be a mostly respectful word.

"Yes, well, I do believe that this particular individual will be more suited for your tastes," one of the Guardians commented. "Miss Danvers, do come out and introduce yourself?"

Lois looked up and saw an attractive blonde with an amazing body approach her. She could feel her heart racing when she looked over this woman. She was amazing to say the very least. The standard issued uniform fit her body.

"Carol, it's nice to meet you again," Lois said.

"It's good to see you again, Lois," Carol said. The two of them shook hands with each other and exchanged smiles with each other.

"The fact that the two of you have been acquainted with each other should make this a lot easier," the Guardian said. "I trust the two of you will be able to handle the responsibilities of Sector 2814."

Lois wondered what the Guardians were thinking, but there were far worse choices that Carol. There was also a sense that the Guardians might not be telling them the full story. At least that's the idea that Lois got. She frowned when her eyes brushed over them.

"I think that we've got a pretty good handle on things," Lois commented. Carol nodded in confirmation as well.

"Very well, that is all we need from you today, you're dismissed," one of the Guardians said.

Carol and Lois walked side by side with each other. The two of them didn't say anything for a moment. Lois, hating the awkward silence that involved, decided that she was going to be the one that needed to break it. "So, this is going to be just like old times again, isn't it?"

Carol snorted. "Yes, I guess that you can say that this is just going to be like old times ago."

"Good, I'm glad," Lois told her. She could see Carol's eyes shift over her. "What's the matter now?"

"Nothing, I'm just thinking about something," Carol commented, more to herself than to Lois. "Was it just me, or are the Guardians acting a bit odd?"

"You mean more so than usual," Lois said. "You just got the ring, so you're not used to this….when did you get the ring anyway?"

"It was about six months ago, it caused one of the planes to crash," Carol said. "It freaked Carol out and it freaked me out when I was transported onto Oa. Given some of the training that I've been through, this really isn't all that bad."

Lois raised her eyebrow and shook her head. She thought that she had been through some bad training. Then again, she was put through the paces due to the fact that she had a mouth on her.

"But, you know, it's almost like they're hiding something," Carol said to Lois in a low tone.

It was here that Lois was trying to hold her tongue, so it didn't get her in trouble. She didn't want to be the one to enlighten the newbie that secrets and lies was kind of a Guardian thing. In fact, it was how most of their operations go.

"I guess I'm just being paranoid?" Carol offered. She mistook Lois's non-reaction for something else.

"No, you're not," Lois said. "You're not being paranoid. I got the sense that there's a reason why they teamed us together and not that we look good together."

Carol raised her eyebrow and checked her watch. "I have to get back….a meeting with Harry."

"Yes, I know you have one with him," Lois said. "With Carol Ferris, right?"

"Yes," Carol confirmed. She could see Lois's eyes darting around. It was almost like she was trying to figure out what the Guardians are talking about. "Are you coming?"

"Maybe later," Lois admitted. "We should sit down together and figure out what we're going to do now that we're working together."

It went without saying that unless the Guardians gave them a sufficient amount of information, they were honestly pissing in the wind. Carol shrugged and decided that she had plenty of time to get changed and ready.

She had been with Harry, both on a business and personal matters as well, and he understood her responsibilities better than anything else. Regardless of that fact, Carol was already someone who made a good first impression.

Lois could hear a couple of the Guardians conversing in low whispers. It wouldn't hurt to have a poke around to find out what the hell is going on?

This looked like a job for Lois Lane!

* * *

><p>Carol Ferris smiled widely when she was in the presence of one Harry Potter. They were having a meeting, going over the last details of a contract between Ferris Aircraft and the RAO Corporation.<p>

"LuthorCorp was being a pain when Lionel Luthor was around, but now that is daughters are in charge, things are moving a little bit more smoothly," Carol admitted. She looked over Harry with a smile. "Or are the one that's in charge?"

"We're going through all of the legal loopholes and all that fun stuff," Harry informed her. "But the merger is pretty much all but a done deal. We just got to deal with the Board."

"Ah yes, the Board of Directors, my favorite thing in the entire world," Carol said. There was sarcasm in her voice. "They pretty much shut up about our little deal when they saw the projections. You got to speak in their language sometimes and their language deals with the bottom line."

"We can make a world a better place," Harry said.

"Yes, we can, so everyone wins," Carol agreed. "These jets…..you said that they would reduce on fuel consumption and be a lot safer?"

"Not to mention they're a lot easier for stealth….."

There was a knock on the door which caused Carol's eyes to look up. The dark haired business executive gave a firm response. "It's open."

The doors swung open and Carol Danvers entered. Her expression brightened. "Oh, shit, I'm late aren't I?"

"No, you're not late," Harry confirmed to her. He got up to his feet and walked over towards her with a smile. "I'm just early."

"Oh, that's pretty much different then," Carol said. "So, how are you doing?"

"Given that I'm in your company, I can't really complain," Harry said.

The dark haired Carol shook her head in response. "He's quite the charmer, isn't he?"

"Yes, I know that about as well as anyone else," the blonde one commented. She smiled when she looked over Harry, her eyes locked onto his.

"Sit down, please," Carol told her employee.

Carol sat down in front of Carol's desk and Harry sat down right beside her.

"So, are you still on for the test flight this Saturday?" Harry asked.

"Given the fact that you've been working so hard on this, I wouldn't miss it for all of the world," Carol said. She leaned forward, the white shirt she wore, along with the pair of leather pants showing a modest, but still noticeable, amount of cleavage. "And I'm sure that we could begin this partnership with the three of us with a bang."

Carol looked at her pilot and gave her a smile. "Try and keep things as professional as you can, if that's at all possible."

"Right, I forgot myself," Carol said. She reached down and her hand placed on Harry's lap. "So do you got all of the paperwork in check so we can get this show on the road?"

"Yes," Carol confirmed. "I believe that Harry has no problems with any of this."

Harry reached over and picked up the paperwork. It was something they had gone over, even before RAO got involved. The contract between LuthorCorp and Ferris, which was in place between Lionel and Carol's father years back, was finally dissolved upon Lionel's death. That allowed them to properly get in bed with each other.

"Well, I don't have any problem with any of this, if you don't?" Harry asked. He looked over the document from every single angle.

Carol shook her head in the negative. She didn't have any problem of this at all. She turned towards Carol who shook her head in response because of that as well.

"Well, I guess that it's a pleasure doing business with you," Harry commented.

Carol Ferris gave her business partner a little bit of a shifty smile. She wasn't sure what she was doing could be considered professional. She was sure that she honestly didn't care.

"So that was…." She said. What that was, she never had a chance to respond. There was a buzzing sound that caused her to get alert. "Yes?"

"Miss Ferris, I beg your pardon for your interruption, but there's a situation."

Carol frowned. "What kind of situation?"

"You better take a look at it, M'am," one of the guards over the loudspeaker said.

"We'll renew this meeting on another day," Harry said. He got a buzzing in his ear that Cassandra had a surprise for him. He needed to go back and check that out.

* * *

><p>Needless to say, Harry had a surprise. It was Jade who was stripped completely naked on his bed, wearing absolutely nothing at all. Cass and Artemis stood on either side of her. Cassandra wore some rather nice black lingerie and Artemis wore some slinky green lingerie.<p>

Harry noticed that Jade had been gagged with her own panties, as well as tied up. Her panties had a wet spot on it and made Harry wonder if the two girls had been working her over prior to him getting here.

"What's the deal here?" Harry asked.

"Well, Jade was getting a bit too big for her britches," Artemis said. That caused Harry to raise his eyebrow and he got in closer to her. Artemis shrugged her shoulders in response. "And by that I mean that she thought that she could take both of us down in a fight at once."

"Well, Artemis might have been easy," Cass said with a smile. She could see Harry's eyes over her. "But against me, she failed."

"And you left her gift wrapped for me on my bed," Harry said.

"Well, a punishment isn't really a punishment, when you really think about it," Artemis said. "The real punishment is making her watch."

One look made the girls wondered if they were going to punished as well for acting without Harry's permission. Cass and Artemis were both excited and scared at the same time.

* * *

><p>Jade, Cassandra, and Artemis were in various states of disarray and Harry was about ready to get dressed. In fact, he was in the process of pulling up his pants, when Claire ran through the doorway, smacking into him.<p>

Harry grabbed her, holding her back. He squeezed her hand to calm her down.

"Whoa, Claire, where's the fire?" Harry asked her. He could see that she seemed entirely nervous and she was biting down on her lip.

"I can't find her anywhere," Claire said frantically. Harry raised his eyebrow in response. "I searched everywhere for her, I even went to the Fortress, and there was a no go there, but…"

Claire dropped down to one knee. Harry steered her over towards the chair and cupped his hand on her cheek, looking into her eyes. It was obvious she seemed very distressed and someone like that looking very distressed was alarming.

"What happened?" Harry asked Claire.

"It was….it was Lucy, she disappeared right before my very eyes," Claire said. She sounded extremely frantic. "I came down to check on her….after the argument that she and Lois had."

"You didn't want her to do something stupid, did you?" Harry asked her. Claire shook her head forcefully. Harry smiled in response. "Believe me, I understand that."

Claire took a deep breath, glad that it was understood. She wished that she could keep herself calm.

"And she vanished?" Harry asked. Claire's jaw snapped open and she nodded furiously. It seemed like she was struggling to keep her head held up and for good reason. She was shaking her head and she allowed a breath to escape her body.

"And now, Lois is going to kill me," Claire said.

"Oh, I'm sure that she won't kill her," Harry said. Claire looked at Harry in abject disbelief. It was obvious that she didn't believe his appeasing words. "We'll find her, Claire, trust me."

Claire really wished that she could trust Harry. There was a serious problem that she was having her doubts.

"Did you see the cause of what made her disappear?" Harry asked. Claire looked at Harry, considering that and shook her head. Harry sighed extremely deeply and frowned. "That's going to make things a bit more difficult than I'd like them to be."

"Sorry," Claire said in an apologetic tone of voice.

"No, don't apologize, it wasn't your fault that any of this happened," Harry said. He gently placed his hand on Claire's and calmed her down. "She has to be somewhere on Earth."

Harry was struck with a thought, a twisted thought. What if Lucy was nowhere on Earth? He considered that one strongly and deeply.

He didn't really have much of a chance to think when the phone rang. Harry knew that it was some pretty bad news.

"Hi, Carol, what can I do for you?" Harry asked her.

The frantic voice of Carol Danvers came over the phone. "It's Carol Ferris….."

"She disappeared in a flash of light and you don't know where she is, do you?" Harry asked her.

Carol was completely gob smacked and she shook her head. "How did you know?"

"Just a hunch that I have," Harry said. "It happened to Lois's sister as well….she must still be on Oa."

Perhaps Harry was putting two and two together, and getting five, but the Guardians of Oa knew much more than they were letting on. He really hoped that this wasn't another one of these techno-color war of the light things, even though it likely was.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on May 29<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	70. Sapphire Burns Bright Part One

**Chapter Seventy: A Sapphire Burns Bright Part One.**

* * *

><p>It was off to Oa for Harry and Claire. They knew that they were going to have to get some answers one way or another. Whether or not it was answers that were going to be easy to come by really depended on a lot of things and what kind of mood the Guardians were in. Namely the very simple fact that the Guardians looked to be willing to play hardball at the worst possible times, which could be a problem for Harry and his ability to get straight to the point.<p>

Harry showed up with Claire. He nearly ran into Lois who was looking around. She jumped ten feet into the air. Harry just barely caught her before Lois fell back.

"Whoa, Lois, easy does it," Harry informed her. He had a warm and easy going smile on his face that was a bit hard for anyone not to feel at ease about.

"What are you doing here?" Lois asked. She could feel a buzzing in her head and she looked at Claire. "What's going on here?"

"We're here to find that out," Claire said.

It was sooner rather than later than she was going to have tell Lois. It was obvious that she did not buy the casual act at all.

Lois frowned deeply when she looked Claire dead in the eye. She decided to cut right to the chase. "There's something going on right here, isn't there?"

Claire shook her head, trying to keep it calm and keep it cool. "What makes you say that?"

Lois scoffed in response. She could not believe that Claire would think that she could lie straight to her face. "Well, for the first thing, you are completely pants and really awful as a liar, Smallville."

Claire was about ready to argue that she wasn't awful as a liar. The look on Harry's face indicated that he didn't believe that any more than she did. Claire's shoulders slumped down and she shook her head in response.

"Well, you see….."

"Har-Zod?" one of the guardians asked him. The guardian in question stuck his head out and seemed to be giving Harry the once over with his eyes.

"Yes," Harry confirmed. It was obvious that Harry did business with the Guardians.

"What business do you have with the Guardians of Oa?" the Guardian asked. It was obvious that he was a simple messenger and knew little more than the people outside of the main council did.

"We want to figure out why the Guardians are being so secretive for starters," Lois said. It was hard to fault Lois for a lot of things and one of those things that you could not fault her for was the fact that she pretty much got the point and got in your face. "So you better….."

"I will pass on the message," the Guardian commented in a dry voice.

Claire shook her head. Maybe it was just her, but she was under the assumption that these Guardians were more than used to dealing with some rather bothersome Green Lanterns who tended to be the type to shoot first and ask questions never. Then again, that might have been just her, she couldn't tell.

The law abiding Guardians and someone like Lois was like a match made in hell all things considered.

"You're going to do us one better," Harry said. There was a look of intensity in his eyes that showed that he was not someone who as going to fuck around. "You're going to take us to see the Guardians immediately."

The Guardian looked like he swallowed something. He nodded in response. "Very well."

Lois had to say that Harry pretty much had a way of getting things done. There was a moment where she walked towards him.

"You're welcome," Harry told Lois. Her mouths napped shut and she nodded.

It did not escape Lois's notice that Claire was going out of her way to avoid Lois's gaze. It was getting kind of annoying and by kind of annoying, she meant extremely annoying. It was getting to the point where Lois wondered what the fuck was going on. If she didn't get answers now, she was going to snap.

"I thought that you were informed not to let anyone in the chambers."

Harry stepped forward and the Guardians looked at him. A few of them gave him respectful nods, a few of them looked at him in contempt, and there were some that looked at him with uneasiness.

"I want to know what you've been keeping from your own people," Harry said. He looked at the Guardians and a few of them recoiled in intimidation. "On my team, there is one truth, one that should run every team. Communication and trust, those are two things that should any team lack them, they're going to fall."

The Guardians looked fairly sour and they didn't look at all pleased with the fact that Harry was lecturing them. Harry didn't seem holier than thou, far from it. There was something in his eyes that did state that he better get the right kind of answers and soon.

"It is a sensitive matter," one of the Guardians protested.

Ganthet piped in. "Sensitive as it might be, transparency is something that this council could relate with more often than we do."

Perhaps it was just Harry's imagination, but he thought that they were arguing about this very thing. Perhaps just arguing about this very thing, before they arrived.

"Perhaps Claire should explain what happened, because I'm sure that it has everything to do with what you're talking about," Harry said.

Claire wondered if she had enough time to do her last will and testament. Lois looked over Claire.

"This has something to do with my sister, doesn't it?" Lois asked. "She did something stupid, didn't she?"

Claire stopped, she was caught completely caught off guard. She couldn't do anything other than nod up and down. Lois's frown grew even deeper at Claire.

"Explain," Lois said. There was no telling whether or not she was mad. Frustration flashed through her eyes and she clapped her hands on her hips. "Explain."

"I was going to fly in and make sure Lucy didn't do something that you would end up having to bail her out of jail for," Claire said.

"The whole reason that we had that entire argument, I recall that," Lois commented. Claire raised her eyebrow. "Continue, just continue."

"She walked over, and she touched something on the ground," Claire said. She was running over the entire grim scenario in her mind. She closed her eyes. "She might have picked it up."

Lois gnashed her teeth. She wanted to raise her hand and smack it repeatedly palm it into the side of her face. Lucy did some rather reckless things in her day, but randomly picking up an object like that.

"The Star Sapphire corps is recruiting," one of the Guardians said. He was in a hushed voice. "They select women who have been spurned by love and they are in need of fixing, at least in their opinions.

"Yes, but they have a twisted perception of what love is," Ganthet continued. He sounded extremely grim and for a good reason. "Their perception of love is such where they will take the mates of their recruits and make sure that they are together in an expression of love."

"Meaning?" Lois asked.

"Meaning that they would drain the person's life force and contain them in a crystal where they would be there together," Ganthet said.

Harry raised his eyebrow in response. "And here I thought I knew some clingy girls in my boarding school days. This really makes them come across as a bit more….sane."

He didn't know if sane would be a proper word to describe some of the women he knew back in his native world.

"This is a delicate matter and you can see why the Green Lantern corps should not be involved," another Guardian said.

Lois's eyebrows raised and she had a few choice words that she would like to tell the Guardians. Many words that no proper lady would ever say, but very few people accused Lois Lane of being a proper lady. Her mouth was about ready to get her into trouble one more time.

Harry thankfully was able to grab her hand and stop her from shooting off at the mouth. He squeezed it firmly to calm it down and Lois relaxed. He looked towards the Guardians and he looked at them. "We're going to do what we feel like we have to do, and I'm sure the Guardians will do the same."

"Yes," Ganthet answered knowingly. "I'm certain that you will, Har-Zod."

Harry, Lois, and Claire moved off. They barely were able to leave a few steps from their place where Carol Danvers waited for them. Harry smiled at her and pulled himself away from Lois, to pull her into an embrace.

"Don't worry, we're going to get them both back," Harry commented. Carol's lips curled into a noticeable frown. "And we're going to get them both back whether the Guardians like what we're doing or not."

Harry turned towards Lois, who looked firm with her jaw set. "Do you hear any argument out of me? I don't think that I do."

"I don't think that she's going to argue about that one," Claire informed her. Her eyes flashed with determination. It was obvious that she blamed herself for what happened to Lucy, even if it wasn't really her fault. "So what do we do now?"

Harry had the answer, but he was pretty sure that no one would end up liking it.

"I get captured by the Star Sapphire Corps."

* * *

><p>Carol Ferris tried to break free. She had been trying to do this ever since she had been captured. There was a robed woman who clutched down on her shoulder.<p>

"Don't fight it, love can hurt when you fight it," the robed woman answered. The woman spoke in a soft and seductive manner, stroking Carol's hair when she did. "We're all sisters here; I'm not going to hurt you. No one is going to ever hurt you again."

"I didn't ask for this," Carol said. She tried to get away, but she found herself subdued by one of the larger women.

"No one asks for this, Carol Ferris," the woman said. She had a surprisingly soft voice for her size. "Love can be an extremely powerful and wonderful thing, but it can hurt completely. And those who are closet to us can burn us the most."

Carol had known women who had been jilted due to love. There was a part of her thought that she could have been like that, if she hadn't immersed herself into her business. This brought things to a new and unhealthy level of obsession.

"I'm not…"

"Soon you will be reunited with the one that has hurt you the most, and you will show them what's in your heart," one of the robed figures said. She cupped Carol's face quite lovingly. "The one that you are destined to be with, they will be yours."

Carol didn't know what to think right now. Actually, she was having a few rather disturbing thoughts that chilled her to the bone. This entire cult like atmosphere unsettled her greatly. She half expected to be offered some Kool-aid.

"This is not what love is like," Carol said. "Love is not….."

"You're confused," one of the women said gently. "Men have poisoned your mind and do not know their place. We need to be the ones that should show you the way. Show you what love is all about."

Carol was wondering how much crazy Kool-aide that these women had. It was a lot of crazy Kool-aide to be honest, at least that was she figuring.

"Showing me what love is all about, sounds like something that a man might say to me," Carol said. She struggled to try and get out away from them. "You don't understand what you're saying…."

A figure stepped in front of Carol. She could feel her heart start to race a little bit. There was certainly a primal bit of power coming from. She was dressed in a half purple shirt that showed her extremely toned midriff, and the bottom half of her outfit showed part of her sensual legs. She wore a pair of purple boots that where about knee high. It made her about six inches taller the heels on them.

Carol gasped when she realized that it was Lois's younger sister.

"Lucy Lane, what are you doing here?" Carol asked.

"I have been seen the light, Carol," Lucy said. There was an eerie purple glow through her eyes and her voice was oddly breathy. "I had been pushed around my entire life and I have been given the power to push back. I'm going to show those who wronged me how much love hurts."

"Lucy, you're not yourself," Carol said.

She could see a blast of purple light emit from Lucy's hand. Carol had some light level of reflections and self-defense training. She dodged the attack and her heart started to beat.

"I'm myself more now than I ever was," Lucy said. She tried to nail Carol with a bolt of pinkish-purple light. "You're just like Lois assuming you know what's best for me."

"Lois, she's just….."

"Oh, yes I know what Lois is," Lucy said. She grabbed Carol around the neck and pulled her forward.

Carol could feel Lucy's hands grip around her throat. There was something extremely cold and unsettling about how her hands felt.

"Love hurts, Carol, and I learned that the hard way," Lucy said. "I wonder why you're here. You're nothing but the perfect girl, a strong career woman, who is not a fuck up, who can't keep herself out in trouble. Not like perfect, beautiful, Lois!"

Lucy's voice echoed in an eerie and ghostly tone. Carol could feel herself gasp against the grip of Lucy.

"Lucy Lane of Earth, you must let go of her, this is defeating the purpose," a regal voice commented.

Lucy reluctantly let go. She could feel a wave of pleasure go through her body when her obedience for the Star Sapphire of love.

"The power of love is strong and it will set you free," the regal voice commented. She spoke in a ghostly whisper.

"Don't do this, please," Carol begged them.

"It must be done, this is for your own good, the power of love compels us to do this."

Carol again wondered what kind of crazy Kool-aide they were drinking. It was a pretty damn potent flavor if that was the case. She could barely hold her head up for that long.

Two of the Sapphire guards grabbed her. Carol was dragged out right in front of the Queen.

"Would you like me to kiss your boot?" Carol asked in a condescending voice. "Or would you like me to kiss your…."

"That will not be necessary, anything that you do will be done willingly," the Queen commented. She leaned towards her and ran her fingers through Carol's hair. "And I know that you're confused. Many women come to us rather confused. They learn what love is truly like."

Carol felt a chill go down her spine. She could feel an extremely obvious cult of personality type of thing between these Star Sapphires. It was one hive mind that beat together as one. She was allowed to get back to her feet.

"Stand down, child," the Queen told Lucy. Lucy stepped back and bowed before the Queen. "You must not allow the red to enter your heart. We must show her compassion, just like you must choose to do to Lois once she arrives here."

Lucy nodded. She was excited to show Lois how much more powerful she had gotten. It was always Lois's way or the high way. And the General didn't bother to stick up for Lucy, he would have rather had sons. Lucy shook her head, frowning extremely deeply when she took a deep and rattling breath.

"I understand," Lucy said in an extremely breathy voice. There was a second where her tone became extremely calm. "I truthfully understand."

She could feel love's embrace. It made her feel so good, so wonderful. Like she had never been more alive.

"Lucy, this isn't right, this isn't just, just think….just think about this?" Carol asked.

"Do not speak of what you choose not to understand," the younger Lane sister commented in her normal tone. She reached towards Carol, but the Queen grabbed her hands.

"Take her to the chambers, so she would show the light," the Queen answered her. "Love will be let into your heart and it will open up your eyes Carol Ferris."

The Sapphires swarmed her. Lucy walked over towards her and cupped Carol's chin with a warm and slightly sultry smile. "Don't worry my dear Carol; you're going to learn to love can really do to you. Trust me on this."

Carol was about to disagree, but she was completely secured. She found herself going through a chamber with glowing purple and pink gems. She figured that it was some way to brainwash someone and make them a part of the machine.

'_Love will make us one and all, love will make us whole.'_

She felt the power wash over her mind and tried to transform her into one of them.

* * *

><p>Harry knew that he was pretty close. He also knew that there were going to a problem when they arrived. The information he managed to get on the Star Sapphires, through the uplink Harry had to the Fortress was rather interesting. He frowned and reviewed it.<p>

"Just a warning," Lara said. "You're going into some pretty hostile territory."

Lois was clutching onto the side of the seat. She made sure that her ring was completely charged. The bitches that took her sister were going to pay with their skin when she got her hands on them. She gripped the side of the chair, pushing herself back.

"Love can be pretty hostile, especially when spurned," Harry said. "And we're dealing with a group of spurned women, some to utterly insane degrees."

Harry was used to a couple of such women. Some of them had pretty good reasons for losing their minds. To be perfectly and utterly honest there were quite a few men who tended to be douchebags that jerked women around. Harry shook his head in sadness. It was really sad when it happens.

"And these women seem to be the tale of beware a woman who has been spurned, to its most insane degree," Carol said. She placed her hand on the top of Harry's hand. "You know that I have the utmost of confidence in you and your abilities, don't you?"

Harry raised his eyebrow. The way Carol was choosing her words seemed to be very curious. "Why am I sensing a but in this matter?"

Carol paused and decided to tell him what she was feeling. "There are always drawbacks in a situation like this you know. And one of them is the fact that these women have attacked men and drained their life energy. And I just know they weren't all bastards that deserved it."

"The best of intentions often get muddled along the way," Harry said. He frowned.

If that wasn't the story of a lot of people in his life, he didn't know what was. There were people with some pretty good intentions, or at least what they thought were some pretty good intentions. Eventually, things tended to get skewed along the way.

"They think that they're going to pull the same trick, aren't they?" Lois asked. She had been surprisingly quiet along the way, even for Lois. Actually she had been really quiet, especially for Lois.

"Can I state for the record that I think that this plan of Harry's is completely and utterly insane?" Carol asked.

She got a pair of looks from both Lois and Harry. Carol sighed and she shook her head. Her jaw was set firmly into a frown. "But no matter how insane it is, I'm with you all of the way."

"The best laid plans often seem inconceivable on the surface, yes," Harry said. There was an alarm that echoed through his hyper sensitive hearing. "And here they come."

"It's almost like you intended to get the alarm tripped," Lois replied. She turned over and raised her eyebrow. It all smacked her completely hard. "That was it; you intended to have the alarm tripped, didn't you?"

Harry didn't say anything.

"Ahead," Harry said. And that was all he said.

Lois sighed. That was just as well because she wanted to get her hands on the uptight bitches that snagged her sister and was doing god knows what to her right now. Her worry increased the more that she thought about this. Her heart kept racing steadily against her chest. Lois wondered what plans they had and her imagination ran wild in the absolutely worst ways possible.

"You have entered the territory of Zamaran. None of you have been chosen to be here….and you brought a man."

Harry looked up. He turned on the speaker on the ship so he could project his voice. "Actually, I brought them along, and they willingly came with me."

"You willingly enter this territory, knowing what happens to those who trespass?" one of the women asked. Her emotionless voice showed a tad bit of surprise. "Especially if that one is a man."

Harry figured they were going to clash on this. This was going to be loads of fun.

"You have kidnapped two women against their will, I don't think that you should take the high ground about trespassing, Missy," Lois said. Harry grabbed her hands in warning.

"Yes, some women have it privileged, where they assume that they know everything," one of the Star Sapphires. "They don't know what happens when love spurns them all."

"Okay, this super feminist rant is a bit creepy," Claire said. She prepared for battle. "And what makes you think that you should be the be all, end all authority?"

"We have saved many women from a self-destructive path and we are one together, one and all," the voice commented. There was a crisp feeling to this person's voice, along with an extremely creepy feeling.

"So, you're a cult more or less?" Claire asked.

"We are a means to save these women from themselves," the Star Sapphire protested. "But we do not expect you to understand. Not all women are able to appreciate the gift that we have, but the door is always open for them to understand. The universe will be a lot better place when the power of love reigns supreme."

"Yes, I know something about the power of love," Harry said, with a smile. "It's a power that very few people know and even less people truly understand. And a power that many justify their actions for the greater good."

Harry paused and added, not really as an afterthought, even though it sounded like that.

"And I do agree with you, love can and will hurt."

There was a pause and Harry could see them swarming the ship. There might have been a good two or three dozen women coming at them.

"You know, you don't want to try and do this, do you?" Harry asked. "You are one together and powered by the men who once spurned you, the men who crushed the hearts that you gave to them in love."

"Yes, that is correct, but now we must take you in, for the Queen doesn't like uninvited guests," the leader of the group said.

"Yes, most people don't," Harry said. He smiled. "And I don't like people who kidnap my girls either and try to brainwash them. So we have a bit of a problem."

"Girls?" one of the women stated in alarm. "You have multiple women?"

"You are a cruel man to subjugate so many women!" another one of the Star Sapphires yelled. "You should not be allowed to make such a prevision of love."

"Spoken like a woman who hasn't had been laid good for a really long time," Lois piped up. That caused the Star Sapphire to be stopped right in her tracks and give Lois a deadly glare.

Harry got a lock on them and he did a scan of their powers. Pretty much locating a weak spot was the idea that he had there. He smiled wickedly and wildly. Those women were going to get something that they would never forget if the had his way.

"I think that we should help them get a taste of what true love is," Claire said. She had a pretty good idea what Harry was doing and there was a wicked part of her that really was enjoying what was happening.

"Yes, let's," Harry commented. He channeled all of the power that he could muster.

Harry overrode their powers and caused them to succumb to his own power. He used the power of love as a weapon, driving them to repeated and rapid fire shrieking orgasms. That forced them to flee, surprised. No one had attacked them like that and no one had caused them to feel that extent of their powers.

"They….you…..?" Carol asked. She could feel a tingle from where she was.

"I didn't even know that you could do that," Lois said in complete awe. She actually was a bit intimidated that Harry could do something like that, and a bit excited as well. Okay, she was mostly excited, but there was a bit of an intimidation factor.

"Never done it to that grand scale," Harry said. "Although if you're too locked onto the bond link when I climax….."

"Yes, I know," Lois replied. She caught her breath and shook her head. "I'm honestly surprised we didn't get into a fight."

Claire gritted her teeth when she peered over her shoulder towards Lois. "Don't jinx it."

"What exactly did you do?" Carol asked.

"Low quality pheromones, that got amplified with their own powers," Harry said. "I didn't expect it to have as prolific as a reaction, but I'm glad that they did, because it showed that I mean business."

"I can tell," Carol offered him. She barely kept the grin off of her face when she looked into his eyes.

"And that's phase two of the plan," Harry said. "I'm sure the Queen knows about us, will repair the flaw in her women, and send even more after us."

"Did I mention how insane this plan is?" Lois asked. Harry didn't answer. Lois sighed. "Yeah, I thought that I did."

* * *

><p>Carol Ferris could feel something try and slither its way into her mind and try and rewrite her mental processes.<p>

She had always prided herself of having an extremely strong will. One would have to have a strong will to survive in a world that was controlled by men who were essentially macho douchebags. Her hands trembled when she heard the voice that whispered in the back of her head.

This little effort, working into her mind, was stretching her to the edge of her self control.

'_Don't fight it, just embrace it.'_

Carol shook her head. She fought the invisible tentacles that worked into her brain. _'No, no, no.'_

'_Yes, the heart can be stubborn, but deep down, you know what you want,' _the voice said. _'You have lived a rough life. People you thought that you could count on have tried to undermine you. You think that the man that you want is completely out of reach because of your career.'_

Carol wondered if this was some kind of demented voice talking to her or her subconscious trying to mess with her mind. It was a fifty-fifty shot with what was rolling through her mind right now. Carol frowned deeply when she tried to push herself out of her position.

Her head throbbed violently when something whispered in the back of her head. It continued to make an attempt to rewrite her mind and Carol fought it.

'_Join us, join us,' _a multitude of voices said. They were all embracing Carol in a glowing pink light.

"This has to be a mistake, I was not….."

"Rest assure, we make no mistakes," the Queen said crisply. She oversaw the reeducation process personally. "I can see the type of woman that you are. You have completely and utterly given up on love. Well, there's no need to fear love, it is something that you can let into your heart and strengthen you. Anything that you can ever have, she will need."

"She's a stubborn bitch," Lucy said.

The Queen turned towards her and responded to her words quite coldly. "I trust you will never use such language in my presence again."

"My apologies, it won't happen again," Lucy said. Her voice was hallow, not sounding sorry in the slightest.

The Queen sighed. There were instances where the process to join the Sapphires had caused the target to grow a bit hostile. Some women harbored a lot of bitterness in their heart and they could not be healed in a matter of hours.

She recalled the bitterness she once harbored in her heart, but tried not to focus on it.

"My Queen, the Guardians of Oa wish to speak to you."

The Queen looked towards the woman in question. It was almost like that she had uttered a disgusting swear in their presence.

She swept her way forward without another word. She was eerily calm, calm as ice as she made her way. She could see a group of blue heads pop up on the holographic projection screen.

"We had a deal that you would not bother me and you would keep your Green Lantern Corps out of your territory," the Queen commented in her most haughty voice.

Showing that they were the masters of haughty, the Guardian popped up. "This was before you broke the treaty, and took the kin of one of the members of the Green Lantern Corps. This is considered an act of war, Queen Aga'po."

The Queen looked at the Guardians. If she thought that they were capable of any humor whatsoever.

"I didn't do it out of malice," the Queen said. "One of my sapphires chose a girl who had been spurned and had her heart ripped out by the one that she loved the most. It was only a coincidence that the she was related to a Green Lantern. I can assure you that wasn't my intention to seek a war with the Guardians or the Green Lantern Corps."

One of her aides walked forward and whispered in her ear. She was looking rather embarrassed at what she was saying.

"Speak up, he did what?" the Queen asked. The aide whispered in her ear one more time. "I wasn't aware that was…..I see….I see….that's power."

She turned to the Guardians and she frowned. "I can see that you have offered a preemptive strike against my Corps, because of your believed wrong."

"Yes, well that was not authorized," one of the Guardians answered. "You should know that you have incurred the wrath of Har-Zod….."

"Spare me your warnings," The Queen commented. She sounded blasé and quite bored. "I will give a lesson to your rogue Green Lantern about how much love hurts."

A young female stood in the shadows, listening to everything the Queen said. She frowned when she leaned forward.

"Are you sure we're doing the right thing?" she asked. "Is this what love really is? To take people and to mold them into one of us?"

"I'm doing this to protect those in the universe that have been spurned," the Queen stated. "You haven't experienced what they could do. Trust me, I'm doing the right thing."

"If this is all about the Guardians….." the girl said.

"The Guardians are only a small part of a really large problem," the Queen said. There were no denial in her voice that the Guardians were a huge part of why she was doing what she was doing. But they weren't the only reason. At least they weren't any longer.

The princess looked at Carol, who was struggling to fight her way past the transformation. With each whisper in her ear, her resolve was getting broken down.

"She seems in so much pain though," the young princess said when she looked the Queen in the eye.

"Trust me, when I say this, I'm doing the right thing," The Queen answered.

She kept repeating that herself, almost as if she was trying to convince herself of this just as much as anyone else.

"Are you trying to convince yourself of this as much as anyone else?" the princess asked. There was a tone of innocence in her voice.

She was not experienced as the Queen and not as faded as she was.

"You have a lot to learn about love, child."

* * *

><p>Lois Lane landed down on an asteroid. It was a rather muddy asteroid to be honest. She wasn't sure if it could rain in space. She was pretty sure that some scientists might have exploding head syndrome if she suggested such a thing.<p>

Then again, Lois never was a science major. She made sure her ring was completely charged in. Carol, Harry, and Claire snuck in one way and Lois was moving around, searching for her sister.

This was not the first time she had to drag her sister away from a cult by the ear, but it was most certainly one of the most annoying times.

"Hello, Lois."

Lucy looked at Lois. There was a blank and vapid stare in her eyes. It was like that she was there and at the same time, she wasn't there at all. Lois didn't know what to make of it, other than the fact that it unsettled her. The uniform she was wearing looked very stripper riffic as well, but that was woman's lib for you. They got pissed at men looking at them like objects while dressing like one.

"Lucy," Lois said. She raised her eyebrow and gave her sister a once over with her eyes. "An interesting outfit."

"I would say that I hope that you like the new me, but I honestly don't care what you like, not anymore," Lucy said. "Then again, you always thought that you had more of an influence on me then I really did."

"Whatever happened to you, you got to snap out of it," Lois said.

Lucy threw her hands up into the air in disgust. "And there you go again, trying to tell me what I can and can't do. You think that you're my mother. Well Mother is dead, and no matter how much power that you thought that you got over me, it was only because the General put you in charge. Well the General isn't here, but I am."

Lois stood firmly. Her ring was charged. She was ready to fight. She didn't want to fight against her sister, but that was just the set of cards that life had given her, therefore that was the set that she was going to have to deal with.

"You tell me what I have to do, but I've been freed, thanks to the power of love and thanks to the Star Sapphire corps," Lucy said. "And they're going to give me what I want, they're going to give me Harry. You thought that you could take him away, prevent him from having me. Well, I'll show you, Lois. The power of love has set me free."

"Lucy, there are different kinds of love," Lois said. "I'm going to give you a lesson of tough love and that…."

Lucy knocked Lois back before she was finished talking. She went flying and landed with a splat in a pit of mud. It soaked her completely.

A dripping wet Lois Lane pulled herself to her feet. Lucy smiled when she looked at her.

"This isn't about Harry, this is about me, isn't it?" Lois asked. "You're just using Harry as an excuse, because it would be more acceptable."

Lucy snorted in response.

"Typical Lois, typical Lois, turning everything back around to be all about her," Lucy said. She snorted once again. "Guess what, Lois; it's not all about you, not anymore at least."

The two of them prepared to square off. Lois realized that her little sister had gone off the bend and it was time to give her the spanking that she needed to knock her back into line.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on June 2<strong>**nd****, 2015. **


	71. Sapphire Burns Bright Part Two

**Chapter Seventy-One: A Sapphire Burns Bright Part Two.**

* * *

><p>Harry, Carol, and Claire were making their way towards the inner chamber. They were going to have to trust that Lois had a way to keep Lucy in line. There were a lot of problems with something like that, and Claire's eyes flashed towards Harry. It was obvious that she was looking at him like he had grown a couple of extra heads.<p>

'_So, are you sure that this is a good idea,' _Claire asked. She leaned towards Harry and gripped his hand gently.

'_Good idea, might not be the best way to describe what I'm doing, but Lucy was going to go after Lois anyway,' _Harry thought. Everything was slowly becoming clear to him._'I'm beginning to figure out the Star Sapphire's game right now.'_

'_And that game is….?' _Claire asked.

"So, have you figured out the Star Sapphire's game?" Carol asked. She had her ring at the ready. The fact that they didn't run into anyone at all right now was something that caused her to be gravely unsettled, but that was just how things were going.

"I've got a good idea, yes," Harry confirmed. He didn't really say anything right now. He waved his hand from the left to the right.

There was a whisper in the distance. Something was calling for Harry. He could sense the power that the Star Sapphires had. He tapped into a little bit of it and had a pretty good idea what he was dealing with. Harry pulled open the door and saw nothing.

Claire's uneasiness grew. She turned around and looked at Harry. "You know, it's almost like they're right on top of us."

"It's almost like they're on top of us, because they are on top of us," Harry said. He cleared his throat calmly. "Come out, wherever you are!"

Claire shook her head. She didn't know why Harry did some of the things that he did. He was about as bad as Lois with tempting fate. The fact both of them could have backed it up caused her to become absolutely nervous. Her blood ran completely cold when she craned her neck upwards.

There was a tap, tap, tap, with Claire looking up. Carol held her ring upwards and it glowed in her hand.

"Come on, face us!" Carol yelled. There was a yell that indicated that she was angered.

The group of Star Sapphire members turned up with her. They looked at Harry. Some of them looked a bit interested, and some of them looked fairly angry.

"So, you wanted me, here I am," Harry answered. He waved his hand and the Star Sapphire corps charged him.

An energy shield erupted around him. All of the Star Sapphires impacted the shield with a crack. They tried to take down the shield once again.

Harry frowned. He would have been almost disappointed with the fact that he couldn't try the trick again. He didn't know whether he was disappointed because of that fact or if he was exceedingly proud that they adapted so nicely. Regardless of the fact, the Sapphire Corps rushed him again and their success was along the same lines of how it was last time, not very good.

"You know, that's not going to hold forever," Carol said. She created a large green dome and plucked them over the top of the Star Sapphire corps.

"Enough!"

The Queen of the Star Sapphires turned up in all of her regal glory. She was eerily beautiful and she walked towards Harry with a smile on her face. "You should not have come here, Green Lantern. I think that your Guardians will even put you off as damaged goods. If they would wish to avoid a war."

Carol didn't want to say anything, but she had a point. She understood the risk. "You kidnapped a friend of mine and I want her back."

The Queen was giving Carol basically what amounted to the evil eye. Carol didn't think that she was going to like this and the fact that the Queen of the Star Sapphires looked at her like this.

"Your friend is being shown the light," the Queen commented. She was getting more annoyed, especially due to the fact that there was an amount of power that was hanging up against her. She wanted to pluck it off of the vine and take it for her own. "You cannot be allowed to interfere in the process, before she becomes one of us. She is stubborn."

"Oh, you can't handle it that someone doesn't willingly take what you're selling, don't you?" Claire asked. She was looking agitated, mostly because she had something to prove after the Star Sapphires plucked Lucy right out from underneath her nose.

The Queen looked on at her. "You would have been a near perfect candidate to be chosen for our group….it is a shame that you have been tainted."

Claire didn't know whether to be appalled or mortified by the fact that the Queen thought that she was a perfect candidate to be chosen by her particular group. "Well, I think that we have a different idea of what it means to be tainted."

"Yes, perhaps," the Queen agreed. There was a prominent frown on her face. It was obvious that she was losing what amounted to patience for her, at least. "You have gotten in with Har-Zod. The son of the man who has caused pain and suffering throughout the universe."

"I will not deny that Zod was not a candidate for the most charming man alive," Harry said. The Queen looked towards him. Her full attention focused on him, her beady little eyes were set. "But what you're doing, is completely and utterly wrong."

"I don't expect someone who has never been spurned by love to understand the heartache that I have gone through," the Queen answered.

"You could have moved on," Harry fired back at her. "But, you've become bitter as the people who spurned you. The Guardians might live on secrets and lies, but you're going down a far worse path."

The Queen of the Star Sapphires pulled a rather unsettling looking face. Claire and Carol stood on either side of Harry. This particular woman was looking like she was holding herself from ripping into Harry the best that she could. It was a tricky little thing to be sure and seconds passed before she could jump in.

"You don't understand," the Queen said.

"You know, I'm one, this is for the greater good, away from getting a bingo on my crazed delusional wackjob card," Harry replied. "I know that you had some rough times, that's just how life is sometimes. The question is, are you going to allow yourself to be defined by those rough times?"

Some of the members of the Star Sapphires stood up straight with what Harry was saying. Others looked like that they were buzzing around like angry bees, pissed that he was going to try and force such a decision on him.

"Or are you going to become something else?" Harry asked. "Are you going to be something beyond what you can be? The choice is honestly yours and to be honest, I think that some of you can really be better than what you are, if you're just given enough time to flourish."

There was a lengthy pause. The Sapphires looked to be considering this.

"He is trying to get in your heads," the Queen commented. Her tone was unsettling and eerily calm. "I don't think that you should allow him to."

The Queen gave a lengthy and steady point towards Har-Zod. "Capture him. He is needed, and do what you wish for the other two."

Claire and Carol knew that they had been stirred up now and they were not going to go down without a fight.

"If they think that we're going to make it easy, they've got another thing coming."

* * *

><p>Lucy sent Lois flying back to the ground. The older Lane female's fists clutched together and she was breathing heavily. She thought that she was calm and in some ways she was exceedingly calm. In fact, she was more than calm. She didn't explode in a ball of absolute rage when she pulled herself to her feet.<p>

Despite the fact that they were in space, there was a rain storm going on. Lois slumped down against the ground when she got to her feet.

'_It never fails, raining out in the middle of a fight,' _Lois thought. She chewed down on the edge of her lip and pulled herself up.

She thought that all there needed to be was fire and everything would be complete. Not that Lois was going to say that particular point out loud, because she was not insane enough to jinx it.

"Lucy, you got to….."

Lucy tried to nail Lois and pin her down to the ground.

"You know, I'm really losing my patience with you," Lois said. She was talking to Lucy, in an attempt to get what she was saying through the girl's thick head.

"Oh really, you're losing your patience with me?" Lucy asked. She was taunting Lois, more or less. "You're losing your patience with me?"

Lucy slammed a vicious attack into Lois. Lois could feel like she had been rattled by the insane attack from her sister. She was pinned down onto the ground. The older Lane sister tried to struggle out from underneath Lucy. The problem was Lucy had her pinned down onto the ground and she straddled the top of her.

"Poor Lois, things aren't going her way, so now she's going to beg off," Lucy taunted her. She created a pair of pink energy cuffs. She continued to force herself down onto Lois, showing her domination. "Oh, by the way, Miss Perfect…..I lost my patience with you years ago."

"You know, Lucy, there's some times you act like a bitch," Lois said. She forced her sister off of her with a violent attack. "But there are times like this where you act like a cunt!"

Lucy's eyes flared up and she shook her head. Her lips twisted in an absolutely sadistic snarl. "Oh, like you have room to fucking talk!"

Pink light hit green light when the two of them connected with each other. Lois pushed her way through the attack.

"That's what happens when you don't get your way, Lucy," Lois said. "Brain washing or not, you lose your interest and you don't have the will power to finish what you started."

"YES I DO!" Lucy shouted. She slammed herself through Lois. Lois created a swinging pendulum with her Lantern ring. She could feel it fired towards her at a rapid fire rate.

Lucy was knocked backs. Her and Lois flew right into the mud at the same time.

Lois shook her head. The conveniently placed mud, it got them every single time. Lucy rose up, looking particularly savage when her eyes glinted with rage beyond all measure. "You made a really big mistake doing that, Lois!"

"Yeah, I'm sure that's what you think," Lois said.

Lois scooped up mud in a bucket that was created by the Lantern ring. She flung it at her sister and practically sloshed it into her face. That caused Lucy to howl in agony and Lois to look on with a smug look of pleasure dancing in her eyes.

"No!" Lucy yelled.

She lost herself, slipping in the mud and she sunk down onto it. Lois moved over and reached down, dragging Lucy out of the mud.

"Ha!" Lucy yelled. She nailed Lois completely hard and grabbed her by the shirt. Her hands slipped in the mud when it dripped from Lois's top.

"YOU BRAT!" Lois shrieked.

Lucy smacked her hard in the face and ripped Lois's top off. Lois's tattered top came off in her hands and was ripped. She was dripping wet.

This was just like when they were children, the two of them fought each other, and Lucy played possum to lure her sister into a false sense of security.

"You're going to pay for that, Lucy!" Lois yelled.

She caused a paddle to be created with her Green Lantern ring. Lucy destroyed the paddle with a blast of light.

"How about you feel how much love can do?" Lucy asked.

"Really, that's the best that you can do…." Lois said. She could feel a jolt of pink energy fire between her legs and that caused her teeth to chatter when Lucy it her.

Lois managed to summon her will power to break Lucy's attack on her. Lois swung her arm around like a wind mill and bound Lucy to the ground with ropes.

Lucy squirmed, dripping wet with mud still as Lois had her pinned down onto the ground.

"Hey no fair, let me go," Lucy said. "Lois, oh god, Lois!"

She could feel the ropes press against her body. The amount of will power Lois exerted on her caused her nipples to harden.

Lois relaxed herself a little bit. That was not her intention to cause her little sister's nipples to grow completely hard. That was an interesting reaction.

"Just snap out of it Lucy," Lois said. "You've never been the one to do what anyone tells you what to do. Not me, not the General, not anyone else. But you're just going to let the Star Sapphires push you around and be the boss of you?"

That caused Lucy's mouth to curl into a frown. She looked at Lois, a feral expression burning through her eyes. The younger Lane sister looked to be considering the words coming from the mouth of her older sister.

Something snapped inside of Lucy when she was trying to figure out where she was. Her head leaned up when she looked at her older sister.

"There you go again, Lois, trying to confuse me," Lucy said. She spoke in an angry and fairly breathless tone. "You just don't get it, do you?"

"Actually, Lucy, I get it better, than anyone else," Lois said. She dropped her hands down in the universal sign of surrender. "But, if you want to be someone's puppet, then by all means, be someone's puppet. I just thought that you were a bit better than that, that's all."

Lucy's voice dropped into a deadly whisper. "I am better than that, Lois."

"Oh yeah?" Lois asked her. "Why don't you prove that you're better than that?"

Lucy's fingers twitched and her nostrils flared. She looked likes he was going to break down and start crying.

"If you want to attack me, then do it, attack me," Lois said.

Lucy balled up her fist and rushed towards Lois. Intensity was high in her eyes. She looked like she was going to nail Lois hard and knock her head completely off her shoulders.

She stopped short. She stopped just inches away from taking her sister out. Her heart started to race, skipping several beats. Lucy stopped completely short of nailing her sister.

Lucy slumped to the ground on her hands and knees, completely defeated. She wondered what this did to her.

Lois approached her sister fairly carefully. She knew for a fact that if her sister was going to pull an act like she pulled in the past by playing possum, she might not be able to trust her again.

"Lucy?"

Lois wondered what she was going to do now. She decided that she had no choice, but to take a tentative step forward.

It was pretty much a situation where Lois honestly had nothing to lose. If Lucy attacked her, well Lois would have to take her out.

"Don't worry, Lucy, I'm here."

Lucy raised her arms up and Lois braced herself for the impact. There was a second where it was almost like Lucy hesitated.

Lois closed her eyes and she braced herself once again. Lucy collapsed right into her arms and looked to be out of breath. She held herself up against Lois.

Again, Lois was reluctant, but she returned the favor, wrapping her arms around Lucy in a tight hug. There was a sense that she was on the edge, about ready to break at the slightest nudge, and Lois had to get ready for that inevitable fact.

* * *

><p>Harry Potter was being dragged, half conscious, by the member of the Star Sapphire Corps. The Queen was leading the way and no one could doubt the smug look on her face.<p>

He was dragged past the chamber that Carol was trapped in. Harry frowned and he looked up at the Queen with one of those looks in his eyes.

"Oh, you really must be proud of yourself, aren't you?" Harry asked her. The Queen gave him a warning gaze. "You're breaking down the mind of an innocent woman, to try and get her to accept your little standards of what truly is."

The Queen turned towards Harry. Her gaze was extremely burning when it looked at him.

"You should be a bit more humble for someone who has just gotten defeated by my Star Sapphire Corps," she responded. Her smugness was insane, but Harry smiled.

He was going to play her game, at least for right now. In reality, she was pretty much getting lead into his web. This was pretty much psychology 101 and the Queen of the Star Sapphires fell for it.

"She has strong will and valor, and she was stubborn," the Queen admitted. "The stubborn are the hardest, because they have a hard heart to heal. But she's being guided into being the person that she could be."

"You say guided, I say brain washed," Harry said. One of the Star Sapphires looked about ready to attack him, but the Queen shook her head. "You know, you can use all of the buzzwords and the double talk you want, but….."

"Strong valor and strong hearts can be a problem, when trying to teach people what love really means," the Queen commented. She sounded almost sad and to be honest, she almost was. "And that brings me to a point about you."

"Yes, everything does come back around with me eventually," Harry admitted.

"There have been numerous legends that have reached me about you," the Queen offered. "The man who tamed the Phoenix, the son of one of the greatest military leaders in the know galaxy. And your mother is the daughter of one of the most brilliant minds the universe has ever seen and she is not anything to sneeze at."

"Flattery might not get you as far as you think it would be with me," Harry said. "Unless, you are trying to get in my pants and this entire process is some weird courtship process to do so. But, I could hardly blame you if that's the point."

"Your power, is enticing, I'll give you that," the Queen offered him. She could see Harry's smile and it almost burned her up. She returned to her stern demeanor. "A great power, a power of love, it burns through your veins and drives you."

Harry smiled. He knew that that her Sapphires were going to tell her of his powers in great detail.

"And now we're going to use your power to power our corps, and we'll do it for years to come," she commented. She spoke in a breathy tone of voice.

Harry was backed off into the central power battery and placed inside of it. The power battery locked around him and Harry was inside.

Harry Potter was inside the battery and he had direct access to the mechanism that the Star Sapphires used to utilize their powers.

The Queen realized this point about ten seconds too late. She made her way over towards her guards. "Take her out….."

The Star Sapphires felt a burst of bright light and they were brought to their knees. They could feel the ways of power explode through their bodies. Their limbs started to twitch absolutely madly when Harry had them underneath his thrall.

"I figured a long time ago that you wouldn't listen to reason," Harry said. He was within the power battery and he pretty much overrode the entire system with his own powers. "Therefore, I needed to get your attention through more unconventional matters."

"You…you….you…." the Queen commented. She shook her head when she realized that.

"You're going about this the wrong way."

Carol and Claire turned up. There was a group of women, the rest of the Sapphires that followed them in a dazed and fairly confused state of mind.

"You're going about this the wrong way," Claire continued. "You're trying to force people to accept your perception of love."

The Queen looked at her. It was almost like she was trying to reconcile something in her mind. It was hard for her to keep her head upwards and not lose her mind from everything that happened.

Being hit with such a revelation that everything that she knew was wrong was an extremely bitter pill to swallow. She didn't even know if she could hold her head up with any amount of pride. Her heart was racing when she tried to look them in the eyes. It was hard for her to keep extremely calm given the situation.

"No, it can't be like that," she breathed. She couldn't accept it.

The other members of the Star Sapphire Corps backed off. They feared that their Queen was about ready to have a little bit of a meltdown.

"It is like that I've been telling you," Harry said. "Your perception of love after you had been spurned has brought you down a tormented road to bitterness"

"That makes me more broken then the women that I thought that I was saving," the Queen said. She slumped against the wall.

"My Queen?" her aide asked her. "You need to…"

"Release him, please," the Queen said. She looked towards Carol Ferris who was in the chamber. "And release her….it might not be too late for her."

The chamber containing Carol was released. She staggered out and looked to be completely punch-drunk. The lights might have been on, but there was no one relevant that was home. Carol and Claire just barely caught her when she was coming out of the tank. She staggered like she was drunk when she returned back to the real world.

As for Harry, he exited the power battery. He didn't want to burst anyone's bubble by saying that he could have broken out of the power battery at any time, he just chose to stick around for the fact that he needed to get through.

"She needs medical attention, hopefully the support of her friends will be more than enough," the Queen said.

Carol blinked, her eyes opened. There was a part of her that looked completely confused and rather dazed by that fact.

"So, how are you feeling?" Harry asked. Carol's eyes glazed over and Harry looked completely sheepish because of this. "Yeah, I know that's a stupid question….but….."

Carol leaned towards him and captured his lips into a sizzling kiss. Harry was pleasantly surprised by this and there was only one thing to do and that was to return the kiss in all of its glory.

"I guess true love can set you free," Carol said breathlessly. "But if you can accuse me of loving my job too much and it causing me to be as broken as these women, then yes, I was another case of a woman who was spurned by the awful pull of love."

"Guess you just needed the right spark," Harry offered her.

"Something along those lines, yes," Carol confirmed. She wrapped her arms around Harry and held herself up tight.

The Star Sapphires had a lot to learn and Carol wondered if she could do something to help guide her. There must be some calling for her in life that was far beyond running a business. She felt like a rat trapped on a wheel sometimes, going around.

"So, I'm glad that ended up pretty well," Claire said. She cringed when she realized something. "You know in all of this, I almost forgot about Lois and Lucy."

"Which is kind of odd, because I go out of my way to be unforgettable, Smallville."

Lois turned up and she was half dragging a confused Lucy. Lucy snapped out of it the moment that she saw Harry and gave him a smile.

"I felt what you did and it was amazing," Lucy said and she looked towards Harry. She was going to step towards him and greet him, but she could feel weak in the knees.

"Easy there Lucy, you got brain washed, you weren't quite yourself….again," Lois said. She smiled when she looked at her sister. "And perhaps you should learn a valuable lesson about not picking things off of the ground."

Lucy chortled in response. "Oh, like you have any room to talk Lois."

That caused Claire to crack up in amusement. That caused Lois to fire back with an extremely passionate. "Shut up Smallville!"

* * *

><p>Carol and Lucy might have been more themselves than a lot of the women who had been underneath the thrall of the Star Sapphire Corps, but Harry still wanted to give them a good enough checking over.<p>

"So, what do the two of think?" Harry asked.

"Well, you are giving us the physical," Carol commented. She was dressed in a gown and not much else.

"Although if you need to get closer, I certainly wouldn't mind," Lucy said. She looked at Harry, batting her eyelashes. "You do seem like an alright guy, Harry, although you see something in Lois, so you're not perfect. But hey, everyone has your mistakes."

"You shouldn't be too hard on your sister," Harry told her firmly. He placed his hand on Lucy's bare thigh which caused her to shiver. The Lane girls prided themselves of being extremely strong willed, hence why it was a bit alarming when Harry had them underneath his thrall like that. "Lois had to put up with a lot, from the General. He would have rather had sons, I think, and he didn't know how to deal with daughters, especially when your mother died."

"I don't remember her," Lucy said. Harry grabbed her hand.

"She's still alive in your heart, and she is always with you," Harry told her.

Lucy snorted. "Sorry….I understand what you're saying, but that's a bit sappy."

"Well, it's the truth," Harry commented cordially to her. "And you know, you're more like your sister than you ever thought with comments like that."

Lucy looked completely appalled by what Harry said and Carol looked like she was about to bust a gut laughing.

She lifted her head up and shook her head. Her lips curled into a frown.

"I don't mind the abilities, but the hive mind thing, I can really do without," Carol said.

"Yeah, that's a bit much," Lucy agreed. She hated to be under control with anyone, no matter who it was. "I can't believe that I was so stupid."

"You know, we all have our moments where we do things that are questionable," Harry said. "And you couldn't…"

"I was acting a bit more freely than anyone I think, I just wanted an excuse to throw down with Lois after….well I don't know if you could tell, but we had our issues," Lucy said.

It looked like Carol was struggling to keep her tongue with that. Her thought was more than enough to sate her need to say anything. _'Understatement of the century really.'_

"And she was right about some things," Lucy admitted. "You wouldn't tell Lois, would you?"

"I wouldn't dream about it," Harry said. Lucy squealed and threw her arms around Harry. She kissed him furiously in response.

She pulled away from him after a long moment where she kissed him.

"Sorry, I got carried away," she said. She didn't seem too sorry come to think of it.

"So, I guess that we need to figure out where you're staying," Harry said. "I arranged thing with Aga'po….."

"Oooh, we're on a first name basis with the Queen," Lucy said. She had a pretty good idea how Harry arranged things.

"Lucy Elle Lane!" Harry told her firmly.

"Lois told you my middle name, didn't she?" Lucy asked, seeming appalled by the full name ultimatum that Harry gave her.

"No," Harry said. Lucy frowned and Harry gently broke the nose to her. "Chloe."

Lucy folded her arms and scowled. She was going to have a long talk with Chloe the moment that she got back home.

Carol once again smiled. There were times where she was glad that she was an only child and it was one of those.

"I believe that you can stay with Carol," Harry told Carol. He turned to Lucy. "And you can stay with Lois."

'_You're trying to kill us, aren't you, Harry?' _Claire asked.

"It's awful what happened to them," Lucy said suddenly. Harry looked at her. "I mean, something like that…to take love in a twisted way."

"They just needed to be pulled away from the edge before they would go off it and take more women with them," Harry said. It might not have been the nicest thing in the world to think about, but there it was.

"We lacked the proper understanding, and I fear that I've hurt more people than I've helped now," the Queen said.

"How long have you been here?" Harry asked her.

"Long enough to feel more regrets than any woman should," she commented. She stepped towards her. "We focused too much on the bad men in our lives and kept the bitterness way too close to our hearts. Rather literally….holding the essence of the men that spurned us did not do us any favors."

Harry didn't want to say anything, but he was rather glad that she came to that conclusion on her own. That made things a lot better.

"You set us free, just like you set the Phoenix free," The Queen commented. "And that has caused a debt that we can never completely repay to you."

"The Star Sapphires had the right intentions, but went with them the wrong way," Carol said. "Maybe we can figure this out together."

"Yes, we tapped into the pink emotion the wrong way, and become about as warped as the Guardians," the Queen said. "Today was taxing though, but tomorrow is a brand new day."

* * *

><p>Harry made his rounds. He spent a fair bit of time with the Queen, who furiously apologized about trying to trap him in a power battery and use him as a power source of love.<p>

He hated to admit it, but there were far worse places that he could end up.

Harry made his way to the room where Carol and Carol were sleeping. They were up and Harry decided to check up on them.

"So, how are you ladies doing?" Harry asked.

"We're doing pretty well, actually," Carol commented. The blonde got up to her feet. "I don't know how we would have gotten out of this without you."

"I'm pretty sure both of you women would have found a way out of it, you are pretty resourceful on your own right," Harry commented.

"Maybe," Carol admitted. She took a step forward. "I was going to be brainwashed and…..well I wanted to thank you."

Carol made her way towards Harry and threw her arms around him. She kissed him with an intense kiss.

"Oh, I think that we should continue where we left off before we were rudely interrupted," the Green Lantern Carol commented. She cleared her throat and both the Star Sapphire Carol and Harry broke this kiss. "You know, before this entire mess."

"I'm up for it," Harry said.

"Yes, I am as well," Carol agreed. Carol nodded in response. "Besides, I want to thank you from what happened."

* * *

><p>Harry smiled when he rested on the bed. It was hard not to smile. Carol Danvers pressed on one side of him and Carol Ferris pressed on the other side of him. The threesome was intense and they braced themselves for another.<p>

"Would it be cliché to say that was fucking amazing?" Carol asked. The Star Sapphire reclined back on the bed and she nuzzled her face into the side of Harry's shoulder. She thought that she had been brought to a new level of pleasure.

"Cliché, maybe, but things are cliché because they are depressing accurate," Carol said. The Green Lantern was not to be out down. She nuzzled herself against Harry back. Her sizeable breasts pressed against his back and it was a comfortable spot for her to be in.

The two of them basked in the afterglow along with Harry. Harry thought that any second, they would be ready for another round.

His eyebrow rose up and he could hear a not so subtle beeping noise coming from the direction of where Lucy and Lois were sharing a room.

"What's that?" Carol asked.

Harry only prepared to inform them. "Well, I put a parameter alarm around Lois and Lucy's room, which was supposed to warn me if something happened."

Carol was about ready to ask why Harry needed to put an alarm around Lucy and Lois's room, but it hit her suddenly. It was painfully obvious why he needed something like that around their rooms.

"So, I guess that you're going to have to check that out?" Carol asked him.

"Yes, I better check that out right away, the last thing I want is for them to rip each other apart," Harry said.

He got to his feet and really did hope that the two of them weren't going to rip each other apart.

'_Is it just me, or is there a sense of impending doom?' _Claire asked.

'_Trust me when I say it's not just you,' _Harry confirmed to her.

'_So I guess that I'll meet you halfway,' _Claire replied.

Harry stepped forward and waited to see what he could find out.

**To Be Continued on June 5****th****, 2015. **


	72. Making the Rounds

**Chapter Seventy-Two: Making the Rounds:**

* * *

><p>Harry figured that he shouldn't jump to the wrong conclusions. After all, it was a good idea to think the best of people and give them the benefit of the doubt. Even though their past transgressions spoke for themselves, Harry had to give them the opportunity for them to prove themselves. The young man took half of a step forward and looked around. He craned his neck and waited to see what they were going to do.<p>

The fact of the matter, at least as Harry figured, was that Lucy and Lois had a rough last couple of days. Therefore, he should cut them a little bit of slack. No doubt they had some differences to work out.

'_You know, I'm all for you giving them room….if I know better, if I know Lois, I know that there's one thing she needs and that's a lot of room," _Claire said. She threw her head back and sighed. _'But, aren't you sure that you're not giving them enough rope….you know, as in enough rope to hang themselves.'_

'_We'll know in a minute,' _Harry thought. He couldn't resist teasing Claire a little bit. _'I'm surprised that the girl scout of all people is getting all upset at this. I mean, aren't you the one who likes to give people the benefit of the doubt?'_

'_Maybe I've been hanging around Helena much too often,' _Claire admitted. _'But there's really no benefit from leaving my doubt out of it with some people. Maybe you're right, actually I hope that you're right.'_

That went without saying. Harry always hoped that he was right. He was under the assumption that he was most of the time, but you know what people said about those individuals who made assumptions. That was something that he took to heart.

Harry lifted his hand and strongly considered knocking on the door. He could hear Lucy and Lois rustling around in there and he wondered if he should put a stop to whatever they're doing.

'_I can be up there in about two minutes if you want me to,' _Claire thought.

'_Wait around for about fifteen minutes, before you come up,' _Harry thought. He could almost sense Claire about to protest this one. _'Trust me, I can handle this one.'_

'_Are you sure?' _Claire asked. She didn't like this for some reason and she liked it even less with what was going on.

'_I'm about as sure as I'm ever going to be,' _Harry replied with a smile on his face. _'Don't worry about this, I got this.'_

Harry waved his hand and opened the door. He saw Lois and Lucy with their arms and legs tangled in each other. Both had an intense look on their face.

A few seconds of thinly veiled amusement registered on Harry's face. He paused long enough to clear his throat.

That caught the attention of both Lane sisters, who looked at Harry. They looked guilty like little girls who had their hands caught in the cookie jar.

"The two of you, set off a parameter alarm," Harry said. He gently, but firmly, separated the two of them.

"Wait a minute why do you….." Lucy said. She stopped and mentally answered her own question. "Oh yeah, it's because of the two of us….well….this kind of looks bad if you look at things from a certain angle, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it looks bad," Harry confirmed. It was hard to tell whether or not he looked all that amused or not. The fact that he fixed his gaze crisply on Lucy put the guessing game currently in the court of Lucy and Lois.

Lois, who had been surprisingly quiet for her up to this point, finally decided to pipe up. "Well, we have a perfectly logical explanation for what was going on."

Harry raised his eyebrow. He was beginning to put two and two together, but he was enjoying the hole Lois was digging herself into. He wanted to see if she could potentially find a way out of it.

It might be a good thing for Lois that most of the bond was out of range, well unless they used special equipment at the Fortress. Harry had the Lara portable crystal with him to hook that up if they wanted to set things up. He chose not to because there was no real need for it now.

"So, you have a perfectly logical explanation for what has been going on?" Harry asked Lois. He spoke extremely calmly.

"Yes, it's perfectly logical, I swear," Lois said. She wondered how far into the hole she could plunge herself into. And actually how far into the whole she could put herself without Harry lifting her out.

She was glad that the bond link recipients, most of them, were out of range. Kara and Chloe for starters would never let her hear the end of this and she was surprised that Carol and Claire kept their silence for as long as they did.

"Okay, you're really going to make me do this, aren't you?" Lois piped up. She thought that she was going to end up crawling into a hole from embarrassment.

"Well, I'm not going to make you do it, Lois, but I think that if you told me, you would put my mind at ease," Harry said.

Lois gave a whistling sigh. There it was the guilt trip that could be an extremely powerful weapon, more powerful than anyone else really. She shook her head and mentally counted backwards in the back of her head.

"Well, when Lucy picked up the glowing shiny sapphire, it locked onto what her ideal mate was," Lois said.

Harry was really going to make her say this out loud.

"Oh, Lois, don't be such a baby, I'll tell him," Lucy said. She sat up on the bed. "Anyway, the sapphire, it was so aggressive against Lois, because it perceived Lois as spurning me, in a not so sisterly way."

"So, it thought that the two of you were soul mates," Harry said.

"Oh, could you not use that tacky, tacky word, please?" Lois begged him. She got to her feet and Harry smiled, wrapping his arms around her.

"Sorry, forgot myself," Harry said.

"You're forgiven, I guess," Lois said. She gave Harry a soft kiss and pulled away from him.

"Well, for lack of a better term, yes," Lucy said. "I guess that it might want to teach us a lesson…or something. I'm not sure how sentient these things are."

"Knowing how things like that normally go, the answer is very," Harry said. Lucy looked at him, a wicked grin spread over her face.

"Oh, well, I guess that it mistook all of our sisterly tension for unresolved sexual tension, or something like that," Lucy said with a shrug.

"Or read it properly," Lois said. "We've never lived a conventional enough life and we can honestly thank the General for that one."

"We thank him pretty much every single day for that one, by bickering like a pair of angry cats," Lucy said. She turned around and focused her sights on Harry. "You know though, we thought that there was a piece missing to our little bonding."

"Oh, you think so?" Harry asked her.

Lucy gave him a wicked grin that seemed to light up the entire room. She advanced upon Harry, slowly closing the gap between the two of them. "Well, I don't think so, as much as I know so."

She thought that if she was going to do this, it was going to be now or never. Lucy picked up a few tricks with her bonding with the Star Sapphires. She wrapped her arms around Harry and kissed the absolute hell out of him.

Harry swept her off of her feet in response. Lucy could feel a burst of power going through her and her loins were set on fire.

The kiss also caught Lois off guard. Things were going to get extremely heated, extremely quickly.

* * *

><p>Queen Maxima looked exceedingly bored. Mostly because of the fact she was completely and utterly bored. Even the latest hopeless suitor trying to wind her hand being brought down in a spectacular and brutal manner, ceased to be amusing. It became extremely laughable every single time some man thought that he was all hard and really big, and he entered her chambers.<p>

She stepped into the chambers and she frowned. Maxima half wanted someone to give her a challenge. Even though, she was most already spoken for, she still really did want some competition.

"Another zero," her aide commented to her.

Maxima frowned. "A zero is putting things mildly. He's well and completely beneath a zero. If I was a man, I would be embarrassed to share a gender with him."

"This is why we have so few men on this planet," the aide commented. She realized that she might have spoken out of turn.

"The few that haven't challenged me are weak, but they are exceedingly intelligent," Maxima said. She didn't really know whether or not to banish them or to offer a medal of condemnation. "For the most part, all of the so called challenges have come outside of the planet."

"Why do you even allow them inside, my Queen?" the aide asked. "Given that you are already spoken for."

"Consider it my attempts to keep my skills sharp," Maxima replied.

There was a part of her that understood she was doing this for the simple reason that she felt guilty regarding how she handled her attempts to court the most powerful man in the universe all of those years ago. She felt pressure to find a husband and create an heir to the throne. Had she knew what she knew then, now, Maxima wouldn't have gone down that particular path.

It was one of those things that happened a long time ago and what was done was done. Maxima gave a crisp smile when she leaned down onto the throne.

If there were no more fools who were going to challenge her today, that Maxima would sit back and just relax.

Her aides moved off to leave her to soak and relax. Maxima prepared to strip off her battle armor and go into her quarters for a nice relaxing soak.

She barely got the upper part of her armor off of her when there was a loud bang that echoed outside of her quarters. This loud bang startled the Queen and she jumped halfway up off of the ground. Her lips curled into a frown.

"My Queen, we're under attack!" one of them yelled in response.

"Yes, I'm aware," Maxima replied. She braced herself for an attack.

She wondered if someone tried to get her attention in style. There was many times where men showed up with a really big bang in an attempt to get Maxima's attention. They tended to be all sound and no substance when it was all said and done. She thrashed them and was almost embarrassed for them.

Maxima could hear the sounds of guards fighting from the outside. The Warrior Queen was not someone who made a habit of standing through her troops. She adjusted herself and she walked forward.

The woman stepped towards the front of the room. The door of the palace swung open. Maxima's eyes shifted and there was a frown that crossed her face.

"Show yourself!" Maxima shouted. She was not in a really good mood and the fact this individual showed up was not improving her already abhorrent mood any.

"Hello, Queen Maxima," a rumbling voice stated. The eyebrows of Maxima rose when a large imposing individual turned up to face her.

He looked to be an individual who was made of a yellowish granite. His eyes were of reddish slits and he wore a set of battle armor with a large shield on his chest. It was obvious that he was here and ready for a battle.

"Queen Maxima, I'm certain the honor is all yours," the man commented in a rumbling voice.

That statement didn't set off a warning bell in Maxima's head because she had heard men introduce themselves to her in such a way previous. So, there was really nothing out of the ordinary by what he was saying.

"So, you are the latest to challenge me," Maxima said. Her tone was rather bored. "I had thought that my amusement passed for the day, but I assumed wrong."

The man laughed. If there was one thing that Maxima detested was when someone laughed at her in such a matter. Her attempts to ask for a reasoning to this was interrupted when he spoke.

"I doubt that I would have any sort of challenge against you, although I'm more than willing to tame you," the man commented. He could see Maxima's seething look go onto his face and naturally he misinterpreted it. "My name is Mongul. I am always looking for new planets to annex underneath my empire, and you are looking for a true man that would give you everything that you deserve."

He crossed the room and closed the gap. Maxima showed a great deal of self-control not to drill him on sheer principle. Her fingers twitched together and she looked to be allowing herself a calming breath.

Maxima recognized the creature right away. "Yes, I know who you are."

"You have heard of my prowess and you also know how foolish it would be to deny me what I want," Mongul said.

"Yes, I've heard of you and I wouldn't consent to give you my hand in marriage," Maxima said. "Not if you were the last man in the universe."

Mongul let out a booming laugh in response. His laugh was one of those things that could grate a person if taken the wrong way.

"I understand perfectly what you're saying," Mongul said. He crossed the palace room towards her. "I had heard that the Almerac people were proud to a fault. But you should know that I am just as proud. And therefore something has to give."

Maxima felt the wind knocked out of her with a violent punch. She was doubled over on the ground. She was slammed down onto the ground by her hair.

Her royal guard was surprised to see Maxima humbled in such a way. They had never seen their Warrior Queen on her knees like a commoner. It was completely and utterly shocking to see what had been done to her.

"But, you should understand that I am going to take what I want and you're going to do two things about it," Mongul said. He forced Maxima down onto the ground. "You're going to do nothing and like it."

Maxima pushed away from him and nailed Mongul with a series of rapid fire attacks. It was obvious that she was caught off guard the first time and this time she prepared to fight. She nailed him with another punch and that knocked him onto his hands and knees.

"I think that you thought that you were going to walk inside here and take my throne from me," Maxima said.

"There is no thinking about it," Mongul said. He looked absolutely mad beyond all belief. "It's something that I knew without a shadow of a doubt. If you wish to deny me, that's fine."

Maxima stepped back from him.

"If you wish to sacrifice all of your people through your arrogance, then so be it," Mongul said. "All I have to do is say the word and I will have my War World obliterate your entire planet."

Maxima spoke in abject shock. "You wouldn't dare."

Mongul spoke in a cold voice. "Would I dare? You might defeat me in combat, but with my last breath, I will destroy everything that you hold dear."

Most people would be backed against the wall, but Maxima was not one to be backed against the wall so easily.

"You're a man of sport, are you not?" Maxima asked.

"Yes, but I will never lower myself enough to fight a woman," Mongul said. He stepped back and his lips curled in a snarl when he looked at her.

"Who said anything about fighting me?" Maxima asked him. "If you want me, you can earn me, but since you don't want to fight me, then you don't fight me. Fight a warrior of my choice."

Mongul responded with a loud round of laughter. He leaned down and looked Maxima in the eyes with absolute contempt. "Do not make me laugh. There is no warrior that will be able to defeat me. Not only will your planet be in peril ,but his will be."

He paused and thought it over. It might be interesting to see whether or not she would find a foul.

"If you can find a warrior who is willing to combat my chosen warrior, then I will entertain your challenge," Mongul said. "Because I absolutely refuse to dirty my hands finding some commoner."

"Oh, this is not a commoner, far from it," Maxima said.

"That remains to be see," Mongul said. "You have three orbital cycles to find me a proper warrior to fight mine. If you fail, your planet is at forfeit."

"Don't worry, I'll find him," Maxima said. She got up to her feet.

"Very well," Mongul said. He walked out, going past the guards.

"My lady, none of us could stand up to someone like him," one of her guards answered.

"No, you can't," Maxima agreed. "Thankfully, none of you will have to fight him. I have someone perfect in mind."

* * *

><p>The nation of Atlantis was under a state of surprisingly calmness. Lori and Tula were talking to each other and just generally hanging out to have a relaxing time.<p>

"It's a good thing that Queen Mera is able to smooth things over with the surface world," Lori said, shaking her head. "Hopefully, she is able to anyway."

"If not, Harry will be able to do it when he returns back," Tula said. Lori gave a wistful sigh. "I know, you want me to put in the good word for you."

"Yeah, I know there are a lot of girls down here that want a piece of their king, but they're too afraid of….incurring the wrath of their Queen," Lori said. She leaned against the stone pillar. "You know that he has quite the fan club."

Tula gave her a grin in response. "I'm pretty sure that you have nothing to do with that, don't you, Lori?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Lori responded. She frowned deeply when she looked at her.

"I think you might have a few ideas," Tula said. She grinned at the innocent look on her face. "Trust me, the next time Harry makes his inspection down here, I'll invite him down here. We've been working on that new battle armor for him, it's almost done."

Lori nodded in response. She gave a wide grin to her. "That's really the way to the man's heart, isn't it? Some kind of battle armor, isn't it?"

"Yes, you know that, don't you?" Tula asked. She shivered in response and Lori placed her hand on her shoulder.

"Are you okay, Tula?" Lori asked.

"Do you ever get that really weird feeling that there's something going on?" Tula asked. She stood up straight on her tiptoes and shook her head. "I mean, there's been a couple of security breaches lately, but…they have been nothing that we can't handle."

"Relax," Lori said. She placed her hand on her friend's shoulders. "Just relax, it's not going to be bad, trust me."

She suddenly heard an alarm start to blare and that caused Lori to stand up. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up along with her.

"Oh, that was the feeling that you were talking about, wasn't it?" Lori asked. She looked absolutely nervous and it was for good reason as well.

They could see the royal guard moving outside next to them, along with their Queen. Tula and Lori stepped forward. Curiosity most certainly got the better of them when they approached the edge.

"Be careful," Tula said to Lori. She pulled a spear off of the wall. "Something is not right."

"What's not right?" Lori asked. She didn't like when her friend got really weird like this.

"It seems like its undersea life….but it shouldn't be down here," Tula said. She hitched in her breath and responded by breathing out. "It's something that's….well it's brain wave patterns are all wrong."

"You can get just that much from a feeling?" Lori asked. She was skeptical, but she was willing to go along with her friend, if that's how she felt.

"I normally….yeah I get that much from a feeling," Tula agreed. Her heart hammered a couple of beats when it struck the side of her chest. Lori reached over and grabbed her friend gently by the arm.

There was a lot that she didn't like about this; actually there was a whole lot that she didn't like from this. Her unease increased.

A group of Atlantean troops made their way over the threshold. Tula could see it from where they were standing. There was a large crater in the ground and there was a seemingly harmless starfish creature. The creature relaxed casually within the crater. It did seem pretty much harmless, but she was not fooled for a second. Tula knew one thing for life underneath the sea, and that was that seemingly harmless seldom meant absolutely harmless. She chewed down on her lip.

"Be careful!" Tula yelled to her Queen.

She had a sense that something was bad. There was some danger sense that was buzzing in the back of her head. It was not quite like the danger sense that Gwen developed, but it could be impressive. A stack of purple eggs laid on Tula's line of sight. Dread filled her very being and she did dread what she saw for good reason.

"You heard her…"

The eggs started to bust open. They released miniature star fish creatures and the star fish creatures latched onto the faces of the Atlantis Royal Guard.

"Stand back!" Mera yelled. There were people who were in a panic and the creatures moving towards them like something out of a horror movie didn't help with their uneasy feeling either.

Lori looked on with widened eyes. She would like that say that she couldn't believe this. Honestly, this reminded her of a movie that she once saw, where there were face hugging creatures that attached them to the face of the victims.

"STARRO says that STARRO will rise again," one of the Atlantean's said, his mouth only somewhat moving. He spoke in a detached monotone. "All who stops STARRO's rise has been ordered to stop by STARRO."

A hapless group of citizens were caught in the midst of the attack. There was a loud cry of "L'gann!" when one of them was hacked to death by the STARRO infested troops.

Mera was incensed, this creature decided to invade her house. She tried to channel herself to communicate with it. She felt a throbbing headache erupt through her temples when she staggered back. This creature spoke on an entirely different level and rocked her mind.

"Capture the Queen, she will be the perfect pawn to achieve our goals," the creature said in a warbling roar.

Queen Mera stood up straight and proud. If this creature assumed that she would be easy prey, it would be grossly mistaken. She summoned all of the power that she could. The sea bubbled around her.

"Everyone to the palace, Tula, Lori, Protocol 9 is in place, you know what to do," Mera said. She had a pretty good idea that if these creatures were down here, they might be elsewhere on Earth. Therefore it was essential for the drones to be taken out before they became a huge problem.

"What about you, my Queen?" Tula asked. She had a really bad feeling about this.

"I'll be fine," Mera said. She hoped that she could stall them for long enough before help arrived.

The fact they tried this attack now that Harry was off world seemed rather convenient. Mera didn't believe in coincidences, not at all, and this attack most certainly was not a coincidence.

* * *

><p>Harry might have been off world, but the League was still running fairly well. Karen, Diana, and Helena were the ones that ran the show. They were talking to several senior members of the League and some new recruits.<p>

"Weird doesn't begin to describe what's been happening lately," Iris said. She cleared her throat and shook her head. "Granted, there's plenty of oddness, there's always plenty of oddness. That's just how things go, you know what I mean?"

"Yes, very well," Diana said. She could tell that while she didn't get as riled up as Whitney, Iris did have her moments.

Iris noticed she tripped over her words as well and cleared her throat. "Some petty thug tried to jack some scientific equipment. I doubt that he knows what it does. I barely know what it does, Whitney had to tell me."

"What did it do?" Shayera asked.

"It amplifies the brain wave power of a target, which allows them to tap into the sub conscious," Iris said. She gave a long and wistful sigh when she spoke next. "You know, I'll never get half of these inventions….you know because they're only invented for the express purpose of causing some kind of evil. I don't think that I will ever get it."

"I don't think that any of us are meant to get it," Shayera offered. She gave a frown in response when she looked at Iris.

"But it's what happened next that was the really curious part," Iris continued.

When something was curious, that seldom was a good thing. Kara leaned back against her chair and spoke seriously. "It happened before Whitney's eyes and she's still traumatized by it."

Under normal circumstances, Kara would take the piss out of Whitney for freaking out like she did, but she saw it as well when the unconscious thug was brought to RAO because he was experiencing some really weird spikes in his vital signs. So, she understood why the young speedster freaked out and couldn't really blame her.

"His chest burst open and there was a Star Fish creature that popped out of his chest," Kara said. She closed her eyes. "Tea recognized it as something that Cadmus had at one of their labs, that we must have missed."

"Or they disposed of it before we had a chance to take a closer look at it," Diana chimed in.

"Yes, there's that," Kara agreed. "Given what we've done, we've taken every single precaution that we can. Harry might not be here….but Jaime is, and I think that we can agree that she's the best possible Harry replacement that we have."

"Goes without saying, I think," Artemis said. There was one question that vexed her. "But, what's the deal with the Star Fish?"

"We'll find out, Gwen and Caitlin are looking at it, with Jaime, Katrina, Kat, Tea, and Divine helping her," Kara said. She knew that something like this isn't going to be done quickly.

All they had to do was play everyone's least favorite game, the waiting game.

There was a sound of the teleporter fired up and Gwen, Kat, and Caitlin turned up and the trio walked forward.

"Please tell me that you have good news," Kara said. She could see by the looks on their faces that they didn't have good news, but she honestly hoped that they did.

"If we told you, then we would be lying," Caitlin said. She allowed herself a moment to sigh and shook her head. "These creatures have some low power telepathic connection to….something else."

"Best we can tell is that there is some kind of mother creature that is giving the drones all of their commands," Gwen said. She frowned when thought about it. "They are using the bio-energy of the hosts to create more creatures."

"We caught this one when he was in the process," Kat answered. She folded her arms over her chest and shook her head. She frowned when she thought about it. "We scooped about a dozen eggs out of his insides."

Some of the group responded by noises of disgusts and Artemis threw her head back. "Yeah, that's something that I really need to hear before having lunch."

"You did get all of the eggs out and contain them, didn't you?" Karen asked. Kat nodded in response and she breathed. "Good…..we should destroy them when we have the chance, unless there's something else we could find out."

"There's not that much to learn from then other than what we already know," Gwen answered. She could feel a knot in her stomach. "There can be people with those creatures hooked to their faces and they will never know it."

"We're developing a way to track them down," Caitlin said. "But it's pretty slow going, we're going to need more data."

"And more time, don't forget more time," Gwen said. She could see the eyes of the League on them.

There was a series of beeps that indicated that there was an SOS system.

'_There are reports of several floods that are coming in from the coast,' _Chloe thought.

'_When you combine that with the distress signal that's coming in from Atlantis, that can't be a coincidence,' _Diana chimed in. _'Mera, are you there?'_

'_Yes, I'm busy,' _Mera thought. She was in the process of fighting the STARRO enhanced soldiers and she avoided the attacks from them.

They noticed that and it was time to set out and see what they could do. The invasion might be far more wide spread than they thought in the first place.

* * *

><p>The Queen of the Star Sapphires waited to meet with Harry Potter. She sensed that Harry visited two of her newest recruits and showed them what the powerful of love could really do. Some of her Star Sapphires got a dose of that because they tapped too much into the connection.<p>

She smiled when she saw Har-Zod show up. The Green Lantern known as Lois Lane followed him and Lucy made her way next to him. Claire brought up the rear and it was quite a rear from where she was standing.

"So, how are you?" Harry asked her.

"We're in a rebuilding process, I think," the Queen said. "Many of our women came to us rather broken and they did desire acceptance. And they found it, even though it was extremely twisted. And now we got to guide them away from that. It's a long process for all when they heal."

"It didn't really have the worst of intentions, it was just the way that the Star Sapphires went along with it," Carol said. The Star Sapphire made her way up, walking side by side with the Green Lanterns.

"And you have my sincere apologies, I can see that heartache can be mistaken for something much more and we took things way too far," The Queen said. "And there is also our problems with the Guardians…you realize how frustrating they can be dealing with."

"You're really preaching to the choir with that one," Lois said. She stretched and placed her hands on the back of her head. She felt a little sore after Harry put her through the paces, but it was more than worth it. "So, are we ready to go?"

"I'm going to stay for a little bit, to help out," Lucy said. "I mean, you have your own space corps, and I do as well. I have a purpose, and I want to see what I can do with the Star Sapphires."

"Are you sure that's what you want to do?" Lois asked. She spoke rather calmly and rather crisply. She wasn't going to nag her sister, at least not any more. "I mean, this is a big step."

"Time more me to take some responsibility," Lucy suggested with a shrug. "Trust me, Lois, I'll be fine."

"You better be, you better spread the love," Lois said. She pulled her younger sister into a hug and tasseled her hair. She turned to Carol. "So, how about you?"

"I don't know," Carol commented, shaking her head.

The Queen placed her hand gently on Carol's shoulder. "If I might make a suggestion, Sector 2814 would need a representative to the Star Sapphire Corps. You would be perfect for the job."

Carol smiled at Carol. "You would be the perfect person for the job, wouldn't you, Carol?"

Carol wasn't going to argue about that one. The brunette woman stretched when she shook her head in response. "I guess that I would be the perfect job."

"So, I guess that we're all ready to go home," Claire said.

There was an explosive boom and that caused the group to back off. Lois's eyes widened and she couldn't believe it.

Queen Maxima turned up right in front of them. Claire was giving her a burning gaze. If looks could kill, Maxima would be dead off of the sheer hatred Claire was giving her.

Harry put himself in front of the two of them, knowing that it would be a bad idea to have them the two of them throw down here. Especially given the circumstances of the last time these two ran into each other.

"I require your help, Har-Zod," Maxima said. "It's a problem you can solve and I need your help with. If you help me solve it, I will be firmly within your debt."

Harry was intrigued, although suspicious. His last encounter with the Queen of Almarac was rather turbulent, although the apology sex was spectacular.

"Explain," Harry said calmly.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on June 7<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	73. Menace of Mongul Part One

**Chapter Seventy-Three: The Menace of Mongul Part One. **

* * *

><p>Maxima obviously had a hell of an explanation ahead of her. "I suspected that my nature might cause me to garner the wrong kind of attention. And for a long time, every man who tried to challenge me for the right for my hand in marriage, or the throne outright, has been dispatched of, if they're fortunate. They are disgraced or murdered, with murdered being preferred by the nature of some of their alien races. Instead of the indignity of being defeated by a woman."<p>

Harry waited for Maxima to get to the point. He placed his arm around Claire and held her in towards him. It was obvious that she had a scowl on her face that could burn through people if the circumstances were right.

"But, I had never imagined that something like this would occur," Maxima continued. "I assumed that anyone who dared showed up on my planet, would not do what they've done. And this person had no intention to fight me. Even if I could defeat him, he would have had his henchmen obliterate my entire planet."

"Surely you could stop that, couldn't you?" Lois asked.

"Under normal circumstances, I would have," Maxima agreed. "I would have, had my enemy not had an entire War World at his disposal."

Harry was caught by who it was straight away. His teeth shifted together and he let out one pained word. "Mongul."

"Yes, I should have assumed that his name would be well known by you," Maxima said. "And his cruelty is well known. He has destroyed many planets due to slights. But there is one thing that he cannot deny and that is a challenge."

Harry thought that she was getting to the point quite nicely. She continued to explain.

"He will not fight directly, but he will no doubt choose the cruelest, most brutal warrior in the entire universe to do his bidding," Maxima continued. "But, that is where I had come to you. I need your help to take down his warrior."

"And you couldn't fight him yourself, because….." Claire said. Harry gave her a shifty look out of the corner of his eyes. Claire to her credit relaxed a little bit.

"I would have fought him on my own accord if I had been allowed the luxury to do so," Maxima agreed. Anyone who had the slightest idea what she was talking about sensed a "but" in the offing. "But, he did not allow me to do so. He will never acknowledge a woman is stronger than him or worthy of a challenge."

"Well, that mandates an ass kicking more than anything," Lois said.

She knew well enough of Mongul and heard of him. His cruelty was well known throughout the universe. He was one of the people that were on the Guardians watch list. It would take an entire armada of Green Lanterns to storm his War World to even get inside, much less shut it down.

The Guardians did not have the desire to stir up that particular hornet's nest, much to Lois's chagrin.

"So, you need my help," Harry said.

"Yes, I need your help," Maxima said. She knew that he was willing to help her, but at the same time, he was not going to jump at her.

There was a reason why Maxima was in the position that she was. She went along with her courtship process in the entirely wrong way a long time ago and that got her in an ample amount of trouble. Now she faced off against Harry, going practically nose to nose with him.

'_She really does get herself in the worst positions, and it is her own fault,' _Claire thought to herself.

Harry turned towards Claire, but Lois piped in before Harry could offer her a swift reprimand through the bond link. _'Okay, am I seriously missing something here?'_

'_It was something that happened a long time ago,' _Harry thought. He gave Claire a warning look in response.

'_You shouldn't be giving me that look,' _Claire protested when she breathed in and breathed out. She was getting a little huffy and puffy with what she was saying. _'You know, I don't think that you should be looking at me like that.'_

'_You know, you should have just let it go,' _Harry thought with a shake of his head. _'It was something that happened a long time ago.'_

'_I know it happened a long time ago and you remember what she did to me,' _Claire thought. She shook her head and allowed herself a lengthy sigh in response. _'If she only apologized….my attitude regarding her would be loads better.'_

Maxima could tell that the two of them had a mental conversation at least two of the parties, perhaps three of the parties. She had the ability to listen in, but she was not going to listen into the conversation.

"You really got yourself in this one," Harry answered. He stepped up towards Maxima and gave her a long side look in her eye. "You seriously and utterly got yourself into this one, didn't you?"

Maxima's mouth hung open and she paused for a long time. She nodded in response.

"I did get myself into this one," Maxima replied in agreement. "And there were many mistakes that I made a long time ago. I was younger, foolish, and not used to the responsibilities that I should have when I was placed upon the throne. And had I known what I knew now, I would not have courted you in such a way."

"But you did, and here we are," Claire said. This was the closest thing to an apology she was going to get, but she didn't want to accept it.

"And yet, I know what kind of heroine that you are," Maxima responded. She placed her hand against the wall and gripped Harry gently by the hand, pretty much brushing past Claire. "And I know what kind of man that you are. You're not going to allow innocents died, especially when many of them are women that are yours by right."

Harry smiled. She did have a point.

"So, what are you willing to do for me if I help you?" Harry asked. He pretty much agreed, but he was testing Maxima to see how she was going to react. She had not hit a certain level of maturity just yet.

"Trust me, I'll make it worth everything," Maxima said. "So, do we have a deal?"

"It's Mongul, I don't think that I could refuse even if I wanted to," Harry said. He turned to Carol, Carol, Lois, Lucy, and Claire. "And I think that all of us are going to agree with this."

There was no argument from any of them. Even though Claire threw her arms together and she nodded.

"So, how are we going to go about this?" Claire asked her.

"Leave this to me, I'll inform him," Maxima said.

Claire might not like her completely, but there was something about this entire situation that just made her smile. She watched Maxima walk off without another word and she frowned extremely deeply when she watched her depart.

"She is pretty much everything that the records state her to be," Carol said. Carol nodded in response.

* * *

><p>Mongul sat on his throne at his War World. This was his own domain and he took out pretty much every individual who got in his way. He waited, amused.<p>

He wanted to see the Queen absolutely humbled, forced to be demeaned when she searched around for the perfect warrior. There was no such thing as the perfect warrior; Mongul knew that about as well as anyone. His teeth twisted into a wicked smile when he waited for her to return.

"There's not a warrior arrive that would dare stand up to me, no one would put his own people in peril for a woman that he has absolutely no chance with," Mongul said one of his aides. The man responded with a crisp nod. "Ensure that they know what they're going up against. Make sure our cannons are locked on their planet."

He figured someone as arrogant as Maxima would try something. The moment she looked at him in so much of the wrong way.

"And how does the tournament go?" Mongul asked.

"Only the cruelest and the most sadistic have been brought to fight for the right to be your champion, my liege," the aide said. "There will only be one left standing and he will be the only one still breathing."

Mongul nodded. He wanted a ruthless killer, on the off chance that Maxima had found her champion. This person should be able to obliterate anyone and everyone who was in his way and crush them underneath his foot. The power would be barbaric when Maxima's chosen warrior was destroyed.

His War World would crush both planets, when he had all of the resources that they had to offer. Mongul had no interest in some woman who did not know her place. Perhaps if she had begged before him, he would spare her life, but he doubted very much she would do such a thing.

There was a bang from outside. The guards stepped back and allowed Maxima to enter inside. The Queen of Almerac made a series of quick strides towards him.

"How nice to see you, and before the entire cycle is completed," Mongul said. He stood up so he could tower over Maxima.

Maxima stood across from him and folded her arms across her chest. She would have liked to attack him better than anyone else, but that would put her people in peril.

"I know what I must do now," Maxima said. "You've forced my hand."

"Yes, I'm certain that you were going to see the light sooner rather than later," Mongul answered. He looked towards Maxima with a twisted glint through her eyes. "You should have known that there would be no warrior alive that would have been able to defeat me. You should put yourself for me and show me what you're willing to do to protect your planet."

"I'm willing to do much to protect my planet, you have no idea what I'm doing," Maxima said. Mongul chuckled when he looked at her. "That is why that I have made the deal that I have to take you down."

"You could not have found any warrior who dared fight me," Mongul said. "And I'm certain that he will fold whoever he is. I am currently holding a tournament to find the most brutal warrior in the universe. And he will rip your champion to shreds."

"Hardly," Maxima piped up. She looked towards him. "My warrior knows death and has conquered it better than anyone else in the universe."

"There is no one powerful enough to defeat my champion," Mongul said. Maxima laughed in bemusement. "What do you find so funny, woman?"

"The tales regarding what you're like are true, you always are under the assumption that the battle is won before you even know all of the facts,' Maxima said. "I feel quite humbled indeed to know how arrogant you are. This is going to be interesting. It's time for you to get taken down a peg where you belong."

"You're stalling for time, aren't you?" Mongul asked.

"Just building anticipation," Maxima said. "I'm sure that you're going to no doubt find a cruel warrior who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain by currying your favor. I've found someone that will take down anything that you bring to the fight."

Mongul could feel his patience slowly slip away when he looked at Maxima.

"My champion is Har-Zod."

There was a long pause when Mongul allowed the full gravity of this statement sink in. He sounded utterly calm, almost scarily so. He looked Maxima dead on in the eye with his intense ability.

"Are you under the assumption that intimidates me?" Mongul asked her.

"Well, I don't assume, because that's only a tool of a fool to assume," Maxima commented to him. "But, you remember what happened when you tried your little games on Krypton. And now you have to fight the child of one of the greatest minds in the universe, and the General is not a fool either. He just went insane."

"You bluff," Mongul said.

"Do, I bluff?" Maxima asked.

"If you thought that you could use his name to get out of our arrangement, you're sorely mistaken," Mongul said.

It was Maxima's turn to look offended. "Do you think that's what this is all about? An attempt to bluff my way out of battle?""

Mongul looked towards her like he obviously didn't believe a single word that came out of her mouth.

"Believe me, don't believe my, the proof is standing right before your eyes."

Mongul stood up. He saw the young man himself. His dark hair was down past his shoulders a little bit. He wore battle armor and he had a look of intensity fixed into his green eyes.

"And for the record, do you think that I am the type to allow my name to be used as a bluff?" Harry asked. "Maxima has put herself underneath my debt and I feel that the great Mongul isn't powerful enough to bring me down. The last time you had to fight a Kryptonian, it didn't go so well, did it, Mongul?"

Mongul gashed his teeth. He didn't get his chance to revenge himself upon Krypton for the planet blew up before he could return to accomplish his vendetta.

"You are a fool if you're willing to put your planet up as collateral for a woman," Mongul said.

"No, just confident enough that I could beat anyone that you throw against me," Harry replied. "Even you, if you weren't so cowardly to allow others to do your dirty work for you."

Several of the guards made their way over. Harry casually disarmed them, and brought them down onto the ground.

"Consider your challenge accepted," Harry said.

"So be it, and when you lose, Earth will be forfeit," Mongul replied. "It may be for the best that primitive mudball becomes destroyed. All it does is befoul the very universe it sits in"

Harry fixed his eyes on his enemy and responded with a crisp nod. It was game on as far as he was concerned. He was ready to take Mongul down once and for all. He was not going to allow him to run over another planet.

The problem would be trying to figure out how to disable War World, because Harry knew that the sore loser would destroy anything that got in his way. Harry had an idea how to get around that as well.

* * *

><p>Arkham Asylum was one of the most problematic areas the Justice League had to keep an eye for obvious reason. Artemis was suited up and ready to go. The Arrow stood at the edge of the entrance.<p>

The Flash showed up with the Arrow. Iris looked over her shoulder.

"So, are we ready to go?" Artemis asked.

"Yeah, we're almost ready to go," Iris confirmed. "We just got to wait for everyone else to show up and back us up."

"Yes, it seems like about three or four things happened at once," Artemis confirmed. She clutched her hand over the crossbow that dangled from her hand and frowned. "Guess that just comes with the territory, doesn't it?"

"Pretty much, yes," Iris agreed. "So, I guess we're in shoot first and….."

"Shoot first, wait to sort it out later, yes," Artemis said.

Black Canary turned up, followed by the Huntress, Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman, and Power Girl. There was another party, a girl dressed in a white and black combination suit with a hood on it.

"So, the friendly neighborhood Spider-Girl?" Iris asked.

Gwen groaned. "We're not calling me that….honestly just because I get bit by a Spider….."

"All super hero codenames don't really pass the absurdity test when you think about it," Dinah said. She perched herself on the other end of the wall. "But you know, that's half of the fun."

Gwen shook her head. She was just going to have to take Dinah's word for it. Right now, her heart was racing. This was the first time being out on the other side of the computer monitor and she didn't know what to expect.

"When it doubt, just pretend everyone is in their underwear," Chloe suggested. She played her normal role as mission support tech girl.

"Not helping at all," Gwen commented. She spoke in an eerily calm voice, almost like she wasn't shaken.

"Look, it's really hard being out there….the one time that I went out on the field….yeah, never again," Chloe answered. "And that's not helping…."

"Just do the best that you can, and remember not to lose your head, for any reason," Karen said. She gripped Gwen firmly around the shoulders.

Gwen thought that she was dealing with an interesting trial by fire being thrown into Arkham Asylum. She was glad that she had plenty of back up.

"Okay…..I'm almost over what happened….but those things are dangerous and…..if one of them got into a guard and spread their way into Arkham, that's going to be bad news," Whitney said. She spoke in an extremely serious voice.

"Do we have any way to counteract them?" Iris asked.

"Well, they are affected by certain kinds of sound waves," Whitney offered. She wondered if she was grasping in the dark or maybe grasping for some kind of straws. Regardless, she had to give her ideas the best that she could.

"Maybe you can…Canary cry them until your throat is raw or something?" Artemis suggested to Dinah.

Dinah blinked and nodded. It wasn't the worst idea in the world to do something like that.

"Barbara, please tell me that you've got things on your end," Helena said.

"Yeah, passcodes are….tricky, why does Arkham have to boost the security at the worst possible time?" Barbara asked.

"Not sure if that's Arkham, as much as it is one of the guards being affected by the STARRO drone," Helena commented.

They will know in a minute. One of the signals coming from the drone led them straight here. A trap was highly likely, but they had to take a chance.

The doors opened up and the representatives from the Justice League made their way down the hallway.

"It's quiet," Gwen informed them.

"No," Iris said. She shook her head. Gwen opened her mouth. "Just no."

"Yeah, for sure, that's going to invite us trouble worth than anything," Artemis said. She head her hand steadily. She made sure to load up on the high end trick arrows today, she had a feeling that she was going to need them.

A group of orderlies made their way down the hallway. Karen utilized her X-Ray vision to her fullest extent and she could see a creature buried underneath the cranium of one of her enemies. She frowned when she saw it.

"We've got trouble," Karen said. "They're all infected."

"Stand back," Black Canary said.

She used her Canary Cry with an explosive fury. The orderlies looked to be staggered. That allowed Artemis to fire a series of rapid fire arrows at her enemies. She knocked them off guard.

"Do not allow them to pass, STARRO must live," one of the orderlies breathed.

"Yeah, that's not going to happen," Artemis said.

Diana rushed in, with a furious attack. These normal men were enhanced and they packed quite a punch. She dodged their attacks. She turned them around against them and caused them to land on the ground with a crunch.

"Canary cry didn't work as much as we thought it would," Dinah said. She avoided a knife being stabbed at her.

Gwen's spider sense started to assault the back of her head. "I think this one is going to blow."

Helena quickly launched an ice grenade at the guard before it could burst open. The moment his chest split open the grenade exploded in his chest and froze the eggs, along with the STARRO creature that had burrowed in him.

"Ice, ice is their weakness," Artemis said. She whipped a series of rapid fire arrow shots out. She connected with a glancing shot.

The arrow heads exploded with some liquid nitrogen and froze them. It was obvious these guards had been dead for weeks; it was just that the STARROs were using them as meat suits in an attempt to achieve their plans.

"We need to security the high security wing," Helena said.

She noticed one of the guards stabbing an uninfected guard in the chest and doubled him over. She jumped up and sent another ice grenade at the guard.

"Too late, STARRO is everywhere, STARRO is justice," the guard said. His chest burst open and that detonated the grenade, holding the creature in. "You cannot stop us forever, grow stronger, home gone, new home, new home, everyone same, everyone one in new home, STARRO will allow STARRO to thrive."

"And this hive mind thing is freaking me out," Gwen said. She webbed two of the guards together.

"Is there any way that we can stop them without killing the people that they're using as a meat bag?" Artemis asked. She fired an arrow at her adversary and impaled him. The arrow head froze the STARRO drone inside.

"I think that if we find the master, we could kill all of the slaves," Karen said.

"There's got to be a way though," Gwen said. She could feel the hands of the creature on the back of her neck.

Gwen knocked him into the wall hard with a sickening impact. The fight continued to rage on in Arkham, with the League gaining the advantage. They were well aware this was one battle of a grander war. The prize was all of Earth and they were damned if they were going to let it slip through their fingers.

* * *

><p>Harry braced himself for battle. He was pretty much focusing his mind on the battle and nothing but the battle at hand. While he was pretty good at being a multitasker, he needed to focus on this battle at hand.<p>

He channeled all of the energy in his body and his hands vibrated when the young man channeled everything into himself. Harry rocked back and took a deep breath in response. He frowned when he rose to his feet.

He sensed that he was ready, aligned completely with himself. It was time. Harry rose to his feet and was ready. He could see Claire, Lois, Carol, and Carol standing around next to him. Maxima was standing a bit into the shadows.

"You do realize that Mongul is not going to play by the rules, don't you?" Lois asked.

Harry frowned. "Yes, Lois, I'm well aware of that, but I've got a plan. But none of you need to interfere unless I'm in real trouble."

"And how will we know if you're in real trouble?" Lois asked.

Claire turned towards her girlfriend with a shadow of a smile on her face. "Trust me, Lois, if he's in trouble, you'll know."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Lois asked.

Harry cleared his throat and the other women in question made their way outside. They were going to watch this with the rest of the world. They really hoped that they didn't have to intervene and Harry hoped as well. He looked forward and turned to Maxima.

"I would wish you luck, but I know that you can win, no matter who Mongul puts you up against," Maxima said to him. She stepped towards Harry and leaned forward. "I will look forward to seeing the look on his face when you humiliated his chosen champion."

"That makes two of us, believe me," Harry said. He shared a brief kiss with Maxima before she made her way to view this battle.

The fate of her planet lingered in the balance and there was no way that she was missing this battle. Harry walked out in the battle.

The entire crowd in War World went into a hush when the Son of Zod stepped out. He was calm and he was crisp.

Mongul looked down with contempt. He cleared his throat. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to tonight's battle. The Queen of Almerac, Maxima, has declined to acknowledge my power and she has issued a grandstanding challenge. Through a violent tournament, I have chosen an enemy that will be fit to destroy a Kryptonian. I discovered him imprisoned thanks to them and he wishes to wager his freedom for a chance to curry my favor. He's murdered over thirty of the universe's harshest warriors to get to this point, and there is only one left."

From the shadows, a pair of eyes looked at him. A rather powerful looking bald man who stood over seven feet tall approached him. He was dressed in white garb that was stained in the blood of the enemies he previously defeated.

"He is a terror from the Phantom Zone, he is known as Titan," Mongul said. He spoke calmly and a wicked smile crossed his face. "And he will be the one that will bring Har-Zod straight this tomb."

"We'll see about that," Harry said. He stepped forward. The power of Titan swept over him when he approached Harry.

Titan walked forward. The beast's excitement grew when he caught a whiff of the Kryptonian. He pulled a large jagged bone from his arm band and held it like a knife.

"Either I'll be free or I'll die trying," Titan growled.

"Hopefully you've made funeral arrangements," Harry said.

"The only rule is that this is to the death," Mongul said. "I don't want a good clean fight. Let's get it on!"

Titan stared down Harry, who looked at him. The irresistible force was about ready to collide with the immobile object.

Harry delivered a series of rapid fire punches to Titan, and Titan stepped back, laughing at him.

"No pain!" Titan yelled. "So, I'll take yours."

Titan lifted his hands into the air and tried to take them down onto Harry.

Harry jumped into the air and leaped onto his back. He slammed a series of rapid fire blows to the back of Titan's neck. He might not be able to feel pain, but that doesn't mean that he couldn't get hurt.

Titan tried to grab Harry, but Harry avoided his attacks.

"Yeah, come on, give me your best shot!" Harry yelled.

Titan grabbed Harry by the throat and tried to throttle him. Harry smiled when he channeled a burst of power up Titan's arm.

The demon suffered the first scream of pain. He wasn't used to experiencing pain and it felt extremely awful. Harry drilled him with a series of rapid fire attacks which doubled him over.

Mongul watched the battle, he couldn't believe it.

Titan swung his bone spike at a ninety degree angle at his enemy. Harry blocked it with his hands and ripped it from his hands. Harry propelled the bone spike back and set it on fire, causing it to launch into his stomach, doubling him over. Blood started to spurt from his mouth when it hit a vital spot.

Harry winded up and delivered a vicious roundhouse kick to the head of a kneeling Titan. Titan responded by a huge zombie sit up and rose to his feet.

When Titan was charging, Harry slipped on a pair of brass knuckles. The energy channeled onto his hand through the knuckles. Harry slammed the knuckles into Titan's chest and forced him down onto his knees.

He fell down, blood spurting from his chest and his mouth. The crowd, who had seen this Titan dismantle twenty nine other men, grew into a hush. Har-Zod had defeated Titan and had destroyed him.

Mongul clutched onto the side of his throne so hard that he broke it underneath his grip. Incensed wasn't even close to describe what he felt.

He threw himself down and landed in front of Harry. He caught him from behind with a cheap shot and knocked him back.

That dirty move caused Harry to be rattled. Mongul stood over him. "That was only the preliminary bout, this is the main event."

Maxima rose to her feet in anger. Claire and Lois were about to protest as well and Carol and Carol didn't look too happy either. "This wasn't part of our agreement, Mongul."

"I've made a new agreement, the previous one didn't work out for me too well," Mongul said. "My War World is locked and armed, ready to take out your planet. If Har-Zod cannot be defeat me, both your planet and Earth will be decimated."

Claire thought that if Mongul was going to do something that dirty, then she could do something that dirty. A barrier struck up and caused her and the others to be blocked.

Harry stood alone. He rose to his feet facing Mongul. _'Claire, I need you to listen to me and stick to the plan, do you understand?'_

'_Yes, but I don't like it,' _she replied.

'_Nor am I asking you to like it, but I am asking you to try and stick to the plan if we can,' _Harry thought. He knew that they were going down an extremely rough road, but that was just what they had to do.

Harry knew that he had to stall Mongul, not necessarily defeat him. If he beat Mongul outright, Mongul would just activate the War World with his dying breath out of spite.

"Let's try that one more time, when my both eyes are on your ugly face," Harry said.

"Gladly, I will crush you for your arrogance," Mongul said.

* * *

><p>Kara, Donna, Kat, Zatanna, and Jaime all were part of the group that was helping out in Atlantis. They met Tula and Lori, who looked both nervous for obvious reasons.<p>

Kara thought that she should be reassuring, tell them not to worry, but the problem was that she did worry. It was worrying when one of the members of the Justice League.

"Get these gates open," Kara said to Zatanna who nodded.

"NEPO SETAGS!" Zatanna yelled. Simple, effective, and it did the trick bringing them open.

Mera was holding the line with everything that she had. It was really unfortunate that they she had to attack the own people that she served. If there was another way to help them, she was dying to hear it.

'_Okay, we're working on things, but the problem is we don't have enough time,' _Jaime thought. She caused the water to cool around the infected. They were wearing goggles that would allow them to pinpoint the infected. They really needed to do what they what they could to keep the creatures at bay.

"We need to destroy that crater, now," Kara said.

Sure enough there were thousands of miniature STARRO eggs. If they hatched before too long, that would be a mess of epic proportions. Unfortunately, their meat bags moved forward. Kara raised her hand and launched two grenades at the creatures.

"We need to seal this off somehow and freeze it!" Donna yelled. She used one of the arrows Artemis made for her with a crossbow and fired at the infected guard. The guard froze up completely and staggered forward.

"Ideal solution yes, but there are too many infected," Mera said. She managed to hold them back, just barely, with the help of her people.

Kara paused and she listened carefully. She could not keep the smile off of her face. This should be the last situation where she should even consider smiling, but she couldn't really keep the grin off of her face.

Mera turned to Kara and she frowned. "Is now really the time to be jubilant?"

"Do you hear that?" Kara asked. Mera experienced a rush of power like this once before and she turned towards Kara, nodding in response. Yes, she did hear that, she really did hear it. There was a rush of energy when she could feel it approaching them.

Jean Grey was in the house and the Phoenix was here to take names. The drones were ripped from their meat bags and they fell down to the ground.

Jaime shook her head, if they had just thought to use Jean before, they would have done this.

All of the drones were bundled up in one place and they were launched forward. Jean dropped down, and she turned to the League. "Now is your time, destroy the eggs!"

"Everyone fire!" Kara yelled. They threw several ice grenades and not a second too soon. The eggs were destroyed, freezing the STARRO creatures.

"Do, you really think that will stop us," the mother creature said. She was trapped in the ice. "You have only delayed the inevitable. STARRO grows closer. The day of reckoning for this primitive planet is at hand."

"Yeah, we just destroyed a bunch of your brats," Lori said.

"You know nothing of destruction, we might have sacrificed one fleet, but there are others to come," the drone said. "I am not the prime model, but he grows stronger when his children feed. You should not deny it, embrace it. Become one with the world and it will be yours."

"Okay, I've got a way that we might be able to shut them down," Whitney popped up over the comm. "But it's kind of a longshot."

"Given what we've been through, a longshot is better than no shot," Mera informed her. "Land and sea will be put under this creature's control and there's not much we can do about it."

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on June 9<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	74. Menace of Mongul Part Two

**Chapter Seventy-Four: Attack of Mongul Part Two: **

* * *

><p>It was a race against the clock on Earth. The Invasion of Arkham was something that they shut down, along with the invasion of Atlantis. Kara was talking to Karen about how things were going on the mainland.<p>

"Well, things are getting really bad over here," Karen said. She decided to amend that statement. "Well they aren't as bad as they were a long time ago and not as bad as they could have been."

Kara hated the vagueness of this statement. It was obvious from the look on Jaime's face that she didn't like it either. In fact, she took ahold of the communication device from Kara. "What….how things could have gone worse?"

It was one of those things where Kara almost regretted having to ask, but at the same time she had to ask.

"Well," Karen said. She was told something by Dinah. There was a brief conversation Jaime and Kara couldn't really make out on the other side. "At least they didn't get to the high security wing of the prison. We're pretty sure anyway. We're scanning anyone in this prison for possible infection and sealing any probables off into another wing."

"And there's still no way to put them down humanely," Kara said. She wanted to say how much this stank, because this stank a lot. She was not in the habit of killing innocent people. There were people who would be better off dead.

"It's really bad, yes," Karen said. "And I'm not sure if these people were even alive when the creatures infected them. We should assume that they weren't."

"You know what happens when people assume, don't you, Karen?" Kara asked. She was half joking, not completely serious. Well, she was trying to find a way to justify saving these people. "It goes without saying that the floods were a diversion, for a grander purpose, to infect more people."

"Yes, that is the case," Karen said. She figured that the STARRO creatures were fairly intelligent. The methods that infiltrated the Earth, under the eyes of some of the mightiest heroes in the world was nothing less than genius. And she didn't throw around that word in a particularly light manner. "But, we should just do what we got to do."

"Right, you got to do what you got to do, and we got to do what we got to do down here," Kara responded.

She turned her attention to Jean. Jean was standing next to Tula and they both hovered over the dangerous mother creature. There was a part of her who seemed mostly harmless and there was another part of her that seemed about as dangerous as you would expect. Regardless, Kara looked over the creature in question with a frown.

"It's a tough nut to crack, isn't it?" Kara asked.

"Yes," Tula informed them. She could not believe something like this was capable of so much malice and evil. "And it's very loyal to its cause, you know."

"So, it finally decided to shut up about how resistance is futile and all that good stuff," Jaime said.

Kara turned around and looked towards Jaime with a wide frown. Jean was looking into the creature's mind.

'_You know, you can struggle, but I have a cosmic power greater than your master,' _Jean thought.

The STARRO Mother Creature flinched when she shivered in response. _'You are going to fail, child.'_

'_Do not call me a child, and I won't make this end painful for you and your children,' _Jean thought. She had one of those "do not fuck with me" types of modes in her mind. The look on her face showed this even more so. _'So tell me, where is your master?'_

'_He's coming,' _the STARRO Creature thought. The Mother Creature was extremely amused. _'And when he comes, there will be no stopping him. Resistance is futile and humanity will be crushed underneath the power of STARRO….we will live again, STARRO will live again.'_

'_That's not going to happen,' _Jean thought firmly.

The Phoenix recalled the cruelty STARRO was capable of and needless to say, she was getting fairly restless regarding with the creature was capable of. Her heart started to beat up heavier when she locked onto the creature.

Jean pulled every bit of information out of the mind of the creature. Tula stood beside Jean and looked nervous. Lori looked pretty nervous as well because Tula was looking fairly nervous.

Time stood really still when Jean got the information she wanted from the creature. The back of her head was starting to throb.

The creature's mind was crushed when Jean was done delving through the mind for the information. She fell backwards when Kara and Jaime were able to catch her.

"You saw something really awful, didn't you?" Jaime asked.

Jean didn't say anything, but the fact she saw something that was awful often went without saying. She was breathing in and out heavily. She sounded calm, even though she was the furthest thing from calm.

"I have a pretty good idea where STARRO is, and he's only getting stronger now," Jean said. She stepped back to allow her mind to reconcile all of what she saw. "I've seen what he's done to other planets in the universe and it's awful."

"That bad?" Jaime asked.

Tula was standing beside her. Jean turned to Tula with a frown on her face and it was obvious she was upset. Jean looked sorry regarding what she said. "I'm sorry about that, I really am."

"Don't be worried about that….I was just caught off guard," Tula told her. She was trying to keep extremely calm. "That thing wasn't a creature in the sea, it was an abomination. Don't worry, I'm fine."

"If you're sure?" Jean asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," Tula answered, shaking her head. She frowned when she looked at all. "I'm worried about the people who got infected by this thing."

"Believe me, you're not the only one," Jean replied with a long sigh. She frowned in response. "The Master will be freed soon, but if we deal with all of the slaves soon….we should be able to prevent it from even showing up anywhere close to Earth."

Whitney was surprisingly quiet at this point and she finally said something. "Well, we're going to have to work really quickly. I have a really bad feeling about this."

"It's more than a feeling with me," Jean said and she frowned deeply. "Guess, we're going to have to deal with this, one step at a time."

* * *

><p>Harry was going to give Mongul credit for one thing. He was dangerous and brutal. Harry didn't know why he would have backed off. He wiped the blood from his mouth and stood to face him.<p>

'_A couple more minutes,' _Carol reported in on him.

Harry smiled, giving Mongul a bloody grin. A couple of teeth had been loosened in the battle, but that was something that could be easily fixed with magic or even really advanced technology. So he wasn't too concerned about that. "I came here to fight a man, but yet I stand before you."

Mongul raised his hand into the air. There was a malicious look in his eyes and it was one of a man who looked like he wasn't fucking around. "I'm done playing."

Harry caused sparks to fly from his fingers when he raised it in the air and he gave a grin. "So am I."

A ball of green fire erupted from Harry's hand. He shot it from his hand and it was rocked onto the ground.

Mongul and Harry went nose to nose. Harry rocked the monster with a huge punch. Mongul staggered back.

A series of rapid fire punches knocked Mongul back. He was about ready to fall back onto his knees.

Mongul was about ready to pull the trigger to cut his losses. He paused when he saw an opening from the Kryptonian and took it.

Harry put up a shield, while acting like he got punched. He knew Mongul wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to take a free shot. The wind was knocked out of him, along with the blood splashing from his mouth.

He was taking a lot of hard shots, in an attempt to make sure that Mongul got his licks in. He was distracting him.

"You should have stayed safely on your planet," Mongul said. He looked to be at the prime of his own glee. "And now it is going to be destroyed."

'_Just keep talking,' _Harry thought. Mongul was about to give a grand standing speech before he finished "Harry off." _'Got to love a villain who gives me an opening so I can stall and set him up for a fall.'_

'_I'm glad that I'm not there, because I would have popped his ass for all of the mindless droning he's been giving,' _Lois thought. She shook her head. She couldn't' believe that Mongul just wouldn't shut him. He kept talking on and on. _'Oh and in case you wanted to know, we're almost done.'_

'_Excellent,' _Harry thought and he honestly meant that from the bottom of his heart.

Maxima watched and she could see the look in Har-Zod's eyes. It was not of a warrior that was defeated. It was a warrior who was willing to take the biggest beatdown possible. She realized that he was playing possum.

It was amazing how much he was willing to take damage to set up Mongul for more damage of his own later on.

"And now, I will bring down the Queen's so called champion. I wonder if I should eliminate her planet or his first. That's the toughest part of the battle, a decision…..we want to end this one with a bang, so Earth should be the first to go. It's not like anyone will miss it. And we'll naturally save the most spectacular and relevant for last."

Harry rose to his feet, slowly crawling his way next to Mongul. He adjusted the dial on his watch, to release the stored solar energy back into him.

Mongul pressed his foot on top of Harry's face. "And now I will bring the end of the world as you know it and I can guarantee you won't be feeling fine. Watch closely, Har-Zod. The world will be done and it will burn because of you. Earth perishes today."

He activated his War World to blast Earth to smithereens. There was something that was wrong. There was something very wrong. Mongul could not believe that his War World would not work.

"What is…ARGH!"

There was something heating up underneath his foot and heat vision blasted out from underneath his hurt. Mongul screamed in agony when he experienced the ultimate hot foot. He staggered backwards, with a groan.

Harry jumped up into the air and he slammed his fist down onto the back of Mongul's neck. He shoved the leader of War World back as hard as he could.

"You shouldn't have powers, not those powers anyway!" Mongul yelled. "My War World should have not malfunctioned like that….."

Harry hurled Mongul across the arena to a huge amount of noise. They realized what was happening and Mongul realized what happened.

He zipped in front of Mongul and nailed him with a rocket buster of a punch. The sound of Harry's hand smacking into his jaw was pretty much like thunder. Mongul slammed down onto the ground with a thunderous boom.

He rolled over Mongul and stood over the top of it. Now it was Harry who had the advantage on him.

"You were so arrogant that you thought that you had any possibility whatsoever in beating me?" Harry asked. He sounded equal parts amused and annoyed. "And you thought that you could stop me, didn't you?"

Mongul stumbled to a standing position. Harry raised his hands high up into the air and slammed them into Mongul with a huge hammer like swing. He brought him down.

"I was playing possum this entire time to lure you into a false sense of security," Harry said. "I could feel your ego grow when you thought that you defeated me."

He punched Mongul hard in the face and rocked him with a vicious blow. There was a part of Harry that really was enjoying smacking Mongul around. He slammed his fist into the face of his enemy and caused him to go flying backwards onto the ground.

Mongul bounced off of the ground with a vicious fury. Harry stood over him.

His guards were about ready to move in. Only, they didn't move very quickly. They were incased in a combination green and purple energy cage. Mongul crawled, looking rather battered and beaten.

"Do you concede defeat?" Harry asked. He almost hoped that Mongul wouldn't concede defeat. He enjoyed beating him to the point of brutality.

He pulled himself back and waited for the answer. Mongul spat in his face. Harry frowned.

"That was not the right answer, Mongul."

He raised his hand into the air and he knocked Mongul back with a rocket buster of a punch. He slammed him right in the face and sent him flying down onto the ground.

There was a smack when he landed. The battered body of Mongul rested on the ground. He was out for the count.

The people of War World were stunned. They couldn't believe what happened. One of them tentatively got to his feet and started to clap. A few others started to follow suit with their loud round of clapping.

Harry raised his eyebrow, corking it. Mongul was down in a bloodied heap and Lois made sure that he was secured. He was a galactically wanted fugitive after all, so it went without saying that it was important to bring him in.

Maxima rose to her feet and looked around at the crowd. "The winner of this contest, is Har-Zod!"

The Warrior Queen smiled when she watched her mate look around with a smile. She had to admit that she had her anxious moments, more than a few, but in the end, Har-Zod accomplished what she assumed that he would accomplish. That made her more than pleased all things considered.

* * *

><p>Maxima decided that it was time to have an extremely frank discussion with two people. She doubted very much this would be a pleasant conversation or necessarily one that she looked forward to having. It was one that was long overdue. All she had to do was speak honestly.<p>

'_Honesty isn't a virtue that is taught to royalty as much as I would like it to me,' _Maxima thought. _'Well, it's time to bite the bullet and suck it up, as the saying goes.'_

She sat her own quarters. The War World had been dealt with and Mongul and his guards been brought to justice. The Green Lanterns no doubt were getting a stern reprimand because of the fact they went off and did things their way. Maxima appreciated what they did, doing the right thing.

There was a knock on her door instantly. She opened the door and half expected Har-Zod to make his way into the room.

Unfortunately for Maxima, that was not who she saw on the other end of the door. She saw the one and only Clara Jor-El make her way into the room. The girl crossed the room with a look of absolute intensity in her eyes.

"The Daughter of Lara and Jor-El," Maxima said. "I do hope that you take more after your mother, than your father."

"The feeling is mutual," Lara muttered to herself within the crystal.

"Is Har-Zod going to join us?" Maxima asked Claire.

Claire looked at the Queen. She was in a rather calm mood all things considered regarding her majesty. She didn't want to blow things. "He'll be joining us in a few moments. He just had a few last minute details to attend to."

"Very well, I doubt that he will keep me waiting too long," Maxima said.

Claire hung her head down and sighed. "You never change, do you?"

Maxima raised her eyebrow and wondered what Claire meant by that. It turned out Claire was only too happy to spell it out for Maxima so she didn't have to really read between the lines.

"You can be a smug, arrogant bitch sometimes; you really know that grate's on people's nerves, don't you?" Claire asked her. "I mean seriously, you never know how you sound to people."

"That's what's expected of me," Maxima told her. "If I showed anything resembling humility, I would be eaten alive."

She looked over Claire and she frowned.

"You know, we have been given great expectations at a younger age, both of us," Maxima said. She looked almost thoughtful. "You lost everything from your planet when it was destroyed before you could even remember. After the death of my parents, I was thrown on the throne of Almarac at a young age. And I was far from ready from the personal responsibilities expected of a role like that."

Claire raised her eyebrow and nodded. She thought that Maxima and personal responsibility were not two things that honestly went together too easily. She settled herself into a calm tone, breathing in and breathing out.

"I guess that when you consider this from certain angles, I guess that I can forgive you for nearly putting me into the ground in an attempt to win Harry over," Claire said.

Maxima could not believe that she smiled at this criticism. "When you think about it from that perspective, it does sound bad."

Claire whistled lightly in response. "Yeah, it sounds bad, because it pretty much is bad. And by bad, I mean really bad, really, really, bad."

"I know that you have some big shoes to fill, but standing up to my mother, I didn't think that there was ever any way that I could stand up to that. "My mother was a grand ruler and when I had to take her place, I knew that they would never find me of being anything worthy compared to the high standards they created. Unless I found a grand ruler to return with."

"That really does show a lot of problems with your kingdom," Claire said, before she could help herself from saying anything. Maxima raised her eyebrow when she looked Claire dead on in the eye.

"Indeed," Maxima replied in response. She smiled when she looked at Claire. "I didn't know anything about how any traditions worked and I just assumed that the courting process worked differently. I wasn't used to a collective as equals."

"Well to be fair, we have our own power struggle and while most of us get along most of the time, we can get at each other's throats," Claire told Maxima. Maxima nodded in response. "But that's just what families do, I guess."

"If you insist," Maxima responded. She was in a fair enough mood and she looked Claire dead on in the eye.

There was a knock on the door and seconds later, Harry stepped inside.

"So, how did it go?" Claire asked him. She could feel Harry's gaze on her and she stepped back with a shudder. "It didn't really go that bad, did it?"

"No, it didn't go that bad," Harry informed her. "But it could have really gone better when you think about it."

"You don't say," Claire murmured underneath her breath. She stretched her legs out, leaning against the wall. She spoke in a calm and concise tone. "But, Mongul has been sent away….and what happened to the War World?"

"It's in a very secure location, where no one can access it without me knowing about it," Harry said.

'_And in unrelated news, the crystal key to activate it ended up missing,' _Lois remarked. _'Hmm, I wonder how that could have happened to that?'_

'_That seems to be one of the more interesting mysteries in life,' _Carol thought. She was bemused by the words of her fellow Green Lantern, but she spoke calmly.

"So, I hope that the two of you have been getting along."

Harry turned to Maxima and Claire to speak those words. The two of them exchanged a pair of nervous glances with each other. It was obvious that the two of them were both apprehensive.

"I think that we've cleared the air a little bit," Claire said. She smiled. "Maxima did learn her lesson about learning to share."

"Yes, as much as I regret to admit it," she started before pausing and sighing. "There are some things that are well worth sharing. So there you go."

"That's excellent," Harry said. He meant every single word that he spoke. He edged in closer towards Maxima. "And….."

Maxima didn't want him to say it. She wanted to maintain some degree of control, no matter how small it was. "I am in your debt. I said as much. You saved my entire planet, many of them women. Who will no doubt want to thank you in their own ways sooner rather than later….unless you think that's a few women too many."

Harry didn't say anything. He could almost hear Lois give an extremely un-lady like snort through the bond.

'_Yeah, that was subtle,' _Lucy thought. The youngest Lane sister was getting used to hearing voices inside her head and it was hard to tap into the voices she wanted to hear at the right times.

'_No way that Harry isn't going to jump on all of those women, both figuratively and literally,' _Claire thought. She looked fairly amused. _'She does know your Kryptonite.'_

"But, I want to know how you would thank me personally," Harry said. He closed the gap between him and Maxima. "Showing is a lot better than telling, I think."

"Yes, I would have to agree," Maxima said. "And I think that a demonstration is in fact in order."

* * *

><p>Iris took a deep breath. This was one of those situations where she really anxious and really hoped that this was going to work. She trusted Whitney with what she was doing, but at the same time, this was a situation where pretty much everything that could go wrong, would go wrong.<p>

Karen and Diana joined her, with Artemis following her. They were moving to the center of Arkham Asylum, where the remaining infected guards and inmates were chasing them.

"Hopefully this works," Whitney said in their ear piece.

"Oh you mean shutting down the drones like this?" Iris asked.

Artemis noticed the hopefully part in this and most certainly was going to be the type of person to call Whitney out on her indecision. What do you mean hopefully? Do you mean there isn't a chance that we're going to succeed?"

Whitney, to her credit, didn't lose her cool. "We never know what's going to happen until we do it. The simulations we ran showed that this should work."

It went without saying there was a fine line between simulations and real life. What worked well on paper seldom worked out as good in practice, but that was not something that Whitney was going to say. She and her team were a bundle of nerves right now and for good reason.

One of the larger inmates rushed Diana. His chest looked raw.

Diana dodged his attack and grabbed him around the waist. She launched him up into the air and down on the ground with a suplex causing him to land on the back. Artemis was in position to fire one of her ice arrows at the man's chest.

The man growled in agony when an arrow was implanted in his chest. He struggled to want to rip it out.

"STARRO will….STARRO WILL LIVE AGAIN!" he bellowed. He fell back onto his back.

Artemis utilized some acrobatics to avoid being zapped by one of the guards. There was a flash of light and several of the infected guards and inmates were teleported off by the Phoenix Force.

She landed on the ground, wiping the blood from her chin. "Yeah, I'm really not sure why we couldn't just do that from the beginning. Is there a good reason why we couldn't?"

"You know, we never do anything the easy way, if we can help it," Iris said.

"Right, that seems to be the Justice League way," Artemis said, snapping her fingers. "I almost forgot that….just like the Phoenix must have forgotten one."

She looked over her shoulder and she could see a large hulking creature make his way over in an attempt to club the heads of Arrow and Flash in.

"No, I didn't," Jean said. She popped up and grabbed him away.

Karen held up the scanner and there were no signs of STARRO involvement, at least in Arkham. She allowed herself to get in a breath. She would have to say that was one of the tensest moments in her life.

Helena stepped at her shoulder. Karen turned around to face her. The dark haired woman offered Karen a smile in response. "The high end wing has been locked down. Arkham is going to need to hire a lot of new guards, but the inmate population has been hacked to pieces.

"Okay, I'm unloading the signal right now," Whitney said. "I really hope this works….the one we have at the lab should help me establish a link."

"Yeah, it's a nasty little bugger as well," Susan said. She looked at him. She helped keep it trapped with her invisible force field so it didn't infect any of them. "Are you ready?"

"I'm about as ready as I'm going to be," Whitney said. "Kara, are you ready down there?"

"Yes, I'm ready, let's do this," Kara said. She knew that a few anxious moments later, they would know whether or not this worked.

They could hear the screaming cry of the Mother Creature. "NO!" So close, so close, STARRO, STARRO must live!"

"Yeah, shutting up this thing will make me really happy, I don't know about you," Whitney said. She continued to upload the signal.

Jean hovered in between. She could feel the cries of the STARRO creatures. In some ways, they were innocent children, but in other ways, they lived for no other reason to become parasites, leaching off of the life force of innocents. Their father was to grow stronger until he was able to show up on Earth.

"You will…STARRO WILL SAVE STARRO!" the Mother Creature yelled at the top of her lungs. It was a loud shrieking scream.

Time stood still. For a brief second, Whitney thought that her desperate attempt to shut down all of the drones failed in one of the most miserable ways possible. She bit down on her lip, looking absolutely nervous.

Time stood still in the absolute worst way possible. Whitney hitched a breath into her body and allowed it out.

Then there was nothing. Nothing but silence, unsettling silence, one of the worst silences in the world.

"Okay, someone speak up, is everything okay down there?" Whitney asked. "I'm going to start assuming the worst if no one says anything."

Jean felt all of existence pretty much warp around her. The past, present, and future, everything in one, and she realized that she felt this creature's plight. The plight of the mother creature and her children as they all perished one at a time.

She fell down to her knees. There was more even unsettling silence. Jean decided that she should break that silence with a few simple words. "We….we did it."

"We did it?" Whitney asked.

"We did it!" Kara confirmed. She saw the creature pretty much explode before her very eyes. "Unless this thing has some kind of uber healing factor thingy….."

"Oh, please, Kara, for the love of all things unholy, don't joke about that," Whitney groaned. She rushed over in a flash to check. She felt her nerves rise up a little bit more when she looked over everything. "Yes, that's fine, that's fine, that's fine….everything is fine."

"Can we let out our breath now, please?" Artemis asked. She could feel that power surge that was going through Jean.

"Sorry about all that," Jean said. She shook her head. "It's just when a lot of things need to get shut down around me….I get tense."

Given she was a great cosmic entity, one would think that she would be used to death. Since she got more used to her human side, she wasn't exactly as enamored with the possibility of seeing it slammed right in her face like that.

"STARRO is gone," Jean said. "I think that we can breathe right now."

"Excellent," Karen said. She stood herself up straight.

The League thought that they would head back to base. Seconds after they had a chance to catch their breaths, they heard a voice pop in. _'Hey, everyone, just to let you know, I'm back.'_

'_Harry, you're timing….well it's interesting,' _Karen thought. She didn't sound annoyed, she sounded more amused than anything. _'How are you doing, really?'_

'_I'm fine,' _Harry thought. _'Is there something that I should know?'_

'_Well, not really, well not completely actually,' _Karen admitted. She frowned deeply when she could sense Harry lingering around in the back of her mind. _'Actually, we ran into some problem when you were gone.'_

'_I'm sure that the League was able to deal with it themselves,' _Harry thought. He spoke like he had the utmost of faith with the League.

'_We did,' _Karen confirmed to him. _'Diana, Helena, and I are calling for a de-briefing right now. I think that we can fill you in if you want us to.'_

'_Yes, I think that would be for the best,' _Harry agreed. _'And a lot of interesting things happened on my little journey as well.'_

'_So how many women did you add this time?' _Laura piped up. That caused Kara to give an exasperated sigh because of the antics of her sister. _'What it was an honest question?'_

'_Never mind, Laura just….never mind,' _Kara thought, shaking her head.

Harry smirked, he would have to answer all of their questions, plus many more. He was sure that they all had some explaining to do regarding what has been going on both sides.

'_All hands on deck in an hour?' _Harry suggested.

Karen, Diana, and Helena all had to agree, that would be the best thing possible. They prepared for this meeting. They had a feeling that it would be interesting on all accounts.

* * *

><p>The fall of the STARRO drones might be considered a step back for some people. Until, one really figured out what was going on here.<p>

On an asteroid, nearer to Earth, than one thought, a giant star fish rested. It looked hideous and extremely purple. The collective consciousness of the dozens of planets beat through its very being.

With a heavy breath, it opened one grotesque eye. It could sense the fall of the preliminary invasion force. It was to test defenses, to see what the planet had to offer, before the full scale attack was going to occur.

The next stage would be the real invasion. The creature could feel like it got weakened seeing so many of its children being brought down like that. He would return, STARRO would return.

"Yes, soon, I will be strong enough to return there," the creature commented. "The Son of Zod and the Phoenix Force, they think that they are the strongest beings in the universe. I sensed the Phoenix, and soon it will be underneath the thrall of STARRO."

There was a low and depressing chant of "STARRO lives" going over and over again. The whispers got more prominent.

Several eggs cracked in response and more STARRO drones escaped. A distress signal was sent out.

Soon the drones would have the able main power, between the people they captured and the people they would ensnare, for the full scale invasion of Earth.

STARRO will live.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on June 12<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	75. Calm Before the Siege

**Chapter Seventy-Five: Calm Before the Siege. **

* * *

><p>Harry thought that he had an interesting set of adventures when he was off of the planet for the past few weeks. While not as much time had passed on Earth, as it did off of the planet, there were still a lot of things happening. There was no shortage of excitement on Earth than there was off world. Harry waited for Karen, Kara, Diana, Whitney, and Jean to give him the full report on what happened.<p>

"I thought that things were going to be a bit weird for a little bit, and by a bit weird, I mean really, kind of totally weird," Whitney said. She was speaking a couple million miles a minute. She almost tripped over her tongue in her excitement. She took a deep breath. "Right, I'm sorry, sometimes I get too excited."

"Just slow down and take your time," Harry said. One could appreciate the irony of Harry telling someone who called themselves Impulse to slow down and take them time, but it was extremely amusing on that level.

Kara barely kept a straight face. Harry placed his hand underneath her skirt and pinched her. That caused Kara to nearly fly up, but she managed to just have barely enough self-control to avoid taking that plunge. Harry enjoyed toying with her at the worst possible times. It was something that amused him.

Had she not been the victim of this, Kara might have been a bit amused as well.

'_You really do like testing my self control, don't you?' _Kara thought to him. Harry responded with a grin. _'If that was the answer to that question, I don't think that it was a really good one, you know.'_

'_I don't honestly know what you're talking about, Kara,' _Harry thought. His eyes glinted with a certain amount of mischief. He spoke out loud. "Please continue Whitney, take a deep breath."

Whitney shook her head. "So, Iris and I thought that we bringing your standard goon, who was looking to steal some scientific equipment. But it became anything but standard when….."

Harry gripped her hand firmly. It was obvious that she was this close to freaking out and a speedster freaking out seldom worked well. Whitney tensed up for a second and then relaxed a second later. There was honestly nothing to fear. It was over and she could relax.

"I pretty much got that part, these STARRO drones buried themselves into the chests of people and tried to take them over, right?" Harry asked. Whitney nodded rapidly with a frown on her face.

"Right, right, right," Whitney said three times in succession. "But, we got them back to the lab and we found out that they were….well they were using the bio-energy of the people to breed and increase their abilities."

"That is the nature of their species," Jean offered. She could hear their cries for help when they were put down. The screams in their mind was something that wasn't going to be forgotten by Jean any time soon. "It's survival, and if they don't put themselves in people, they will perish in the worst possible way."

"Yikes, that can be pretty bad," Kara said, shaking her head.

"It is pretty bad," Jean confirmed. "I could hear their frustration when they were ripped from the mother creature."

"It's awful that I had to put them down that way," Whitney responded. She hated to have to do something that extreme.

It was a small amount of solace that he was likely already dead.

"You did what you needed to be done to save the people of Earth," Karen said. "I'm not even sure if a creature like that could thrive on Earth. I think this Star Conqueror might be corrupting his own race."

"A sound theory," Jean agreed.

Harry mused rather calmly, thinking about what he learned. He wouldn't be honestly surprised if that was true. The scans the RAO computers were doing had indicated that any traces of STARRO had been purged.

"I hate to be that person," Harry said.

Kara groaned in response. She knew what Harry was going to say. Karen knew what Harry was going to say, everyone knew what Harry was going to say. All of them looked at him with frowns on their faces.

"Yeah, I'm going to have to be that person, aren't I?" Harry asked. All of them looked towards him like he lost every sense of his mine. "But, you know, I've got a point and that was….."

"Too easy?" Whitney asked. She shook her head. "Because, I have to tell you that shutting down those creatures, that was about as far away from easy as you could get. You had to time that properly, you know that."

"I didn't say that it was completely easy, I said that it was too easy," Harry informed her. "There's a bit of a difference you know."

Whitney would have to disagree with that fact. She wasn't about to argue with Harry for too long, but there was a huge part of her that would have to disagree with that. Perhaps they would have to agree disagree to agree or however the saying went.

"We've been checking all day for any traces, there's nothing," Whitney said. "And if you say there's nothing for now, I'll be so upset."

'_To Harry's credit, I don't think he's saying anything,' _Helena thought. _'But come to think of it, I agree with him.'_

'_Of course you do, little miss Pragmatic,' _Karen said. She was half teasing and half exasperated for starters. She faltered underneath the look Helena was giving her through the bond link. _'And you're really giving me the Wayne look of death right now, aren't you?'_

'_You deserve it,' _Helena informed her. _'Not being a pessimistic, just being a realist. You should look up the difference.'_

'_Okay that's enough,' _Harry said.

He turned to Whitney with a smile on her face. She returned the smile, looking fairly nervous in the process when she looked him over. "You did a good job Whitney, excellent even."

"Thank you," she said in an approving manner. She sounded entirely gracious and she meant it. "I'm glad that I could help out in any way."

"And I'm glad that you could help us out in any way," Harry informed Whitney. "And you might have earned a spot in the League for your help."

That caused Whitney to get all giddy in excitement. Sure, she was glad that Iris had allowed her to tag along on the missions for the Flash, but tagging along with the Flash missions was one thing. Being part of the Justice League was an entirely amazing thing together.

Whitney was glad that she was appreciated enough to be offered a spot in the League. She looked at Harry.

"Oh my god, Whitney West has been put at a loss for words!" Kara explained in excitement. "Surely, Harry has some amazing super powers!"

Whitney gave Kara one of those looks that indicated that it might be in her best interest to be quiet. Kara mockingly lifted her fingers to her lips and made a faux zipping motion with them.

"You know, you're really something," Whitney responded. Kara grinned. "And you know, we never did finish that race."

"Really, now of all of the times, you just had to bring that up?" Kara asked. She looked completely bemused by the fact. "And I don't know what you're worried about, because you know that I would leave you choking on my dust."

Karen sighed.

'_Almost a year later, they bring this back up, seriously?' _Claire asked.

'_I feel your pain, I really do,' _Iris said. _'I mean, I beat you in the race, so we should put that behind us.'_

'_What do you mean you beat me?' _Claire asked. She placed her hand underneath her chin and peered into Iris's eyes. _'Hmm.'_

'_Oh for fuck's sake, not this again,' _Lois thought. _'It was a fucking tie, and you got a good enough prize at the end. Can't you drop it?'_

'_Would you drop something like this?' _Claire asked.

'_She would drop it if she won,' _Iris thought.

"Ladies," Harry said to all of the girls, both in the bond and out of the bond.

'_Well, you do have a way with words,' _Cass chimed in dryly. She rarely spoke, but she did make her presence known.

'_He always does, and he somehow has a way to get his bitches in line,' _Sara said. _'You would know about that, wouldn't you, Dinah Laurel Lance?'_

'_I have no idea what you're talking about,' _Dinah answered.

'_Isn't it always nice when they allude to these things, without telling us what happened?' _Rose asked. She sounded equal parts bored and annoyed. _'And it's even more galling knowing that they know that they're fucking with your head on purpose.'_

'_You mean you aren't used to it by now,' _Tea added. _'And it does add to the fun, allowing our imaginations to run wild and stuff like that.'_

'_If you say so,' _Rose thought to herself. She wasn't going to really disagree with them, to be honest.

"So, I don't really know what to say," Whitney said. She shook her head. That was all those different kinds of wow, a spot in the Justice League. "I….I…well I really don't know what to say, honestly I don't."

"Say that you'll think about it, and get back to me when you've made up your mind," Harry said. Whitney grinned and nodded.

'_I'm trusting your judgment on this, and I hope that you're not wrong about this one,' _Iris thought. _'I think that she's ready, but still….'_

'_Believe me, Iris, she's proven herself more than enough times, and there are a few of the younger generation that needs to move on up officially and a few of the even younger generation that needs guidance,' _Harry thought.

'_Someone closer to their age and most certainly their maturity level would be a good mentor,' _Kara thought. _'Oh, I can so beat her in a race."_

Karen sounded absolutely exasperated. _'Will you stop?'_

* * *

><p>Harry, Helena, and Karen had a meeting to attend and it was a meeting that was a long time in the making. About a year ago, the wheels had been turning for the merger between LuthorCorp and the RAO Corporation was about ready to move forward. There were a lot of legal entanglements and paperwork, but now the time had come for them to move forth with that next step to a greater and more glorious figure.<p>

The trio made their way up towards LuthorCorp. Harry nearly ran into Kitty once again. This time he was able to put the brakes on to avoid running into her.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, for young Miss Pryde, she ran head on with Karen's breasts. She staggered backwards and nearly fell to the ground.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," Kitty said, shaking her head. "I can't believe how much….well just how careless I am. It won't happen again, I swear."

"You know, you could calm down, it's not really your fault," Karen said. She reached towards Kitty and assisted her to her feet. "You have a lot on your mind, and you're doing a lot of work. You're Tess's PA, and she's so busy that it's a wonder that she ever finds any time to sleep."

"I swear, I need my own personal assistant," Kitty commented, practically grumbling in the process.

"Well, the merger should allow you some new opportunities and some relief," Harry said.

"I'm just happy that I have a position directly underneath you," Kitty said. She realized what she said. "And that sounded a lot cleaner in my head, than it did out loud, I swear it did, I honestly swear that it did."

"It often does," Harry said in amusement, shaking his head at her. "Well if you need a personal assistant, I've got the perfect person for you."

'_Oh no, you aren't going to do what I think you're going to do, are you?' _Artemis asked. She felt equal parts nervous and excited.

'_And again, we're playing the vague game,' _Rose thought. _'Am the only person is bothered by this?'_

'_Oh, lighten up,' _Kara thought. She sent a bolt through the bond which caused Rose to get essentially mind fucked and in a good way.

Rose shuddered in response. She couldn't believe that was done, in that way. The

'_Oh, you're going to introduce her to Felicity, aren't you?' _Dinah asked, picking up things. _'The amount of awkward, unintentional innuendo….I don't think that we're going to be able to survive.'_

"So, I was wondering," Kitty said. She seemed nervous and she was blushing like a school girl when she spoke. She peered in Harry's eyes when she spoke. "I was wondering….well….so I was wondering."

"Would you like a cup of coffee?" Harry asked.

"Actually, I would, thanks," Kitty said in a bubbly tone. She took the cup of coffee from Harry, gulping it down like it was her lifeblood.

'_I can't help, but wonder about the consequences of what of what I just did,' _Harry said.

A very tense, Tess, decided to answer that question for Harry. _'Well, Kitty and coffee, they're normally a pretty bad mixture, to be honest. Which is why we always have decaf, but even then….'_

'_And this is the point where I point out that you don't have any room to talk,' _Alexa thought to Tess. _'And this is the point where you respond that I don't have any room to talk.'_

'_Yeah, we should just skip over that part,' _Tess thought. _'Oh, and by the way, five minutes, give or take.'_

It went without saying that the bond really saved them time and energy. They could be talking over an intercom system, but that wasn't exactly practical at all.

"So, I was wondering," Kitty said. "If you want to go out for dinner or something this weekend…."

"So, you're asking me out on a date?" Harry asked.

The flustered look on Kitty's face was priceless. It almost looked like she wanted to go through the floor and disappear. And judging by her abilities, she kind of could go through the floor and disappear if she honestly wanted to.

"So?" Kitty asked.

"If you want to," Harry said with a smile. "It's a date, unless something really bad happens, we can go out…so do you want me to pick you up at seven?"

"Yeah, that would be great, wow, we have this actual date thing going on, that's really great….I mean, I know that you're really busy, I'm really busy, but maybe we can get busy together," Kitty said. Her mind snapped when she realized what she said. "And I honestly need to stop talking before my brain thinks and stuff."

She did get to know Harry a bit during the past year and she was getting to know him.

'_On second thought, her and Felicity or her and Whitney,' _Artemis thought. _'Can't really decide which one is going to be more interesting to watch.'_

'_Oh, decisions, decisions with that one,' _Kara thought, shaking her head. _'That's honestly a tough one.'_

'_You know, it won't be too much longer before Whitney is going to be able to hear everything that you say, don't you?' _Caitlin thought.

'_Hey, I'm not afraid of her,' _Kara thought in amusement.

"So, we totally got this, a date type thing, like a date-date, type thing,' Kitty said. She spoke extremely nervous when she looked at Harry.

"Yes, a date-date type thing," Harry responded to her blandly. "If you're up for it?"

"Oh, thank you, I'll be there," Kitty said. She threw her arms around Harry with a squeal. "Sorry, I know personal boundaries and all that."

"Don't sweat it," Harry said with a smile. "I know that you couldn't really control yourself, so I'm not really mad."

Kitty smiled and she got back to her work. Tess was waiting outside of the office door. They just had a few things to sign off on, before the official press conference would take place tomorrow, and then things would get extremely interesting.

The brunette sat down at her desk and closed her eyes. Saturday was going to be a really awesome night, providing nothing bad happened that upset everything.

'_Nothing bad is going to happen, nothing bad is going to happen,' _Kitty thought over and over again. It was some mantra she was saying in a desperate hope that she wasn't going to jinx herself.

* * *

><p>Kara leaned against Harry, and busily working away at the laptop. Kat, Katrina, Galatea, Laura, Divine, and Karen all sat around, in their undergarments, relaxing. It had been a long time since they got together like this.<p>

"And the sweep of everything has concluded, and….shock of shocks, there's nothing bad that's going to happen," Karen replied. She looked towards Harry with a shifty smile. "Maybe it's just me, but I think that you're just worrying for nothing."

"Maybe," Harry said. He thought that everything ended too smoothly with the STAR Conqueror. He just seemed like the type of creature that wasn't going to go down quickly.

"Just maybe?" Kara asked him. "How much proof do you need to have before you're going to be convinced?"

"If I'm wrong, I'll happily be wrong," Harry said.

"He does have a point," Tea piped up. "I mean, things ended a bit smoothly. It's almost like it's the calm before the siege."

"And I really think that everyone is worrying too much, to be honest," Kara said. She shook her head. "Just calm down, things are going to be great, fantastic even."

"Be careful not to jinx us," Karen responded. She hated being that person, especially during a time like this.

Helena could not help, but chime in with her thoughts. It was almost teasing, at least for her. _'And here I thought that you were the one who was trying to get on me for being overly pragmatic.'_

'_I was….kind of,' _Karen conceded in a begrudging tone of voice. _'It did seem likely at first, but the more that you thought about it….I'm pretty sure that the two of you are being an unfortunate bad influence on me. That has to be the case.'_

'_Of course, we are,' _Helena said dryly. _'Well, there's nothing yet. Not saying that there won't be anything soon.'_

'_So all we got to do is wait and watch,' _Harry thought. He leaned back. _'I'll never be happier to be wrong if I'm wrong about this. And if we're right, we're preparing for anything.'_

'_That's right,' _Gwen chimed in happily. _'We're working through all of the data we got from the Starros and we have….the remains of the people they previous infected. We're trying to find any way to shut them down in a non-lethal manner. Jean had the right idea with what she was doing but….'_

'_I tend to not want Jean to tap into the Phoenix Force any more than she has to, if we can help it,' _Harry informed Gwen. Gwen nodded in response. _'Just consider it a precaution more than anything else, but better safe than sorry you know.'_

'_I know where you're coming from,' _Gwen said. She frowned when she thought about it. _'Caitlin, Sue, and I have been working around the clock, and we've enhanced the sensitivity of the early warning system.'_

'_You've done a good job, Spider-Girl,' _Harry thought. He could hear Gwen grumbling a little bit. _'And don't worry about the codename. All codenames sound stupid if you really think about them too hard.'_

'_Yes, I suppose that you're right,' _Gwen thought, shaking her head with a frown crossing her face. She could almost see Harry's gaze pierce into hers, even though it was through the bond link. _'Okay, fine, of course you're right, because you're you, are you happy?'_

'_Well, it depends on your definition of happy is,' _Harry thought with a smile on his face. _'For your first time out on the field, you didn't do too bad at all.'_

'_But there's some room for improvement, isn't there?' _Gwen asked.

Harry smirked through the bond link. _'Remember, I wasn't the one that said that, you were the one who did.'_

'_I know, but I agreed with you,' _Gwen answered. She thought that she had a long way to go. She was technically a League advisor, more than a recruit.

A few more months of having these powers and she thought that she would almost get the hang of them, she was pretty sure. Of course, she also wanted to learn how to fight without using her powers.

There was a smile on Harry's face. He could feel Kara relax her head on his shoulder. Karen was looking at Kara, corking her eyebrow.

"Are you comfortable?" Karen asked.

"Very," Kara said with a wicked grin crossing her face. She could feel Harry shift up and she went into complete pouty mode. "Well that was good while it lasted."

"Sorry to deprive you of your pillow, but I've got a few things to do," Harry said.

"No problem, I'll improvise," Kara said. She laid her head down on Karen's breasts.

"Nice improvising," Laura said approvingly. It was obvious that the other members of the Council of Kara thought so as well, given the smiles crossing their face. She decided to move over.

Harry chuckled and he left that particular room of the Penthouse. He saw M'Gann standing out there and Tula was with her, the two girls were talking with each other.

"Sorry that I couldn't be here to stop the invasion of Atlantis by those creatures," Harry said.

Tula shrugged. "No offense meant to you, but I don't think that you could have done anything, anyway….but, I guess that we did all that we could."

"Yes, we did," Harry said. He edged closer towards Tula with a smile. "Are you going to be sticking around?"

"Well, sadly, I have to be back at Atlantis, there's on all hands on deck type situation," Tula said. She had regret in her tone. "But, do you think that you can stop by soon?"

Harry smiled. "Of course, I can."

"It's just that, Lori and I have a surprise for you, that I think that you might like it," Tula said. She looked at Harry, with a smile. "Thank you….I need to be going….glad to have you back and glad that your trip was safe."

She leaned forward and gave him a kiss. Harry could tell that she was kind of subdued after what happened and Harry honestly couldn't blame her for being subdued. He would be the same thing if he was in the position that she was.

"Their thoughts," M'Gann said with a shudder. She stepped closer to Harry and she shook her head. "I didn't get as close as Jean did to them, but it was scary."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Harry asked.

"Just…it's just awful how many people they wiped out to satisfy their desire for power," M'Gann said. She couldn't believe it. There was a lump in her throat and she shook her head.

Harry reached forward and grabbed M'gann gently around the hand. "If they come back, next time we'll be ready for them."

"Hopefully there won't be a next time," M'gann said. Harry smiled when he leaned towards her.

"That makes two of us."

Harry could see Whitney making her way up the hallway. For once in her life, she was walking slowly, deliberately. It was almost fairly weird. He could see that she was deep in thought or perhaps deliberation about something.

"So what's up?" Harry asked Whitney.

Whitney turned around, shaking her head. It was obvious that she was distracted by something. Harry cleared his throat.

"So, I thought about what you asked me," Whitney said. "And I wondered if you were completely out of your mind asking me to take a spot in the League."

Harry raised his eyebrow and Whitney continued, half-jokingly with a smile on her face.

"I'm not sure I want to take orders from a man who is completely out of his mind," she said. Harry led her into one of the bedrooms in the penthouse. "I mean, I'm not the type of person who fits what the League does, and I'm not sure if my maturity is quite what you're looking for."

"The fact you're having these doubts makes you the perfect fit for the League," Harry informed her. Whitney raised her eyebrow and Harry pressed on. "We need someone to help guide the next generation. I figure that you're the perfect medium."

"And you want me to be a leader," Whitney said. She wondered if Harry had so many women in his group, he had been driven insane. She wouldn't be surprised. "You know, I get distracted by the shiny all of the time."

"Artemis has agreed to help, and I'm sure that Laura will be happy to help," Harry said. "But, we do need some guidance that is the median between the younger generation and the older generation."

"So, you want me to help lead your little Young Justice project?" Whitney asked. "And I get a spot in the League too?"

"The spot is open for you regardless if you help with my little Young Justice project," Harry said. "I just figured that you would want something that was all of your own. Some legacy to build."

"I only have one thing to say," Whitney said. She leaned closer to Harry and smiled. "Yes."

She threw her arms around Harry and pressed her lips against his with a searing kiss. This was something that she was waiting to do for an extremely long time and now she had Harry all on his own, she was going to take advantage of any opportunity she had.

Whitney hoped that she didn't get cockblocked, because if she got cockblocked, she would be extremely upset.

Harry's hand's explored her body and the teenage girl could feel her hormones fire up about as fast as he was. He kept brushing every single inch of his hands over her body.

Her nipples hardened against him and her core rubbed against his crotch. Harry smiled when he pulled back. "Slow down, we got a long time."

Whitney snorted because he told her to slow down. He gave her another extremely intense kiss that really got her motor fired up and revving nicely.

* * *

><p>Harry smiled. There were times where the aftermath was just as good as the actual sex. Whitney and Kara rested on either side of them. Both girls looked intense, but satisfied. M'Gann was passed out after Harry put her through some paces, and those were some amazing paces that he put her through.<p>

"And for the record, I beat you that time," Kara said. "I held on longer."

"Oh, you got lucky, and I had you beat before you cheated," Whitney said. She rested her head down on Kara's sweaty chest, unable to move. "Oh, god, that feels so good, I can't even….still would have beat you."

"No, you really wouldn't have," Kara said in a sing song voice. That caused Harry to clear his throat.

Both girls faltered underneath the disapproving gaze of Harry. It was obvious they pushed their competitive spirit a bit too far. "You know, all things considered, I would consider both of you winners."

Kara shrugged. "Yeah, I guess that I can go with that."

"I guess that I can go with that too," Whitney agreed in a chipper voice. She smirked. "But, you know, that I won a bit more."

"Oh, you so didn't win more," Kara fired back in an agitated tone.

"That shows how much you know….."

Harry cleared his throat. It was obvious by the look on his face that there was going to be some punishment in order.

The two girls realized that something was up and they looked both nervous and excited. They were going to take their medicine, whether they liked it or not.

Harry smiled, he was going to be firm and fair. That was one thing that he could take to the bank.

* * *

><p>STARRO prepared his children. It was time for them to invade Earth and take what was his. No one could stop him.<p>

The Siege of STARRO was near. The invasion was at hand.

**To Be Continued on June 14****th****, 2015. **


	76. Siege of the Starro Conqueror Part One

**Chapter Seventy-Six: The Siege of the STARRO Conqueror Part One. **

* * *

><p>The sun was shining, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, or a hitch in the arrangements. It was a beautiful Friday morning, the type of day where everyone was happy to be alive. It was the time of day where every single person out there wanted the best out of everything. The type of day where only a certain amount of people would find fault of it being absolutely too perfect and some people would be horrified by the fact that anyone would find fault in this wonderful way.<p>

There Harry Potter was. He stood in one of the main conference rooms of the RAO Corporation. There was only an hour or so from the official merger between LuthorCorp and the RAO Corporation. It was a year in the making and what a year it had been. He was glad that he reached his point.

"Everything is in place."

Helena walked up behind Harry. It was uncertain how long she stood there, allowing Harry to be left alone with his thoughts. One should make the assumption she stood there for a long time. Regardless, she took her way over towards Harry, standing behind him.

"I know everything is place," Harry said. He recounted the fun and games that lead up to this point and how he got here. "The Board of Directors at LuthorCorp, there were some schemers on them."

"There are always schemers on any Board of Directors, it just seems to go with the territory anymore," Helena answered with a shrug. She recalled the Wayne Board back in her old world. "But, it's just business as usual. And it helps that a lot of people have skeletons in their closet."

"And with some of them, it's enough to keep people up at night."

Karen made her way into the office. She closed the distance between her and Harry, wrapping her arms tightly around him. Her lips met with an extremely passionate kiss, her tongue pushing deep into his mouth.

Helena waited patiently for them to wrap up what they were doing. She actually needed to check a couple of things, so it gave her something constructive to do, while she waited for them to get it out of their system.

"So far, nothing," Helena said, the moment they broke apart.

"I know," Harry informed her. He placed his hand on her shoulder. "And that's what worries me."

Karen shook her head. "There is a pretty good chance that STARRO gave up Earth as a lost cause and he's going to leave us alone. Wouldn't that be an ideal thing if he did? Wouldn't that make the two of you happy?"

"Maybe," Harry conceded.

He didn't elaborate on his point any more than that. He admired the beautiful day out there in Metropolis. It was extremely unsettling.

'_At least we're ready,' _Chloe thought.

'_You can never be too ready,' _Helena said.

'_I know, but even if this invasion doesn't happen, that gives us a chance to punch up the defenses around this planet,' _Chloe thought. _'Nothing is foolproof, but I think that it's better than it was before….hopefully we can stop the Invasions before they happen this time.'_

'_A pipe dream, I'm afraid,' _Kara thought.

Faora was only too happy to elaborate on what Kara meant. _'Yes, most invasions on the planet, they can't be stopped until they started. There is no technology in the universe that is sophisticated enough to read intention.'_

'_At least not yet,' _Harry thought. That got him a few startled gasps. _'Just something to consider in the future, you know.'_

'_Well, we all are full of surprises,' _Faora offered with a smile. _'But that's just like you, Har-Zod. You're never going for the easy way.'_

'_Isn't that the truth?' _Claire asked.

Harry didn't say anything. He always had been the type to challenge himself, because quite frankly, he felt like he had something to prove, a whole lot of something to prove. He leaned against the wall, waiting for the fourth member of his group to join them.

Jaime arrived at the edge of the door, dressed in a nice business suit. She had Katrina and Lyta standing on either side of her, dressed in nice female business suits. They looked like female bodyguards, the type that could kick your ass and look good in doing it.

"Hello, Harry," Jaime said. She crossed the gap, throwing her arms around Harry and gave him a kiss, which he returned eagerly.

"Hello, yourself," Harry answered, with a grin, allowing Jaime to pull away. "So, did you find anything out?"

"Nothing odd has been happening yet," Jaime admitted. "Maybe everyone is right, maybe STARRO has decided to fuck off. But….that doesn't mean that we can't be careful."

"This press conference would be a prime time for anyone to attack, and not just any demented STAR Fish Conquerors," Katrina reminded them. A briefcase swung casually from her hand. It doubled as a secret weapon along with looking stylish as all hell. "The Crime Syndicate was used to attacks….both giving them and receiving them during press conferences, so we have a good idea what to expect."

"Believe me, your expertise is extremely appreciated," Karen answered. She looked almost amused.

"Hey, I'm happy to help in any way that I can," Katrina answered. She looked on with a smile. "I think that we all are happy to help in any way that we can."

The Crime Syndicate members, well ex-Crime Syndicate because that Earth didn't exist anymore, had been useful in being consultants to capture the various criminals which tormented the fine people out there. Sure, one could argue that their methods were a little bit dodgy, but one could not argue with the results said methods brought.

Harry stepped his way outside and frowned when he looked over the city of Metropolis. He found a brand new home there and he wanted to rebuild it.

"We always want the best for the places we call home," Jaime said. "And whether good, bad, or otherwise, we want to put our own imprint on that city."

"I agree," Harry said. He had some big plans for this city he couldn't wait to enact.

"Yes, I couldn't agree more either as well."

A flash of flames indicated the arrival of one Jean Grey. She popped up in front of Harry in all of her glory and said glory could be extremely glorious indeed. Jaime looked none too surprised.

"Hello, my beloved," Jean said. She crossed the room and greeted Harry with a long kiss. The rush of power both of them shared caused an ample amount of pleasure between the two of them and anyone else in the room.

"Wow," Lyta breathed. That was about all that she could say with the exchange of power that was going about in that room and her fellow Crime Syndicate members would have to concur. Wow was most certainly the word that they had to use here. "Just….wow."

"Wow, indeed," Helena agreed. She turned to Jean, hoping for good news.

"I haven't heard a single thought pattern like STARRO's yet," Jean said. She didn't know whether that would be something to cheer about yet. "Of course, he does seem to be an adaptable sort."

"We'll worry about the press conference this morning," Harry said. There were enough possible threats lingering around with the press conference other than worrying about an invasion that may or may not happen.

Harry, and a few of his girls, could not help, but think that this was some kind of break, some kind of calm before the storm. And the storm would be brewing in its most insane fashion in a matter of moments.

* * *

><p>Alexa crossed her fingers when she stepped up to the podium. Literally, even though one could not see it because she had that particular hand hidden from view. She brought both of her hands out to approach the stage.<p>

Any number of things could potentially go wrong here. There could be another alien invasion, some terrorist attack, or the worst thing of all, her father returning from the grave to reclaim his company. That was the thing that she worried about the most.

She could see Helena, Karen, and Harry standing on one side of the stage. She watched Tess give her an encouraging smile and mouth "break a leg".

Alexa shook her head and cleared her throat. She stood before the press and world, with the biggest business decision of her career. "It's been an interesting year at LuthorCorp, but I feel that all of the work that I've done all leads up to this one point. And that point is a merger that will open up a lot of new possibilities for Metropolis. This city is my home in many ways and I hope for a bright future."

There was a round of applause. Alexa allowed it to die down.

"My father's demise threw the entire company into turmoil, but as a Luthor, I regained control of what was mine and partnered up with an extremely powerful young man with great dreams and ambitions," Alexa said. "Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce the founder and CEO of the RAO Corporation, Doctor Harry Potter."

There was a loud round of applause and a lot of screaming women when Harry Potter arrived on stage. He shook hands with Alexa and she decided to give something for the cameras to really devour.

The woman leaned forward and captured Harry's lips with an intense kiss. The two of them looked to be milking it a little bit.

"I'm sure the people of Metropolis are wondering how the merger between the RAO Corporation and LuthorCorp is going to affect them," Harry said. "Earth is relatively young compared to many of the planets out there in the universe and our credibility on the galactic scale is lacking. I intend to help fix that, by increasing the defenses on Earth, and also by improving the quality of life for the people of this planet. New sources of power, farm land will be restored, and forests will be enhanced and reborn."

The last one was a project Harry thought without a doubt that Pamela would jump on straight away. It would be a way to undo some of the awful things some corporations have done.

He spoke for a few more moments about the various plans that he had. Overall, he was very excited with what he had to do.

So far, the press conference went on without any kind of incident. That was something that no one had the guts to pretty much speak of. Harry frowned when he waited for the other shoe to drop and for it to drop hard.

The press was here in full force there. Cat Grant sat at the front of the stage, with Vicki Vale from Gotham City. Iris was there of course, along with Linda Park from Central City, who turned away when she saw Harry spotting her staring at him. Lois, Claire, and Chloe were there of course, and there were a few other reporters.

"As of this morning, the merger, a year in the making, is finally complete," Harry concluded. "I know that some of you might think that I have some extravagant plans, and I do, but I feel that my actions over the next few years will speak of these plans. Let's make Metropolis the center of a growing world, what it should be, what it is."

There were many loud cheers for Harry. He smiled, unable to help himself. Today was going to be a great day for him that much was for certain.

Alexa smiled. She couldn't have said it better herself is she tried. She was glad that Harry was able to handle this well.

"And now, I open up the floor for questions," Harry said.

"Doctor Potter…um, hi, I'm Linda Park, from the Central City News Gazette," a cute Asian female said in an excited voice.

'_Oh, Linda,' _Whitney thought, shaking her head in amusement. It was noticed she was taking to the bond link quite well.

'_You're friends with her, aren't you?' _Iris asked.

'_Yeah, I am,' _Whitney confirmed. _'And I wonder how she scored a spot here, given that her expertise is sports…..actually, never mind, I know how she got a spot here.'_

"Hello, Miss Park, do you have a question?" Harry asked her.

"Yes, I do…is it true that…..well, is it true that you have a private security force made of all women, that are part of your harem?" Linda asked.

"Well, it's not technically a private security force, and it's a collective, not a harem," Harry replied casually.

Many of the press, the ones that didn't know better, thought that Harry was joking. Linda was trying to figure out whether or not he was or not.

"Right," Linda said. "My mistake….but you're doing good things….and your work with charities that help battered women and abused children get back on their feet, it's amazing. And also people who suffered traumas in war….we can't forget that."

"I'm just happy to help," Harry said. "I enjoy your work, Ms. Park, and if you ever want to transfer to Metropolis, I'm sure there's a spot open for you. The old sports reporter at the Daily Planet got fired, and I could use someone of your talents."

Linda looked at him with a smile. "Well maybe….we should talk about it over coffee!"

'_Oh Linda,' _Whitney thought. _'Can't believe that I ever met someone who puts her foot in her mouth as much as she does.'_

'_You haven't, have you?' _Kara asked. _'Surely mirrors exist in your house don't you?'_

'_I removed all of the mirrors from my house….for reasons that should be obvious,' _Whitney answered. The reason why she did so made her shudder.

Harry pulled himself away from the bond banter and turned to the group with a smile on his face. "So, does anyone want to ask me any questions that is about the merger and not about my personal life?"

Iris grinned when she saw Linda go red in her cheeks. "Doctor Potter, I have a question, it is about…."

* * *

><p>Lois had to admit that was quite the press conference to have for sure. She had to meet with Harry afterwards for business. It turned out that she had news for him and she wasn't sure that he was going to like it.<p>

"I'm actually surprised that we pried that information out of the Guardians," Carol said. She was part of Harry's security force at the press conference.

"Not as surprised as you are that nothing dangerous actually showed up at this press conference?" Lois asked.

Carol shook her head in negative. "I guess invoking the name of Harry Potter does wonders, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does," Lois confirmed with a brief smile crossing her face. "And speaking of Harry….."

Harry showed up with the two of them.

"So, only you can hold a press conference and get another reporter on board," Lois said. "I have to say, she's much easier on the eyes than Lombard is."

'_That's for sure,' _Claire thought, shaking her head. _'He's trying to tell everyone that he got a job for ESPN, and that he's moving up in the world.'_

'_Hey, if he does, good for him, really good for him,' _Harry thought. He pulled himself out of the conversation.

"You're avoiding what you need to tell me, aren't you?" Harry asked her.

Lois looked gobsmacked to the point where it was almost hilarious. Carol couldn't believe the look on her face.

"If you won't tell him, then I'll tell him," Carol said. "I think that you were right at STARRO….he's attacked again before after getting repelled, we found this out on Oa."

"I figured as much," Harry said.

"And the planet he attacked, he was repelled once before, but he returned in greater numbers," Carol continued.

Harry knew it, he knew it. He knew that attack was just a scouting force. If STARRO succeeded, his goals would already be achieved. If he failed, well he could fall back. It wasn't his goal to invade anyway at that time.

"I hate to say that you're right, you know," Lois said. She shook her head and groaned. "Oh, why do you have to be right about the worst possible things?"

"Just lucky I guess," Harry answered, pulling back with a frown on his face.

"Luck really isn't what I'd say to describe that," Carol said. "He's been attacking planets with strong warriors though….Earth isn't known for that….in fact, Earth isn't known for much."

"There is something that he wants here, although I'm sure he's now interested in the League now that they repelled him," Harry said. There were a lot of things on his mind and much of that didn't really make sense. "I wonder…..I do wonder."

"You wonder what?" Carol asked. She thought that she would have figured things out by now, but Harry had that ability to make her think.

"STARRO must be growing stronger with each planet he assimilates," Harry continued. "And there's something on Earth that he wants and wants badly."

"I believe that you've established that already," Lois said. "Oh, I get it."

"Get what?" Carol asked. She realized that this was one of those times where Lois had one of those looks like she just stumbled upon the story of the century.

"The Fortress, it's one of the most premier forces of data in the entire universe," Lois informed them. She thought that it made perfect sense, so much so that she was practically kicking herself for not piecing together sooner.

"Well, the two of us are in like minds then," Harry said. He frowned and reached out, having the Lara crystal copy he always had on him. "Lara, is there any abnormal activity in the Fortress?"

"None that I can detect at this time," Lara informed Harry. "Should I prepare for the lockdown protocol?"

"Yes, that would be wise," Harry said. He and the two Green Lanterns stood side by side and awaited the word.

'_Beaming three up,' _Chloe thought in a bored voice. She was on teleporter duty. _'Which, you know, you could do yourself, Harry'_

'_And what, have you sit there and play minesweeper all day?' _Harry fired at her. Chloe shook her head in bemusement.

There was a crackle of energy and Harry, Lois, and Carol flashed up.

The League was there in full force. Some returned straight after the press conference, which surprisingly went off without a hitch.

Claire, Shayera, and M'Gann walked into the scene, looking extremely nervous. It was M'Gann who spoke up first of all. "Harry, we've got a bit of a problem, there are flashes of energy going….right over Mars."

"Okay, am I the only one that is experiencing the strangest sense of Deja-Vu when the Shi'ar invaded?" Shayera asked them.

Harry shook his head in negative. "No, trust me Shayera, you're not the only one."

He frowned when he punched up the data. He was trying to get an overlay. There were a few small security holes. There was no such thing as a perfect defense grid and this proved so.

Claire frowned, leaning against the control panel. "So, what exactly are we looking for anyway?"

Harry answered for her. "Well, it's my hope that we are able to repel the invaders…..there's a pretty good chance that they created an access gate….which means that we're going to need to find that to shut them down."

Harry frowned. He was tracking any weird energy spikes coming from Earth. And then seeing where it amplified. It was a very tedious process, but that was the price of accomplishing a person's goals.

"Any luck?" Chloe asked. Harry put his hand up and she grew silent.

"Luck is not what's important here, it's skill, and it's science," Harry said. His frown deepened when he scanned over a certain area. "But, I think that I might have gotten something, at least I think that I have."

An energy wave spiked through the security net. The more questions Harry thought that he answered, the more popped up in response. _'Diana, you, Karen, Zatanna, Faora, and Dinah head to that area. The rest of us will come down in a moment.'_

Harry turned a red knob and activated another section of the defense grid. He knew that the STARRO invaders weren't necessarily going through the holes of his security grid. Rather, they were finding a way around them.

It was his hope that he could take them down before they reached Earth. More realistically speaking, Harry was under the extremely real assumption that he was going to have to fight them.

They had made a grave mistake coming here. Harry was going to show how hostile he could be when they had attacked his adopted home world.

* * *

><p>Faora lead the charge with fierce determination. There was a pulsing energy beam that came from inside a cave. The cave was practically out in the middle of nowhere.<p>

She held a scanner in her hand and ran it over the general area. She didn't have to wait too long to hit paydirt. The energy spikes grew extremely interesting and she realized just how big of a mistake they made coming here. She knew that her brother was going to make them pay for what they did.

Right now, she need not waste her breath on the most obvious of clichés. All she needed to do was prep herself for the trouble that was going to follow.

'_Not to rain on your parade, but that cave is not the only energy spike, there are three more and they are in major population centers,' _Chloe thought.

'_I'm picking one in Gotham City…in old Gotham,' _Barbara chimed in as well.

'_So, the Asylum was a distraction, that about figures,' _Gwen answered. She nervously folded her hands over her lap. _'So, what do you think?'_

'_Let's greet them properly,' _Faora thought.

Diana was glad many times that Faora was on her side, and little did she know the feeling was more than mutual. The rocks in the cave shifted and several large figures, with stone like skin and razor sharp claws exited the portal.

'_So, what are those things?' _Karen asked.

'_I'm not sure that they have a name,' _Faora thought. Not that she cared, she sounded bored. _'At least one you can't say without ripping out your tongue and dislocating your vocal cords with said tongue.'_

Dinah tried to nail them with the Canary Cry. The only problem was the creatures kept coming.

"And they have no ears either, which is kind of a problem," Dinah said. She jumped off of the walls of the cave and planted a kick into the back of the creature's head. "Oh, no problem, I guess we're going to have to do this the old fashion way."

She pulled out a large retractable staff. Where she was able to keep such a thing left them with some questions she was not able to answer. Dinah swung the staff at one of the creatures, nailing it hard.

A second shot caused the staff to get caught and she was lifted off of the ground.

Zatanna decided to assist her partner in fishnet crime by levitating some rocks and trying them white hot. She propelled them at the creature with a fierce force. The creature howled in agony when he was nailed full on.

The creature staggered back in agony and Zatanna lifted up the rocks again, propelling it right at the creature.

"Something tells me we're going to need to hit it with something a bit harder than rocks," Karen said.

Faora jumped up and grabbed the creature's neck. It was snapped extremely hard when she took it out. She ripped a bone spike out of the arm of one of the creatures and shoved it through its gut, impaling it.

"Find the portal," Faora said. One of the creatures tried to hit her, but she grabbed it's arm and slammed it onto the ground.

She punted the creature violently in the face with a huge kick. The creature was rocked backwards, dropping onto the ground.

Dinah maneuvered around the creatures. She got her into position for Diana and her attack. Diana slammed a punch into the creature's stomach. Her fist stung, but she did the job.

Faora kept up her frantic search for the portal. The news other League teams fought other members of the STARRO heralds was getting to be a problem.

'_Something is scrambling my powers,' _Jean thought. She grimaced in pain. The Phoenix was getting angry that she was being chained and that never was a good sign.

'_Oh, that's wonderful, they're trying to take our secret weapon out,' _Faora thought. She dodged her enemy and said enemy crashed into the wall.

She delivered a series of rapid fire punches. She really wished that these creatures could keep coming.

Faora found a crystal jammed into the cave. Her anger increased when she realized that this abomination had bastardized a Kryptonian design. Or to be more accurate, he bastardized the bastardized design of someone else.

Regardless, she was not a happy camper and she launched a blast of heat vision at the crystal, shattering it.

This was one of those good news, bad news, worse news situations. The good news was that particular portal had been shut down good. The bad news was that these creatures still kept coming. The worst news was that there were more portals.

Harry flashed in front of Faora and he blocked the punch of the creature.

"Obviously, breath mints isn't a commodity on your planet," Harry said. He channeled energy through his hands, picking up the creature and launching him into the wall. The creature smacked against the wall hard.

"I had him," Faora said. She did launch herself up, grabbing one of the creatures around the head and nailing him hard into the wall. "But thanks you're your help anyway."

Harry didn't respond right away. He launched three ice grenades in one throw. The grenades detonated and froze the creatures solid. He waved his hand, causing the frozen creatures to vibrate and they shattered into ice cubes.

That took a lot of power. Harry wished to say that his work was done, but it wasn't. He grabbed the girls and teleported them out of the cave.

They dropped right in front of another group of League members. They could see Shayera, intensity raging through her eyes. She swung her mace for the fences and she nailed one of the heralds.

Gwen used her acrobatics and landed down on the ground. She thought that she was getting the hang of this. Her spider sense prevented her head from getting taken completely off, which never was a bad thing.

Her heart skipped a couple of beats. She tried to use her strength to overpower the creature.

The creature was stronger than Gwen though. She wasn't certain if the STARRO enhanced it or not. Regardless, she was flat on her back, with this creature about ready to put its foot through her rib cage.

An arrow fired off in the distance and caught the creature off guard. It seemed to be confused with what the arrow was and how it was supposed to hurt them.

Artemis clicked a detonator and liquefied metal wrapped around the creature. Said creature fell back with an agonizing thud.

"Okay, one down, about twelve more to go, "Artemis said. She saw Iris pinballing off of the creatures. She knocked them down onto the ground one at a time. "Okay, I stand corrected, there's about ten more to go…show off."

Iris shrugged. She couldn't really do much of anything. The creature stampeded towards her with the intention to take her head off. Iris dodged the large whirling fist of her adversary. The fist knocked her enemy to the ground hard.

Jean was on the ground. Something split through her head. It was like a large spike jammed in her mind.

"There," Jean said to Kara, grabbing her by the cape.

Kara could see the silver orb. She knew she had to disable it so Jean could be mentally clear as well. She flew up faster than a speeding bullet.

The orb might have been a little bit quicker than that. It engulfed a bright light and Kara could feel her nerves humming when the energy blast connected with her. She slammed down onto the ground hard.

Galatea stepped over and helped her up off of the ground. "Let's try not to get hit next time….because I really felt that one."

"Noted," Kara said. She shook her head and pulled herself to her feet, staggering like she was punch drunk.

The stampeding figure rushed her. Kara arched her back and the creature plowed into the ground. The beautiful blonde launched herself up and cracked her elbow down onto the base of the neck of her enemy.

One more shot was perfect to send him to dream land, or at least a place where he would not be waking up any time soon.

Harry stood and analyzed the silver orb. He could also see the Orb was creating a force field around the area of the Earth. That didn't really bode all too well to be honest.

"Scan energy," Harry said to the onboard computer in his suit. If his hunch was right, a good number of his girls were going to be powerless within the next twenty four hours.

"Scanning energy complete," the computer on Harry's suit said. "Yellow solar radiation is being transmuted into red solar radiation."

Harry had to say something about STARRO, at least he did his homework. He noticed Lois out of the corner of her eye. She created what amounted to a bulldozer with her Green Lantern ring, which ran over her adversary. The bulldozer crushed the creature underneath the attack.

"Nice one," Harry informed her. Lois smiled. "But we've got a serious problem."

Harry scanned the silver orb. It was opening more portals. It was some kind of master computer. If he could pinpoint the energy core, he could transmute it. He waved his hand and the orb started to hum.

'_Okay, got to disable this thing, before I cause everyone on Earth to explode,' _Harry thought. He could hear Lois hitch her breath in. _'There's about a twenty percent chance that could happen, so it's really nothing to play around with.'_

'_Oh, only twenty five percent,' _Lois thought. The normally wise cracking reporter thought that they were treading into some dangerous waters.

'_Just go to hit it in the right spot,' _Harry thought.

Whitney was able to send out a signal, only STARRO had counteracted that signal this time. Harry was going to have to think outside the box.

An energy wave emitted from his suit and blew up the orb.

Jean whipped her head back. The connect she had with the rest of herself was all coming back to her and just in time as well. Jean's eyes glowed brightly and she prepared to take out the drones.

'_You do realize that we're just going around in circles, unless we take out the master,' _Jean thought to Harry.

'_I know,' _Harry answered her. He was coming up with a plan, because that's what he always did.

* * *

><p>Harvey Bullock really didn't bat an eyelash to some of the more insane things happening in Gotham City. He exited the donut shop. Montoya was waiting for him.<p>

"We've got an APB…..there's something really weird going on," Montoya said.

"We're in Gotham City," Bullock said. He shoveled a donut into his mouth. He somehow mastered the art of talking and eating a donut at the same time, which made in a many of any talents. "Montoya, listen, I'm sure it's nothing….."

He looked up with a frown on his face. There was a swirling purple vortex which popped over right across the street. He stepped forward and looked to investigate. There was another pair of cops that drove over.

"Hey, do you have any idea what is going on here?" Bullock asked. One of the cops turned around and Bullock stepped back. He had what appeared to be a star fish slapped on his forehead.

Montoya raised her gun and stepped back. He fired a series of shots, but the police officer kept lurching forward. It was like he wasn't effected at all.

"To answer your question, meat bag, STARRO is here to see be greeted of the presence of STARRO's children," the cop said. He looked up or rather the star fish on his face looked up. "And here he comes."

A large pod slammed down onto the ground out of the portal. It cracked open and started to ooze purple out. It resembled jelly.

Bullock grimaced, he was never going to be able to eat another jelly donut again. He would never look at them the same wave.

"Soon you can join us, meat bags," the officer said. He stepped forward, but paused. "Yes, the beauty of life….soon all of Gotham City will be under the thrall, STARRO will live through us all."

"Yeah, I've got places to go, people to see," Bullock said. He was grabbed by the arm and slammed onto the hood of the car. He tried to valiantly reach for the police radio.

The second creature tried to attack Montoya. She fought him off. A stun gun to the ribs finally put him down.

She could hear the cracking of the eggs. They were oozing their substances and little STAR fish creatures were out. There was a crowd of people moving over, ample meat for the army. And Gotham City wasn't the only place they would be.

STARRO will rise again.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on June 16<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	77. Siege of the Starro Conqueror Part Two

**Chapter Seventy Seven: The Siege of the STARRO Conqueror Part Two.**

* * *

><p>Harry was in position. He didn't want to talk about how hopeless things might seem on the surface, but to be honest; he would be a fool if he didn't consider the fact that things could go any wrong.<p>

"You seem oddly calm given that this could be the end of the world as we know it," Chloe commented to Harry. She could sense that there was something dangerous glinting in Harry's eyes. She couldn't see him, but she could feel it. "And if the world ends, no one is going to feel fine."

"I won't have another world end, not now, not today," Harry answered. He frowned when he put his hand underneath his chin and contemplated. "The second phase of the invasion is wrapping up now."

"These things come in threes normally," Chloe informed him. She wasn't going to ask why they were conversing out loud and not through the bond link. She half expected a snarky answer. "So, what do you think that the third thing will be?"

"Nothing good," Harry confirmed in a dry and dismal voice. He ran his fingers over the edge of the cave wall and thought what he was going to do next.

Power was a fascinating thing, and he could tell STARRO had an immense amount of it. He thought that he had more, but he lived by the drones and what they fed off. Emotions and the lives of people were like a power source to him.

Harry was beginning to see what needed to be done. If he could isolate STARRO in a place where he couldn't feed off of any humans, the creature would perish.

'_Please tell me that you have a plan,' _Karen thought. _'Wow, that sounded desperate, but still, please tell me that you have a plan. So far things have gotten quiet.'_

'_But, we're not going to say that things got too quiet,' _Helena informed Karen. She prepared to seek out anything strange and odd. _'Ever since we disrupted the master portal, things went calmer. Or at least calmer than they have before.'_

She didn't know and that much terrified her. Being left in the dark was an extremely bad thing for anyone, Helena Wayne was no exception to not liking that. She curled her fist up and looked fairly agitated to be honest.

Harry could see Claire and Jean pop out behind him. Jean looked to be dazed now that the Phoenix power rushed back into her. Harry turned around and looked her straight in the eye. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Jean admitted. She could feel a twist in her stomach, but she took a deep breath to calm herself down. "How are you?"

Harry really wished that he could say that he was fine, but there were a lot of variables occurring during this Invasion that he didn't necessary like. There was a lot of unsettling things happening around him.

"Looks like you were right, and Gotham City is the main target, "Helena said through the ear piece. "And….things are getting insane."

"Define insane?" Barbara asked nervously.

"If it's insane by Gotham standards, I think that it's safe to say that we redefine the term insane," Dinah said over the radio. "So, we don't really know who is a friend or who is a foe right now. That makes things wonderful."

"Dinah, just keep your cool and keep calm, things will work out," Harry said. He turned around and saw Jaime standing there. "What?"

"Are you trying to relay the team or are you trying to tell yourself that things are going to be fine?" Jaime asked. He looked at her with a cork of an eyebrow. "Never mind, your lack of response is all of the response that I need. Answer my question, well the best that I can anyway."

"Just keep it cool, Jaime, things will be fine," Harry informed her. Jaime looked at him. "Okay, we've got to do something oddly specific, but things will be fine."

"Saying that way too many times will make me think that things aren't fine," Claire said.

Lois popped in through the bond link. _'You're not the only one.'_

Harry turned to Jean. Jean could sense that he was going to ask something of her. "Why do I have a feeling that we're about ready to do something really reckless and dangerous?"

"I'm pretty sure the Phoenix Force should have a sixth sense about everything like that," Harry responded. He grabbed Jean's hand. "I wouldn't ask you this, if I didn't think that you were up to it."

Jean shook her head. It was well worth the risk, given the consequences regarding not doing it.

"If it means saving the world, I'm up for it," Jean said. There was a flash of light with Jean, Harry, and Claire ending up in the Fortress. Jaime was going to help lead the ground forces in Harry's absence against the STARRO drones.

"We can keep taking down those drones, but he's going to keep reproducing them quickly," Harry informed Jean. She responded by nodding in response. "So, we need to go and attack the center of the drones."

"Why do I have a feeling that's much easier said than done?" Jean asked. Harry raised his eyebrow. "Right, it is much easier said than done."

"If my theory is correct, the main STARRO has never taken place off of its base of operation," Harry said. "We got the detailed scans of the mother STARRO. Each mother STARRO are actually lieutenants to be sent to populate planets. Somehow, Cadmus captured one of the mother STARROs and not realizing what happened, tried to release it when there could be evidence that incriminated them."

"Yes," Jean answered, she nodded. "But I fried the mind of the mother STARRO."

Harry calmly squeezed the hand of the beautiful redhead. "Yes, and that sent a signal to the brain of the main STARRO to tell him to commit the next phase of the invasion."

"So, let me get this straight?" Claire asked and Harry raised his eyebrow. "The mother STARROs are just fodder for the main one."

"Yes, they know their role and proudly sacrifice themselves for STARROs grand assimilation, or whatever the hell they'll lead to believe," Harry said. "He's sending signals to his children. The technology on the Fortress should be able to pinpoint a general location of where he is."

"That's the theory at least," Lara said. "But in practice, it might not work as well."

"How so, Mother?" Claire asked. She looked confused to say the very least.

"STARRO is an evolving creature, it takes something from the people that it subjected," Lara said. She frowned. "It's not going to be easy."

Jean, Claire, and Harry almost said in unison. "We don't do easy."

"Yes, and that could be the main issue," Lara admitted. Her frown deepened when she waited. "I'm with you and at your disposal. What you want me to do, I'll be here."

"That's all that we can ask for," Harry said. He turned to Jean and Claire. "Are the two of you in this with me, or aren't you?"

"We're in it," Jean said firmly.

"Always," Claire piped up. There was no question about it; she was ready, no matter what they had to go up against.

* * *

><p>"So, remember when I told you that things went strange in Gotham City?" Helena asked.<p>

Harry was half paying attention to what she was saying, even though his full attention should be on her. He thought that he should apologize for that one to be honest. "I recall it Helena, yes I do."

"Good, I'm glad, because things have gotten far worse," Helena said. "Most of the GCPD are under the control of the STARRO creatures. We were able to save Bullock, Gordon, Montoya, and a few others, but…..the entire town is crawling with people infected by the STARRO drones."

"When STARRO prime is taken down, the invasion should stop," Harry said.

He was about ninety five percent sure of that. There was a five percent margin of area that he worried. He kept pinpointing all of the low wave signals STARRO was giving out. The creature was studied in depth and Harry had to admit that he knew more about the creature than the creature knew about itself.

Or so it seemed. Harry wasn't going to be certain for anything, just yet. It was just one of those things where he was going to figure out how to deal with this particular creature nicely.

"He's closer to Earth than we think," Lara said.

"Are you sure?" Claire asked.

It wasn't Lara who confirmed that statement, rather it was Jean. Jean swiftly nodded her head in affirmation. "He's extremely close to Earth. He's almost too close to Earth."

Jean could feel it. She felt another attempt to disrupt her powers. The worst thing Jean could do at this point or any other would be to lose control.

She kept calm and she kept cool. Harry gripped her hand gently and she relaxed against his grip.

"Just a few more minutes, and it will all be over," Harry said.

"I wonder if I accidentally created a connection to him, when I destroyed his mother STARRO creature," Jean said. She shuddered at the thought of her mind being linked to something that awful.

Harry thought that was likely. Jean didn't quite know what she was going up against.

"And there's another spike, we have a thirty three percent like probability of where he is," Lara said. One could sense the frustration in her voice. "I really hope that we are able to pin down a greater probability far sooner."

"No kidding," Jean said. She closed her eyes and mentally counted to ten when she tried to reign in her Phoenix Force powers. There was a sign that she could pop and when she popped, it was a really bad thing.

"Keep it together, Jean," Harry warned her.

'_So, please tell me that we have good news,' _Karen thought when she checked in. _'We're holding the line, but we could use some encouraging news. Because things aren't looking that good.'_

"Forty three percent probability of pinpointing the location," Lara said. "Actually, forty four."

'_If we can locate STARRO this ends, but he's not making this easy,' _Harry thought to her.

'_It's too bad we couldn't make one of his children lead him back to STARRO?' _Galatea asked. _'Yeah, stupid idea, I know.'_

'_No, it's not a stupid idea, in fact, it's better than anything else we've tried so far,' _Harry thought. Could it work? He didn't know if it could work, but he was willing to try anything if it meant bringing STARRO down.

'_Whitney?' _Kara asked her.

'_Yeah?' _Whitney asked.

'_Is there any possibility that we can modify the signal that we used to shut down the drones to send a fake message from the main one to revert to home base,' _Kara thought. She honestly was keeping her fingers crossed together.

'_You know, it's possible, I guess,' _Whitney answered. She thought about it. Her mind was going a million miles a moment as she tried to figure out how doable things were. She nodded her head. _'Actually, it's really kind of very possible if you think about it.'_

'_That's good,' _Harry thought. This would potentially make his life a little bit easier, providing they get this working. _'So, are you in position at RAO….'_

'_Yeah, I'm helping Chloe with monitoring duty,' _Whitney thought. _'What do you want me to do?'_

'_Okay, listen carefully Whitney, we have to do this exactly perfectly, not to alert STARRO,' _Harry thought. _'Which is why I'm blocking Jean off from the bond for now.'_

'_Do you think that STARRO is inside her head?' _Whitney asked him.

'_I don't know,' _Harry said. It was possible, but he honestly didn't know. _'We should assume that he is….but we'll know for sure I na little bit….okay here's what we're going to do.'_

Lara chimed in. "And we're only fifty percent. At this rate, everyone on Earth will be under his thrall by the time we tap into his power."

"And I thought that I could get cynical sometimes," Claire said.

"You are the least cynical person that I know, Claire," Harry said. He could almost hear, Lois, Lana, and Chloe laughing.

"Well if we can't track STARRO down, we're going to be in a serious load of shit regardless," Claire said. "Pardon my language but….."

"The language is well warranted in a situation like this," Jean said with a frown on her face. She reached around and gripped Claire's hand gently. The two of them locked hands with each other.

"And we just jumped to a hundred percent probability of where STARRO is," Lara said. It was here where Harry applied his mental shields on every inch of Jean's mind.

'_This is just a failsafe, in case,' _Harry thought.

'_No need to explain, I understand,' _Jean thought. She could feel the tension rise in her mind. _'Okay, I'm really relaxing now, for real.'_

'_That's good, I'm glad,' _Harry thought to her mentally. Unless he missed things, it was going to get extremely intense very quickly and that would seldom be a good thing as far as he was concerned. It was time to take down the Star conqueror. One way or another, Harry, Jean, and Claire had him in their sights. _'Let's go.'_

It was time for them to make their next move, for better or for worse.

* * *

><p>Gotham City redefined crazy. And when there was crazy, you could believe Batman would be right in the middle of things. He nearly ran into Huntress and Batgirl.<p>

He could see a look of surprise on Huntress's face and it was easy to see why. The STARRO drones detached themselves from their hosts.

"I was under the assumption that never happened," Batman said.

"You mean that they always grew attached to their hosts?" Huntress asked. Batman responded with a nod. "Normally, that's what happens, yes."

"It must be whatever plan Arcane has," Batman commented.

"Yeah, something like that," Batgirl admitted, nodding her head up and down. She didn't know what insanity Harry had up his sleeve.

"So, is it over yet?" Gordon asked. He was trying to protect the civilians from the infected, only to see the drones step away from them. He could see Batgirl bent over the man and she was running something across his chest. "What are you doing?"

"Making sure that he doesn't have anything about to burst out of his chest," Batgirl said. She thanked herself for the modulator device in her cowl, which prevented her voice from sounding exactly like Barbara Gordon's.

Whether or not her father could have figured it out whether or not of hearing his voice.

"I tell you, I'm not touching another jelly donut again," Bullock said. "Can you believe that….this is Smallville level stuff, not your normal Gotham City insanity. Attack of the body snatchers and all that shit."

"Yeah, it's something," Montoya agreed. "But, how are you going to stop it?"

"We have a plan," Batman said.

"Great, I'm convinced now," Bullock practically grumbled. "This is out of my pay grade, but hey, I held it my own."

Batman didn't say anything, but Bullock would have gotten a face sucker on his face had he not intervened. That was not Batman's nature to rub things into the face of people. Instead, he turned to Batgirl who was scanning the downed figure.

"We're kind of shorthanded with the EMTs," Gordon offered her. "But, I can see that these people need some medical attention."

"Yeah, that much should be obvious," Batgirl said. She didn't mean to put so much snark into her voice, but she was being run ragged. "Batgirl to Impulse…..do your read me?"

"Impulse is here, what do you need Batgirl?" Impulse asked. The fastest girl alive was really riding high after what she did.

"So, I'm sending you scans up to base, and there is no STARRO residue on these people….something called the drones back," Batgirl said. "You don't know anything about that, do you?"

"Actually….I might," Impulse said. "Arcane asked me to see if I can do anything to fake a signal to keep the babies to return to the Daddy base and I did…..wait are you saying all of them went back….all of them in Gotham City?"

"That wasn't your intention?" Batgirl asked. She could hear the long and labored sigh and the rustling of paper through the communication link. It was almost like someone was trying to do math at a superfast speed.

'_Oh, how about not, math at regular speed makes my head turn,' _Kara thought. She had to turn her head away from Whitney was doing. _'And I'm supposed to be pretty smart.'_

'_Well, you are, and we all are, but Whitney's mind works at a different level,' _Iris thought. She sighed. _'Okay, Whitney, calm down, you're giving the entire bond a terrific headache.'_

'_How can you expect me to calm down when I muddled everything so bad,' _Whitney thought. She finally pinpointed the error.

"So, you didn't plan on doing that, did you?" Batgirl asked. She spoke casually, in an attempt to drag Whitney back into reality.

"No, obviously, I didn't," Whitney answered. She sighed. "It was some minor error of calibration…now STARRO is going to know that Harry is coming, because all of his children left at once. And I just hope that he hasn't contacted them."

She closed her eyes. It was obvious things had gone from bad to worse.

"So, you've got a problem, don't you?" Bullock asked.

"Yeah, a bit of one, the recall signal was not calibrated properly and all of the children to STARRO were sent back, instead of one of the children of STARRO," Barbara said. She was speaking extremely fast, without taking a breath. "It was really a simple process that messed up."

"Yeah, simple, have no idea what you just said," Bullock said. "Well, guess they're not here, so that's a good thing."

Huntress didn't say anything. She realized Harry, Claire, and Jean were all out of range now. It was too late to war them that STARRO might have been tipped off.

She could see a man on the ground go into cardiac arrest. That brought her to a more important thing and that was rescuing civilians.

"I really hope that I didn't bring about the end of the world," Impulse stated in a fretful tone of voice. "I really hope that didn't happen."

"I'm pretty sure that you didn't do anything that extreme," Batgirl said. "Relax, everything will be fine, it's Arcane, of course he's going to be able to handle it. And it's not like he doesn't make things bad for himself."

Right now, they had to deal with the fallout of the STARRO invasion. Gotham City was one of the places that got hit the hardest, but it was far from the only place. Batgirl turned to Batman and could see that he disappeared into nothing.

There was a crash of the windows and there was someone trying to rob a building. Batgirl sighed, and shook her head. She scrambled over to deal with the would-be robber, her turned around and stared her down.

"Um, yeah, I'm going to bring the end to this world," the robber said lamely. "STARRO lives!"

"Nice try," Batgirl said. Not only was it not funny at all, but his attempt to convey possession was lame. She knocked him out with one punch, drilled directly into his jaw.

"And why do I have a feeling that he isn't going to be the first person who is going to try that?" Huntress asked.

'_Okay, I'm at the Fortress,' _Karen thought to them. _'It's just like I thought, Harry, Claire, and Jean already are on their way to take down STARRO.'_

'_And so are about several dozen drones,' _Kara thought. _'Hey, I just thought of something, can't you recall them back here…..actually that's a dumb idea.'_

'_No kidding,' _Whitney thought.

Despite the aftermath of the STARRO invasion, it was a beautiful day. That was the epitome of all things eerie.

The beauty was going to be dashed in a matter of seconds. A deep rumbling voice could be heard. There was no doubt about it, STARRO turned up and he was going to make his voice heard.

"You think that you can fool me, but I see all, with eyes and ears in the world," STARRO narrated. "The final fight you offer will be your demise. The world will be your tomb. There will be nothing that you can to do to stop me, you have just merely delayed the inevitable."

STARRO's message broadcasted all over the world. He was not going to go down easily, not without a fight anyway. There was proof that STARRO lived and proof he was going to crush them all.

"Do what you can to stop me, for it will not be sufficient. STARRO will bring forth the end of you all. The world will burn underneath the flames and there will be one constant out there, there will be STARRO."

* * *

><p>Harry heard what appeared to be the final message of STARRO. He, Claire, Jean, and Lara were in space. They were in some kind of forbidden zone.<p>

"You don't want to know how many places in the universe have been deemed a forbidden zone," Lara said.

She wasn't exaggerating. At one point, there was a hundred areas that were deemed a forbidden zone at one point or another.

"I'm guessing that there are multiple forbidden zones through the universe," Claire said. Jean turned her and agreed with a swift nod.

"Pretty much, yes," Jean said. She could still feel it, she was light headed, but she held her head up straight.

The drones circled them. They were waiting to see what would happen next. Jean knew, even without getting into their primitive minds they waited for orders. Whispers resounded and Jean, Claire, and Harry approached.

"STARRO, face me!" Harry yelled out into the distance. There was not an answer yet, but Harry pressed on, being fairly persistent. "You've been hiding behind trickery, and I'm not going to put up with it any more. Unless you're a coward, and I think that you are, you should face me!"

Time stood still and there was a lengthy pause, before STARRO's rumbling voice echoed from the distance.

"A coward, hardly," STARRO said. "I am merely the most intelligent being in the universe, and you played into my hand. You are Earth's greatest champion. Become my herald, and I may spare your loved ones and your planet. Help me find new worlds. Become one with the STAR collective."

"I've got an alternate offer for you," Harry responded. "Leave me and my loved ones alone. And I won't rip you apart piece by piece and send you to a place where you perish."

The creature's laughter became cold and insidious. It was apparent that it didn't take Harry's words too seriously.

"You do think that you can destroy me," STARRO said. "Anywhere I go, there is life. All it needs is one of my drones to latch on. The destruction will be at hand and I….."

Harry aimed a high impact blast and there was a direct hit. The blast impacted the creature extremely hard. STARRO screamed in agony when he thrashed on the asteroid. His children buzzed around Jean, Claire, and Harry like they were buzzing bees. The three of them dove down.

Jean put a shield up and the ugly children STARRO drones smacked against the shield. They sensed some kindred spirit within the Phoenix Force and they tried to push their way through the barriers.

There was a fizzling sound when the creatures tried to get their way through. It seemed that no matter hard they tried to get their way inside, it was pretty much no dice.

'_Keep them distracted, so I can take the master,' _Harry thought.

"I know what you're doing and your plan won't work," STARRO said. Harry smiled.

He wanted to have the creature assume that he was doing something. It was blissfully unaware how much it played into his trap. It thought that it had all of the answers. That was fine, but Harry kept changing all the questions.

"Oh, you know what I'm doing?" Harry asked. He waved his hand and he caused the starfish creatures to size up in absolute agony.

The main STARRO screamed when he could feel the plight of his children. He rose up to his full height and very much dwarfed them all by a significant amount. His beady little eye fixed on them.

It was obvious that it was becoming enraged. Just what Harry was banking on.

"You will pay for all that you've done," STARRO growled. "I will show how much power that I have when I crush you underneath my power."

Harry smiled when he motioned for the creature to go over. It conducted some kind of energy.

'_It goes without saying not to let any part of him touch your skin,' _Harry thought.

'_And yet, you riled him up,' _Claire thought. _'This is the point where you're going to tell us that everything is going to be fine and you got some brilliant plan.'_

Harry didn't say anything. That left the entire group out in the dark. Jean's eyes suddenly glazed over. Claire noticed this and she turned to Harry. Both of them shared one glance to each other and they said it to each other.

"Oh shit."

"She thought that she had the better of me by attempting to take control of me," Jean said, speaking with STARRO's voice. "The entire Phoenix Force, the universe will be mine to be reshaped in any way that I wish."

Harry expected that to happen, but thankfully, he had a counter move for that one.

"It seems like you've gotten fairly lazy and complacent," Harry commented. He dodged an attack from Jean now that STARRO had a physical body to manipulate for his own use. "And you've grown extremely foolish."

Jean lifted her hands into the air and caused the asteroid's particles to shift.

'_Okay, Jean, I know that you're in there,' _Harry thought.

'_Harry, I am in here ,you got to get me out of there,' _Jean thought. She realized that she made a huge mistake trying to wipe that creature's minds.

"While she's trapped in there, I have the Phoenix Force power and I will obliterate you with them!" STARRO yelled. His voice sounded extremely unsettling when coming out of Jean's mouth. Harry didn't think that the creepiness factor could be punched up even more than it really did.

Harry realized something, extremely quickly. He honestly had nothing to fear. His lips curled into a smile and he laughed, in amusement.

"You think that you have all of the answers, don't you?" Harry asked. "You don't have anything."

'_Just a few more seconds Jean,' _Harry thought. He had to time this exactly right.

"You are a fool if you think that you could stop me, I have the ultimate power and soon the entire universe will be under my thrall…."

Harry rolled his eyes. He was not in the mood for a criminal monologue from a crazed Starfish, now of all times.

"Yeah, I know, I heard that, again and again and even more," Harry said. He droned on in a board voice. "And then what….then what's going to happen? What are you going to do when you control everything? What's next for STARRO? What other roads are there going to be for your to conquer?"

"I will have succeeded," STARRO said. "All will be under one barrier, perfect….one, for all, STARRO will have achieved his prime objective."

"And yet, still I stand, the most dangerous force in the universe," Harry said. "The one that no matter how much bluster you have, you can't take me down. STARRO, you don't have control of the Phoenix Force. You might have gotten in the head of the host, but you haven't taken control of her power."

"You are arrogant and I will crush you for your arrogance," STARRO said.

"Everything goes in one ear and out the other with you," Harry answered with a smile on his face. "You don't have any control over the Phoenix Force, because I do. And I will use the control I have to wreck you."

STARRO grew increasingly incensed. His eyes illuminated when he rose up. He gave an angry hiss when he rose up to his feet. He looked more like a demented cat than a psychotic star fish.

"If you were anything, you could defeat me in your own body, and not by hi-jacking another," Harry said.

Jean dropped to the ground and Harry took control of the Phoenix Force the moment STARRO left the vessel. He aimed for his one in a million shot.

BANG! The full impact of the Phoenix Force hit STARRO's body and reduced it to nothing but a puddle of sticky sludge.

His children swelled up one by one and they landed on the ground. Harry waved his hand and vanished the contents.

"STARRO lives!" the creature whispered. The glowing energy beam rose up, in the shape of a star fish. "Even without a body, STARRO…"

Harry waved the purple crystal in his hand and it caused a portal to open up. The consciousness of STARRO was sucked into the portal, bit by bit. All of his monocles were disconnected and put back together in all of the wrong ways.

"Behold, the fall of STARRO," Harry said. The asteroid began to crack where they stood. "Well, that's inconvenient."

Jean, Claire, and Harry all looked at each other. All of them pretty much had the same idea. It was time to run and time to get out of there now.

They flashed back into the Phantom Zone and landed on the ground, where Karen, Kara, and Faora all waited. Harry looked up towards them and flashed a smile. It was obvious that Harry directing the Phoenix Force as a blunt force took more out of him than it should.

"So, we won," Harry said. He felt like every single nerve in his body was humming. "My initial plan didn't work out as well that I thought it would."

"And by not as well as you thought it would, you mean that it didn't end well at all," Claire said. Harry cast his gaze over towards her, but Claire wasn't about to back off. She folded her arms and looked back intently at Harry.

Harry conceded that point to her. There was really nothing to do other than recover. All he knew was STARRO was gone and it was finally time to let his breath out.

'_Starro doesn't live,' _Jean thought.

* * *

><p>"Ladies and gentlemen, we may never know or understand what happened today or what some of the things that we have to deal with on a day to day basis," Cat Grant reported. She looked extremely tense and obviously confused. "All we know is that there is a wider universe and Earth is getting attention ,both good and bad. All we can thank ourselves for is there is about as many good visitors as there are bad visitors. This could be a brand new age for Earth, if humanity is up to it."<p>

Harry sat in his lab and he was casually tinkering with something. He was about ready to finish a sweep of the universe as well to make sure every single last trace of STARRO had been purged after the creature had been sent to the no zone.

"I hope as much as anyone that humanity is up for it, Cat," Harry said. He finished an adjustment. "Lara, are we….."

"There is a one hundred and five percent chance that STARRO no longer exists," Lara said. "Statistically speaking, there's a pretty good chance that we can take a breath and relax for once….and you need to relax after what's happened."

Harry smiled. Boy did he ever know that.

'_I second that recommendation,' _Karen said. There was much agreement from all sides.

"Yes, I know that I need to relax," Harry said. "I thought that I would have another date which would be cancelled on account of the end of the world."

"Don't you hate it when that happens?"

Harry turned around and saw Jaime standing in the doorway. She looked rather amused at him. "I can tell that you're tense….because you're looking the same way that I do when I'm tense. That's when Lyta and Katrina take me to the side and make me work out of my tensions. I find I'm a lot more able to think when I'm not frustrated because of how frustrating my life is."

Jaime shook her head, clearing it. "Makes a lot more sense in my head then it does coming out of my mouth….at least this time it did."

"I'll take your word for it," Harry said. "But, everything is done. There are a lot of STARRO heralds that were sent to Earth to fight us. We have them all rounded up and brought to Oa."

"Some of them were monsters and hardened war criminals," Jaime answered him. Harry smiled. "But you knew that."

"They'll get their trial, if they weren't far gone enough to get one," Harry said. "STARRO pretty much used them as a glorified meat bag, and killed the person within. He tried to do it to Jean, and well, that didn't end so well."

"Yes, you proved to him who owned the Phoenix Force," Jaime said. "So, have we seen the last of the Star Conqueror?"

Good question, and Harry decided to answer that the best that he could.

"It looks to be that way," Harry said. "According to Lara, there's a hundred and five percent probability that he's gone."

"Well good odds," Jaime said. "So, are you going to hold an all hands on deck meeting?"

Harry thought about it and nodded.

"Yeah, just to wrap up and go over everything that we know right now," Harry replied. "And hopefully make sense of this."

He had a feeling this invasion could be a harbinger for another one. It was time to ramp up the defenses and protect his planet.

That was something he took very serious. _'Karen, Helena, and Diana, we're calling a meeting, for everyone.'_

'_And by everyone, you mean everyone, right?' _Karen asked. It did go without saying as far as she was concerned that everyone did mean everyone.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on June 19<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	78. A New Dawn Approaches

**Chapter Seventy-Eight: A New Dawn Approaches.**

* * *

><p>The events regarding STARRO was most certainly something that many people would remember, no question about it. The world was pretty much in a state of flux. There were some people who were commending the actions of the Justice League and there were some people who distrusted super powered people and aliens pretty much on sheer principle. They hoped that they would get these people over that distrust in time.<p>

A couple of days passed since the full League meeting and it had been a very illuminating experience. Some groundwork had been put into place, and a more detailed meeting would take place later this week after the dust settled from the STARRO chaos.

"I guess some people won't ever," Laura said. She spoke in a calm and rather frustrated tone. She could see Galatea and Katrina sitting down next to her. She lost her train of thought, but finished it. "I guess some people won't ever learn."

"If you're waiting for people to learn from their mistakes, you're going to be waiting for an extremely long time," Galatea answered. She stepped towards Laura and smiled. "Don't worry, Harry has this figured out."

It was something that went without saying. If Harry had something figured out, then things weren't going to end up that bad. At least that's what Laura's opinion was given this situation. She frowned when she spoke, shaking her head.

"Guess that's just really the bottom line to be honest," Laura said. She could feel Galatea's hand on her thigh and she shivered.

It was obvious what the more mature version of Kara was doing and Laura was trying not to succumb to this, even though it was the easiest thing in the world to succumb to.

"You seem tense," Galatea said. She leaned forward and she gave Laura a bit of a nice peak of her cleavage. That caused Laura to frown. "You know, you're our sister, and we're going to do what we can to make things right."

"Harry did give you the responsibility to take control of the new team, didn't he?" Katrina asked. She knew Harry's big plan was to make some brand new team of young super heroes, that would be lead to the new age that was dawning. She thought Harry had some grand plans and she was extremely confident that he would succeed.

"Yeah, I can't wait to see what I can do with that," Laura said. She was the youngest of the Karas and she was obviously the most sheltered in many ways. She couldn't wait to see what kind of great power Harry would give her to go with the great responsibility of leading her own team.

She could hardly wait, to be honest. Katrina and Galatea looked at her, looking fairly bemused.

"One could assume that you're nervous," Katrina said. "Don't be….it's not really that hard…sure there are times where the team members question your orders and times where personal issues get in the way of business, but….you know, things are alright other than that."

"Spank them to get them in line if they get out of line," Galatea remarked. That caused Laura's cheeks to grow and flush in response. Galatea smiled and reached forward, patting Laura on the top of the head. "Don't worry, kid, you'll do great."

Laura was glad for the pep talk and really who better to raise your spirits than yourself.

"I hope that I'll do great," Laura confirmed with a frown on her face, shaking her head in negative. "Because if I don't….well you know how things go."

"Don't be too hard on yourself," Galatea said. She reached back and pulled Laura's hair back with a smile. "That's our job to be hard on you."

"Artemis and Whitney will be helping, I'm sure you have nothing to worry about."

Kara stood in the doorway, her arms folded and an amused smile on her face. Galatea and Katrina turned to her.

"So, exactly how long have you been here?" Galatea asked.

Kara grinned when she stepped forward towards her clone. She swooped down and gave her a light kiss on the lips. Kara pulled away and offered a sultry smile in response. "Long enough to know that you're having a bit too much fun. You know, too much fun can land you in trouble."

Galatea was pretty much dominated by Kara. Despite being her mature clone, Kara showed her who the boss was in this situation. She pulled away with a saucy grin rising on her face.

"You never cease to amaze me," Galatea said in response. "But then again, we share some kind of mental link, so it isn't like I'm going to be able to get away with anything when you're hovering around in the back of my head."

"You can say that again," Kara grinned. She turned towards Laura. "You know, Harry wouldn't have given you the responsibility if he didn't think that you were ready for it."

"I've come a long way," Laura admitted.

She was actually rather pleased by that. She arrived here, in a brand new world, scared, but she turned into something extremely wonderful.

"We all have in some ways, some people were skeptical that the League would even work," Kara said. "I mean, we're still very much a work in progress, but we've come an extremely long way. And I think that we're going to get better the more we work through things."

"I couldn't have said it better myself."

Kara smiled when she turned around and saw Harry standing there. She decided to push back Katrina and Galatea so she could get a good enough piece of Harry. She threw her arms around him and gave him a passionate kiss.

Lois turned up in a flash of light a few seconds later. She could see the other three versions of Kara, pouting.

'_You snooze, you lose,' _Lois remarked. She could barely keep a chuckle from emitting from the back of her throat. This was one of those precious moments that she wanted to hold for the rest of her life.

'_Well, we'll remember that next time when I get a piece of Harry, and you get left out in the dust,' _Lucy said.

'_Please, as if you can get the drop on me,' _Lois answered in bemusement.

When Harry finally pulled away from Kara, he gave her three sisters all of the attention that he thought they deserved. The girls tried not to look too overly smug about it, even though it was hard to keep themselves on the straight and narrow.

"So?" Kara asked.

Lois was the one that answered, mostly on the account of Harry being too entangled with Galatea. "All of the prisoners have been sorted out. A couple were in fact innocent, but others were wanted for war crimes. And apparently, STARRO had an interesting relationship with some of them. No accounting for taste, I guess, not that I'm trying to judge anyone from anything, or something like that."

"Oh, of course, you aren't," Kara said with a wink and a smile. That caused Lois to place her hand on her hip and frown when she looked back at Kara. The blonde cleared her throat when she looked to Lois. "So, guess that things are good now."

"For now," she agreed.

They could not help, but feel that there is an unsettling calm before a big storm.

* * *

><p>Tula felt like she was pacing back and forth in frustration. It was to the point where Lori went from extremely amused to extremely annoyed. It was a fun contrast of emotions she went through.<p>

"He said that he'd be here by lunchtime," Lori reminded her friend. She tugged on the sleeve of Tula's shirt to turn her around. "You know, he's never been late yet, so I wouldn't worry about it."

Tula was about ready to protest that she wasn't worrying about it, but the words never really found their way out of her mouth.

"And I'm here, right on time."

"As usual," Lori said, giving Tula a needling smile in response. That caused Tula to give Lori a cross look in response. She made her way over with a smile. "My Lord, it's good to see that you are well."

The two girls bowed before their king, showing their respect.

"And I would like to offer my apologies for not being present during the attack of Atlantis," Harry said.

It was Tula who spoke, "There is really no need to apologize for what occurred. There is no way where you could be multiple places at once."

Tula smiled and shook her head before she regained her train of thought.

"We should really learn our lesson, and that's on Atlantis, not you," Tula said. "It was bad form to allow a Starfish such as that STARRO beast to slip its way past the defenses without any detection."

"Nothing is perfect," Harry commented. That caused Tula to nod wisely in response.

"Yes, although I'm certain that there are some things that are," Tula said. "Lori and I have been working on something that you thought

"Tula did the enchantments, and I worked on the design," Lori said in an eager voice. She would have bounced up and down on her feet if she would have had them.

Harry swept her up in a one armed hug which she looked extremely pleased by, with the grin not getting close from passing off of her face.

"I'm sure that both of you do a wonderful job," Harry answered. He could see the mirth swimming through Lori's eyes. "Why don't you take me to it, and show me what you've done?"

Both of the girls exchanged gleeful smiles with one and other. It was pretty infectious, their pride in what they've done.

"I hope that you like it," Lori said.

"He will like it," Tula said. She paused and turned to her king in surprise. "You will like it, won't you?"

"I'm sure if you put an ample amount of time in it, I will enjoy it," Harry said. He could see the bright grin flashing over Tula's face, when she took Harry's arm.

'_And here starts the competition,' _Chloe thought. She chuckled, amused by this entire situation. _'I don't know about anyone else, but it seems like that Harry has some ability to ensnare women and drive them to a greater competitive fire with each other.'_

'_Really, you're just figuring this out?' _Lois asked in bemusement.

'_I thought that was evident from the first moment that I met him,' _Claire thought.

'_I would have to agree,' _Iris said.

'_So, I guess I inspired the Flash and Superwoman to team up on a common cause, that is making my life difficulty,' _Lois thought, shaking her head. _'I would like to say that I'm happy that I inspired such unity, but honestly…..'_

Lois's thoughts were left hanging in the breeze, when Tula and Lori lead Harry down a chamber.

"I like what you've done with this place," Harry said.

"Well, Black Manta blowing up parts of this place allowed us to redesign what we needed to do," Lori admitted. "And we made it better."

The two Atlantean females lead Harry down a long and winding hallway. They saw it sitting here, elegant armor. A crooked "U" was carved on the symbol.

'_For Ultraman?' _Katrina asked. _'I don't know, I kind of like it.'_

'_You would like it,' _Faora thought. She threw herself into education/lecture mode. _'I have to admit I played a small part of contributing a design idea or two. That's the family symbol for the house of Zod. Alia should get her own set of armor when she's old enough….although she's getting pretty close to earning that distinction.'_

'_She's coming rather well on her training,' _Diana admitted with a slight smile crossing her face. _'Her, Cassie, and Rebecca, granted they're at different levels, but it still counts.'_

'_I'm glad that it does,' _Harry thought.

"You're welcomed to try it on, we don't mind," Lori said.

Tula was the one that chimed in with the obvious point. "It does work better when it's warn against the bare skin….you know for the magical properties."

Harry smiled and removed his clothes. The two girls sat there, eating up the eye candy when more and more of Harry's body had been exposed in response. The young man stood before them and they looked at him.

"It's impressive, isn't it?" Tula asked. She traced a pattern on his chest, with a wicked grin crossing her face.

"It's wonderful," Lori responded in a breathy tone of voice. She made her way over towards Harry. "Perfect, it fits you like a glove."

She patted him on the ass. Harry raised his eyebrow. "Just making sure the armor is still perfected in the blind spots, my king."

"Naturally," Harry said. He was willing to let it go. "So, you girls did an excellent job on the armor. I have to say I'm pleased."

"I couldn't agree more."

Mera turned up for a moment and she looked at Harry. She thought that Tula and Lori did an excellent job on the armor.

"If you two girls are finished with Harry, then, I will take him, because we have some extremely important matters to discuss," Mera responded. She looped her arm within Harry's and lead him off.

It was obvious Lori and Tula did mind, but they weren't about to argue with their Queen, especially regarding an important matter such as this.

"Lovely," Mera said when she led Harry off.

'_And ladies and gentlemen, we commence with the royal cock blocking,' _Whitney answered. She cackled with an immense amount of delight. _'Oh this is absolutely too wonderful, that's really great.'_

'_You would be amused by that, wouldn't you?' _Kara thought, shaking her head.

'_The armor looks really great,' _Mera thought. She thought about what she was going to say, before she was going to state the obvious next point. _'And the armor will look even better lying on the floor of my bed chambers.'_

Harry didn't really have anything more to say that. He was really glad that it was going in this direction. After what happened, any stress relief is needed. It had been way too long since he had gotten together with Mera to begin with

* * *

><p>Cassie was breathing heavily. She could most certainly do it. Her breathing escalated the more that she threw down with Diana.<p>

She thought that she was put through the paces when Donna was training her. Donna was tough, but Cassie got some solid attacks on her. Granted, those sold attacks were followed by her ass getting solidly kicked. Cassie slowly rose to her feet when she looked at the Amazon Princess. She looked up at Diana, in more ways than one.

"You got to keep your eye on the ball, Cassie," Diana informed her. "Make sure that you don't get too frustrated, and make sure you don't get distracted."

Cassie rushed Diana, but her attack was blocked. Her arm was grabbed and it was wrapped around her back. Diana pushed Cassie down onto the ground. She leaned down against Cassie, holding her down onto the ground. The woman pushed herself up and allowed Cassie to get back to her feet.

"I thought that I had you," Cassie responded in frustration. Diana shook her head and smiled. "What did I do wrong?"

Diana stepped back and she informed Cassie exactly what she was doing wrong. "You were putting way too much energy into your attacks. You need to stop throwing yourself into everything so fast. It is going to get you into too much trouble and it will wear you down way too quickly."

"Honestly," Cassie said, shaking her head.

"Honestly," Diana agreed with a smile when she reached forward and pulled Cassie up to her feet. "You didn't do too bad, but there was room for improvement."

Cassie thought that she disappointed her idol and she sat down next to Alex and Rebecca. She really expected even more of a critique from her friends and she wasn't disappointed to say the slightest.

"You telegraphed your attack about two seconds too soon," Rebecca informed her. Cassie raised her eyebrow. "If you're two seconds too early or two seconds too late, you will be knocked on your ass within the next two seconds."

"Are we speaking from experience?" Alex asked her. Rebecca raised her eyebrow and didn't say anything, to be honest. "Yeah, I thought so. Say what you want about the broody one, but he's pretty skilled at being a martial artist."

"Yeah, that's really the case, isn't it?" Rebecca asked. She really couldn't train with Diana in that style, although she was able to pick up little tips and tricks. Helena made sure to put her through the ringer and told her that she could learn about from waiting and watching.

Cassie looked quiet when she was going through everything that happened in that sparring session. She frowned when she thought about her sparring session with Diana. "Seriously, two seconds, that's all that I was off by."

Donna stepped outside and joined the group outside. She placed her hand on Cassie's shoulder, to practically console her, "You didn't do too badly kid. Don't take it personally, but Diana can kick anyone's ass. She's one of the best at the world at what she does any all."

"Sometimes you can learn a lot by getting your ass kicked, then you can with actually winning," Alex added. "Seriously, is there anyone could defeat Diana?"

"Yes, our mother," Donna confirmed to them all. "And Artemis…the Amazon, not the goddess or the archer."

'_Glad that we clarified that,' _Artemis, the archer in the green hood, responded through the bond link. _'But yeah, I guess that things can get confusing with all of the Artemises running around like this.'_

'_Is Artemises even a proper way to describe that?' _Whitney asked. She could feel Artemis's gaze placed into her eyes. _'Is that even a proper word? Well, I guess that it is now."_

'_Yep, it is,' _Artemis thought.

"I wonder if Harry could hold his own with Diana," Alex said to Donna, with a frown. Donna was looking extremely thoughtful and Alex caught that. "The two of them have had a sparring session with each other, haven't they?"

"Yes, but it was too close to call," Donna said. She raised her hand and she squeezed Cassie's shoulder to relax her young protégé. "And there were….other circumstances, that caused the battle to be too close to call."

Rebecca nodded, "Well, we're obvious why because of that. Say no more and all that, you know."

"Say no more indeed," Donna replied with a grin when she could see Diana giving Alex a side long glance. "I think that's Diana's not so subtle sign that she wants you to see what you can do."

"Guess it's time for me to see what I can do against your sister," Alex said. She rose to her feet. "Wish me luck."

"Believe me, luck has nothing to do with this when you fight my sister," Donna said. Alia raised her eyebrow. "But I'm sure that you're going to do well out there. Faora has been preparing you after all, hasn't she?"

Alex made her way out and went to face Diana. The Amazon looked much taller when she was off on the battle field against her. Her heart kept beating when she went face to face with her adversary.

"Are you ready?" Diana asked Alex.

"Yeah, I'm ready," Alex said.

"Show me what Faora has taught you," Diana said. She actually wanted to have a spar with Faora.

That would be extremely interesting and she could not wait to see how she held up against one of the greatest martial artist's the universe ever saw.

'_We'll set something up, the stars just haven't aligned yet,' _Faora thought. _'If nothing else, I'd be the third person that fully beat you in battle.'_

Diana didn't say anything. She didn't really want Faora to get in her head when Alex was going to fight her. Alex rushed forward and she aimed a punch at Diana. Diana dodged the attack and she got behind her. Diana grabbed Alex around the waist and took her down onto the ground.

Alex tried to get Diana down to the ground, but Diana was pulled up by her hair and made her face her. The two of them kept nailing each other with a back and forth battle. Both women exchanged punches and kicks with each other.

Diana could feel that Alex nearly found a kink in her armor, figuratively speaking. She adjusted her stance to compensate for that one.

Cassie, Donna, and Rebecca all watched in awe. Alex almost had Diana after a moment, but Diana found a way around her defenses.

"I'm glad that I'm only an observer and not a participant," Rebecca answered. She shook her head. "Oh, that looks like that's going to leave a mark."

"No kidding that's going to leave a mark," Donna agreed. She bit down on her lip in frustration and leaned back. "Come on, Alex, you can do it."

Alex thought that she could do it, but Diana was going to take her down again. She bounced up to her feet and avoided Diana's attempts to knock her down. Alex panted when she pulled herself up to her feet.

This was going to be a long sparring session if she kept this up.

Faora watched discreetly from the distance. She was pleased with how far her sister had come along the way. Granted, there were a few things that she was bound to improve on, but Faora thought that they would work through that in due time.

Diana was that good, but was she better than Faora? They needed to have a full out sparring session to determine that fact. She was impressed all of the times that she watched her engage in a sparring session. One thing was for sure, Faora was looking forward to the battle when it occurred. It exited her to potentially go against someone powerful.

Faora thought that her sister would be incredible. She might be beneath a few people on the warrior scale, but given some of the people who were better than her, there was honestly little shame in that.

Her lips curled with a little smile when she continued to view the sparring session. It was going to be an intense little fight if that continued. To be honest, Faora hoped that it did. Alex was pushing back and Diana was not holding back.

She would be insulted if Diana held back, really she would. That would not allow her full abilities to be completely tested after all.

'_Come on, you can do this,' _she thought herself.

She had to give herself a pep talk, so she didn't get creamed too fast. Even though her back was pressed against a barrier of sorts.

* * *

><p>At first, Kitty Pryde was a bit nervous regarding her date and rightfully so. And it wasn't really anything regarding the date, but rather the fact that she almost expected something really bad on this date. Tess and Alexa informed her that Harry's dates always ended in some kind of super villain attack, about seventy percent of the time.<p>

Exactly how true that was, Kitty didn't know. She was running up a wall in frustration when she was being told that. It caused her to grow nervous, and the fact was, having a date with Harry Fucking Potter made her nervous enough to begin with.

It turned out, by some sheer miracle that date with Harry didn't end in the worst way. In fact, Kitty would have to say that her date ended up pretty good.

She hiccupped with a grin on her face. Harry steadied her when he walked her up to the balcony. He took great care to ensure that she didn't plummet off of the edge of the balcony.

"Oh, I shouldn't have had that much wine with dinner," Kitty grumbled. She grabbed Harry around the arm, her ankles slowly about ready to buckle out from underneath her when he held her up.

"Moderation really is key sometimes, Kitty," Harry reminded her. Kitty gave him the obvious look. "Yeah, I know you should have not had that much to drink, but that didn't stop you from having an extremely good time?"

Kitty thought that she had a good point, although that was the consequences of having a good time right there.

"Yeah, I just hope that I won't be throwing up later," Kitty said. Harry smiled when he pulled her in close to her. "Or my powers acting extremely wonky and things like that…that's been known to happen before…."

"Define wonky?" Harry asked her.

Kitty shook her head. "Well, my powers…they tend to act really kind of weird and stuff….I've gone through my clothes out in public. Thankfully no one was really looking."

Harry raised his eyebrow, but didn't say anything. Kitty was grateful that he didn't say anything because it was embarrassing enough.

'_So, are we going to let that go without comment?' _Lois thought.

'_You know, there are weird things that can happen with a person's powers when they first come into them,' _Claire thought.

'_Oh, do tell?' _Lois asked with a grin.

'_Chloe and Lana know, and they won't be saying anything,' _Claire responded. She crossed her arms.

'_You know, if you concentrate hard enough over the bond, you can really give someone a pretty sharp glare of doom,' _Lois thought with a smile.

'_I'm sure that we can work out a deal of some sort,' _Chloe responded. Her grin grew increasingly wicked when she spoke.

'_Everyone does have a price,' _Lana answered.

Harry placed his hand on Kitty. "You know, relax, and be who you can be, and it will be fine."

"At least you didn't tell me to be myself," Kitty said. She looked towards him. Their eyes met together and she staggered a step back.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to let you fall," Harry said. He leaned forward and whispered in her ear. "I might bring you to the edge, or pretty close, but I won't let you fall."

That was the epitome of not so subtle as far as several people who participated on the bond link was concerned. Kitty looked unbothered by the not so subtle way Harry hit on her.

"That's a relief, I think," Kitty said. She wasn't completely sure, but she did allow a breath to come out of her body. "Well, I guess that's it's a relief, it's kind of a relief, if you know what I mean."

Kitty was babbling, but that was nothing new. Harry found that to be quite an endearing quality.

'_In reality, you should be used to it, with Lois,' _Claire said.

'_I do not babble,' _Lois said. Claire raised her eyebrow. _'Okay, maybe a little bit.'_

"I think that I have a pretty good idea," Harry answered with a smile on his face. He leaned closer towards her, which caused Kitty to shiver. "You're raising your profile in the company thanks to the merger.

"You'd think that there would be less of a workload, but there's even more," Kitty said. She was fully aware that Harry's hands explored her ass when she leaned in close to him. "But that could be on the account that Tess and Alexa fired a bunch of people that they couldn't before."

"A merger is a good way to wipe the slate clean," Harry said. "Lionel's hirings was rather questionable by the end."

"Yes, they were," Kitty said. She practically wrapped her legs around Harry without realizing it.

Harry knew what was going to happen next and he allowed it to happen. He leaned on in, pressing his lips against Kitty's with a sizzling kiss. The brunette returned the kiss with an equal amount of fire.

His mouth open, which allowed Kitty's tongue to ease her way inside, with the brunette breathing when Harry worked himself into her mouth and Kitty captured his tongue, suckling on it when it went all the way in.

Kitty felt her excitement grow and he ran his hands down her body, slowly disrobing her. She felt her skin exposed and he ran his hands down her body. He gently grabbed her hair and tilted her head back. He made sure that her warm brown eyes looked towards her.

"Kneel."

* * *

><p>Kitty shook her head. She rested against Harry, with a satisfied smile on her face. The brunette shifted her weight, brushing herself against Harry's crotch.<p>

"Was that everything your wet dreams imagined?" Harry asked. He casually played with Kitty's hair.

"Now that we've taken this step, our business meetings are going to be far more interesting," Kitty said with a smile. She felt Harry's fingers tempt her again. She thought that she might not be able to walk properly for a week, but damn if it wasn't worth it. "If nothing else, I actually get to be involved in the good parts."

Harry laughed, "You know, you were welcomed to join any time. We did leave the door cracked for you."

That caused Kitty's mouth to hang open and sudden realization dawned upon her suddenly.

"You mean….." Kitty said. Her mouth hung open and she looked kind of appalled. Words were meant to be spoken, but unfortunately for her, very few of them met her final destination. She groaned when she realized what happened. "I can't believe…oh my…so stupid…so very stupid…ugh….stupid, stupid, stupid!"

"Okay, there's no need to beat yourself up for what you did," Harry answered, chuckling in amusement. Kitty looked fairly flushed in the face. "I think that we made up for lost time and we'll make up for more lost time in the future."

She turned around so she pressed against him. Her perky breasts touched his muscular chest and his hands touched her lovely rear. He ran his fingers against her ass and smiled.

"Yeah, and I'm going to make sure that we make up for even more lost time," Kitty said. Her hair draped over her face, giving her a half innocent and half seductive quality that Harry felt found endearing. "And I know that you're ready…..and I'm ready…more than ready."

It was time for round two and Harry was going to show Kitty how ready he could be.

* * *

><p>"Some might say that the future is coming soon, but I disagree. The future is now. There are many young people with powers and skills that could benefit from getting mentored by us."<p>

Harry turned and addressed the extended League. It was obvious that some of them were a bit skeptical, but the more Harry explained where he was coming from, the more it seemed like that this was making perfect sense.

There were some people who thought that was a good plan, and others had misgivings and a couple were willing to play Devil's advocate.

"Do you think that this is wise?" Zatanna asked. "Some people might question us having child soldiers."

It was a very valid concern and one that the Alpha council discussed at length with each other.

"They will be trained, but none of them will be allowed out onto the field until they're at least sixteen and they would be eligible for League membership until they're twenty one," Helena said. "It's best if they get their training supervised, instead of having training elsewhere."

"I couldn't agree more," Dinah answered. She was a bit reluctant because of this at first, but she realized the merits.

"I agree completely," Artemis said. Granted, she was a former teenage sidekick, so she was sure that people were going to think of her as a hypocrite.

Then again, putting her out on the field with dangerous people was one of the least questionable things Ollie did during his time underneath the hood.

And it wasn't like Artemis hadn't been trained for a long time. She had a bloodline that was born to fight. Granted, her father went down a particularly bad road, even more so after her mother's accident.

"The Young Justice protocol should be established," Karen said. "Laura has agreed to help guide the team, along with Artemis and Whitney. That is their full responsibilities as part of the League, and I'm certain that they will do the very best."

"We will," Whitney agreed and Artemis nodded. "Anything to guide the next generation of heroes to their full potential."

"And you won't be doing it alone," Harry said.

"Of course we won't, I'm sure that you want to be very hands on with their training," Whitney said, with a grin to him. Harry gave her a look.

'_Not being so subtle that this is a discreet attempt to recruit the future generation for your h…collective,' _Chloe thought. _'Oh well, they get training, and that's an important thing. Plus many of the first recruits, we know well. It's going to be interesting when we bring more people on.'_

A new age of heroes was going to dawn and the League was only going to get better from there. Harry thought that there was always room for improvement and he was going to guide it.

"So, I guess that the Young Justice project is a thing?" Kara asked.

"It very much is a thing," Karen said. She turned to her fellow League leaders who were all in agreement.

It might be a cliché, but the future would be so bright that they would have to wear shades and the future was now.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on July 18<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	79. A New Has Dawned

**Five years have passed in story between Chapter 78 and 79. Thankfully, I didn't make you wait five years. That would have been cruel, even by my standards.  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 79: A New Day Has Dawned. <strong>

* * *

><p>Rush hour hit Gotham City really hard. Gotham City, during the normal times of the day, was an extremely dangerous place. Those who lived outside of Gotham City, they would think that the people who lived in the city were completely out of their mind and some people inside the city would think that they would have a point.<p>

"AW, it's a monster!" one of the women shouted. She rushed towards an elderly looking man and pushed him down onto the ground.

The chaos was only barely beginning tonight.

"Spiders, spiders, oh god spiders, get them off of me!" another woman yelled. She clawed at her skin and shook her head.

The GCPD arrived, but the scared population were throwing their rocks. There was a loud shout of "It's my mother in law!" After that scream, one of the cops got knocked out by an errant rock.

Harvey Bullock turned up on the scene, with Renee Montoya. One would think that since he had been at this game for so long, he would be used to the chaos and the carnage that was a part of Gotham City. One would assume that, but that was a completely faulty assumption.

"Has everyone in this city lost their fucking minds more so than usual?" Bullock asked. He dodged a beer bottle. He reached in and fired his gun in the air.

Funnily enough, that didn't cause the panic to get any better. It caused the panic to get much worse.

"Not helping, at all," Montoya said. "It started an hour ago. Everyone got off of work as normal as could be, and then there was panic….."

"What could have caused the panic though?" Bullock asked. He could see a homeless man, or what appeared to be a homeless man, wheeling a shopping cart on through. "Okay, buddy, you need to clear out of here."

"Sure thing, detective," the homeless man said with a toothy grin. "But, I'm afraid that you can't do anything to stop this madness."

Bullock shook his head. He hated to admit this, and he would never do so out loud, but he honestly and really missed the Bat. For the past few months, the Bat had been MIA and Gotham City.

He couldn't be hung up on that now, not that he wasn't able to be hung up on that. He focused on the homeless man with the shopping cart.

"Wait a minute, he said he's afraid that we didn't…oh shit!" Bullock yelled. He pulled out the gun and pointed to the homeless man. "All units over this way, we've got a problem…."

"So, someone of your limited brain capacity figured this out," the homeless man said with a toothless grin. It was obvious that he was wearing a pretty good mask over his face. "Congratulations, detective….but without Batman, Gotham City is running around like a chicken with its head off. The Justice League have better things to do, then worry about it. The time seems ripe for another experiment. To give you an education on the true nature of horror and what it could bring to Gotham City."

"Okay, don't get any stupid ideas, just back away," Bullock said. He held the gun up.

"The dumbest idea is walking too close to me when I have my finger on the trigger," the man said. He pushed the button.

Time seemed to freeze.

"Hit the ground, now!" Bullock yelled.

It was too late for some of the nearest GCPD members. The package in the shopping cart imploded and released a cloud of dust into the air. The dust wasn't really dust; it was a crystalized form of the Scarecrow's fear toxin. There was screams of mortal terror.

Bullock and Montoya were among the few fortunate enough not to get gassed by the fear toxin. Unfortunately for them, they had to deal with the GCPD members who did do so.

The homeless man scaled to the rooftop so he could get an equal eyed view of his experiments. He removed the mask to reveal the sinister face of Jonathan Crane and he slipped on a haunted mask with sunken in looking eyes that doubled as a gas mask. He wore a trench coat and an Undertaker style hat when he looked over at Gotham City.

"My fear toxin's latest modifications have been increased in potency," Crane commented. "Further tests will be mandated to determine the long term effects of the toxin, but I am confident that the future will lead to those in Gotham City whimpering underneath the effects like downed kittens. Their already obvious fear has increased, and they reap in the terror."

In the midst of the chaos, a nineteen year old dark haired female arrived on the scene. Nineteen year old Rebecca Grayson was dressed in a tight black costume that fit every single inch of her impressive body. She wore a black mask and she had a blue dragon symbol on her chest.

Rebecca switched to the name Nightwing, and she had to say that she was digging the black and blue, better than the multi-colored mess as Robin. That costume was not conductive at all for stealth, but this one was.

"Okay, I'm in position," Nightwing said over the radio. Assessing the situation as it was, things looked very grim. "It's just as we expected. Crane checked himself out of Arkham and he's up to his old tricks."

"Of course he is."

A girl in a bright red costume with a golden figure shaped like a bird turned up. Her black hair was pulled back in a ponytail to prevent from getting in her face and the costume fit her young body like a glove as well. Alexandra Audrey Potter, better known as Flamebird, turned up.

"Yeah, we should be able to get him easily," a young blonde girl dressed in a red top that showed her toned midsection. Her hair was tied up in a side pony and she wore a pair of tight red pants. She had bracelets on her wrists that jangled when she moved. "Come on, let's do this, we're going to be ready to get some…"

"You know, we should talk less, and move in more," a fourth voice said. She had dark hair and blue eyes, looking like a younger version of Claire. She wore a black half shirt with a red "S" symbol on it, and a flowing black and silver skirt, along with nice black boots with a little white material on it.

Cassie Sandsmark, better known as Wondergirl, joined Connie Kent, better known as Supergirl. The two girls had grown extremely close over the years and had formed a bond with each other.

"Given that Crane is going to talk us to death, we should just leave the talking to him, for sure," Flamebird said.

A fifth figure showed up to join the party. She dressed in a combination of red and black leather, with a hood pulled over her face. She had a quiver over her shoulder loaded with arrows.

"So, what's the plan?"

These five females were part of the Young Justice movement in the Justice League. They all were mentored by Harry, in hopes that they could be full League members one day.

"Well, we've got bad news," a distorted modulated voice said. Despite the fact the voice was distorted, it was obvious that there was a new person who sat in the Oracle chair for this mission. "There are more bombs…but the good news is that…Batgirl and Robin are on it. I figured that I'd give you the good news first, to….you know, end things on a good note."

"Yes, thank you," Nightwing said. "Red Arrow, you're with me. We can back up Batgirl and Robin, just in case."

"Right," she responded.

"And that means, you're with me, Supergirl and Wondergirl," Flamebird said.

There was more good news and bad news. The good news was that Crane wasn't much of a fighter. The bad news was that Gotham was in a state of panic and it was hard to see what he could do right now.

* * *

><p>Jonathan Crane looked over his lab rats in Gotham City, his mouth contorted into a sinister smile. The more fear they showed, the more excited and anxious he got. He couldn't imagine a better way for this experiment to have gone.<p>

He could not be more pleased with the results of this experimentation. "Yes, run, run, run, embrace your fears. The more you try and scramble away from the fears, the more that they stalk you.

Crane leaned on a rather stylish walking stick that he held. He planned for this to happen for a long time. The biggest controlled experiment in fear, and things were just about to heat up.

"Fear is an element where people don't properly understand. Just because their fears are not based in reality, it doesn't mean that they don't exist. The subconscious is able to concoct horrors beyond the world. But at the same time, those things that we can see with our two eyes are terrifying. Spiders, snakes, that bully from high school that you got your revenge on when you paralyzed him and his girlfriend by poisoning his drink with a toxin that caused him to be unable to distinguish himself from fantasy and reality."

Crane clutched on tightly to his walking stick. He turned around, he could see the fear getting worse. Some of the subjects broke straight away, into a whimpering wreck. That proved their weakness, and they ended up getting trampled by the crazed population in Gotham City when they tried to run.

"Some say that fear should be something that should be avoided," Crane narrated. "But I disagree, fear is something that should be embraced. We don't truly know who we are, or what our potential is, until we face our fears. Some people run away from fear, while others can and will succumb to the true horror within."

Crane waited for them to arrive, the fools that had been sent in to stop him. Sure enough, the crazed criminal was not disappointed.

"Yeah, yack, yack, yack, that's all you seem to do Crane," Wondergirl said when she turned up. She looked at Supergirl and Flamebird. "Seriously, is it just some kind of mental defect in a super villain where they won't shut up no matter what?"

"So, the League sends its kid sidekicks," Crane said. "It must mean that they either don't care about Gotham City, or they think of me as a joke."

"I'd say it's option B, myself, but maybe that's just me," Flamebird said. "You have one change to surrender. Although I'd have to give you credit. You nearly killed us tonight."

"Yeah, that speech of yours, it bored us to death," Wondergirl replied in a bored voice.

Supergirl sighed and gave her partner in crime a very obvious "do not explain the joke" type of look.

"You are going to suffer true terror," Crane said. "The bomb I set up to drive the GCPD insane…well that's the first of many bombs. I've had them placed over Gotham City."

He pressed a trigger to detonate them all. He paused to listen for the screams of terror.

"I don't understand, everything was perfect," Crane grumbled. He was breathing fairly heavy in and out. "EVERYTHING WAS PERFECT! WHAT WENT WRONG?"

"Maybe it's because of the fact that you suck," Wondergirl said rolling her eyes in response.

"You don't know horror, you don't know fear," Crane said.

"Oh, I think that we know fear, because we see it in your eyes right now," Flamebird said.

Crane stepped back onto the ledge and there were more screams of terror.

"Gotham City is going to tear itself apart, surely you heroes might want to do something!" Crane yelled.

Without another word, he jumped off the building into the unwashed masses before. The three girls gasped when Crane disappeared into the chaos.

"Get him!" Flamebird yelled. She grabbed Supergirl and Wondergirl around the waists and closed her eyes.

The good news was she teleported them off of the building. The bad news was that she teleported them right into a psychotic Gotham City citizens!

"Snakes, snakes, oh why did it have to be snakes!" one of the men yelled.

"GIANT CARE BEARS!" one man yelled, and he swiped at Flamebird. Flamebird sent a stinging hex.

Some people were seeing some really messed up shit. That didn't make their lives that much easier.

"Well, we're trying to get an antidote ready for Crane's fear toxin now that we got a sample," Oracle added in her distorted voice. "But, it's slow going….he's ramped up the stuff….and well….they'll try their best, the people at the lab."

"Yes, I know, but Crane's slipped away," Flamebird said. She stunned the man who was trying to strangle her.

"That could be a bit of a problem, yes," Oracle agreed.

There were a set of arrows which had been shot through the air. They exploded on the ground and bombarded the civilians with a heavy dose of tear gas.

"That seems to have done the trick," Flamebird said.

She could see Supergirl pull herself out of the way. Nightwing, following Red Arrow's lead, threw some grenades down onto the ground. The grenades broke onto the ground and bombarded them.

"The tear gas seems to break the conditioning somewhat," Nightwing informed them. Red Arrow corked her eyebrow. "I know, but….."

"Yes, I agree," Red Arrow said.

"Remember, we shouldn't attack civilians if we can help it," Flamebird said.

"Was that before or after you stunned about five of them in a row?" Wondergirl asked. That caused Flamebird to give the perky seventeen year old blonde a side long look of agitation. Wondergirl flinched underneath said look. "I mean, I'm just saying, that's all."

"I know you are," Flamebird said.

"It's very tempting to smack Bullock on sheer principle," Nightwing said. Flamebird look at her with a raised eyebrow.

"I thought that you said that he wasn't underneath the thrall of Crane's toxin," Flamebird answered.

"That doesn't change the fact that it's still pretty tempting to smack him," Nightwing argued. Flamebird shrugged her shoulders.

They couldn't continue this conversation due to the crazed masses rushing over in an attempt to take them out.

The work of a Young Justice League never seemed to be done, that much was for certain. They prepared themselves for what should have been an intense battle.

* * *

><p>The girls managed to subdue some of the crazed masses. At least enough for them to be able to maneuver and continue to track the Scarecrow, and boy was he the slippery fiend, alright. He was able to disappear into the masses.<p>

"We might have an antidote within the next few hours," the woman on the other end of the mission support said. She sounded rather morose for obvious reasons. "Caitlin is working with Caitlin in an attempt to create a working formula."

"Well, keep us posted on that," Red Arrow said in an extremely casual tone of voice.

"And I've got more good news….I know that's going to invite something bad," Oracle said. "But….Scarecrow's remote control, it offers a distinct signal that you can track him. At least in theory, to be honest."

Flamebird got the tracking signal. The girl pumped her fist in the air in celebration, "I got it, it's faint, but I got it."

"Oh good," the woman said in a pleased voice on the other end of the communication link. "I really hope that you could figure out where to go."

"Looks like he's heading to the subway system," Nightwing said.

"We got to cut him off then," Red Arrow said. If she remembered her schedule properly, there were going to be a lot of people who were going to be coming off of that subway system pretty soon and that could cause a maximum amount of chaos.

"Yeah, you better, because the six o'clock is in fifteen minutes, and it's always on time," the voice on the other end of the mission support said. The woman in the Oracle care frowned. "Why didn't he use the vial?"

"Good question," Wondergirl said. "Maybe we can ask him when we're beating the snot out of him."

"I think that it might have been that he assumed that we would have safe guards against his fear toxin, even the enhanced version," Nightwing said. "And that assumption was right."

It did help that half of them had super powers that prevented them from behind truly affected and the other half of them just had some pretty good genetics or good equipment at the very least. That worked out wonderfully for them all.

"Okay, let's go," Nightwing declared. She paused and stood up straight with a group feeling in terror. "Or not!"

There was another group of panicked Gotham City populace that rushed towards them. Red Arrow, not one to mess around, loaded an arrow and fired it through the ground. The arrow head broke open.

"And that was my last one," Red Arrow said. She sighed. "Guess, I'm going to have to wing this one."

"Or hope that this was the last group of crazed Gotham City citizens that tried to trample you," Nightwing answered.

She launched herself up over the air, but she noticed that the subway entrance was blocked. She realized something.

No one could get in, no one could get out. And she could hear some panicked screams from beneath as well, when people tried to break their way through the doors.

"Crane must have more test subjects down there," Nightwing said. She looked towards Flamebird.

Flamebird's shoulders slumped and allowed herself to sigh.

"You do realize that things are going to get far worse before they get much better."

"Yeah, if he unleashes that fear toxin when hundreds more people get off the train, we're going to be in a bad situation," Nightwing said.

Red Arrow looked at Flamebird. There was a questioning look in her eyes. "Maybe you could teleport us down there?"

"Are you insane?" Flamebird asked.

"I don't know, that didn't sound too insane," Wondergirl said. Things were a bit too quiet in Gotham City.

"I can….I guess, in theory," Flamebird said.

Nightwing picked up on these words of indecision from Flamebird, "What do you mean that you think that you can?"

"I mean exactly what you think that I mean," Flamebird said. She placed her hands on the top of her head and sighed. "I only think that it's potentially possible."

There was a second where several sets of eyes were locked onto her. Flamebird's shoulders shrugged down and she thought that it would be prudent to try and explain.

"I've never teleported people in somewhere more than two at a time," Flamebird suggest. She came to another situation that was problematic. "And there's also the fact that we're going to be deep under the ground. The further below or above ground you teleport someone….."

Her explanation was cut off by another crowd of insane people. And they were going after the Young Justice team.

"Do you think that you can do it?" Nightwing asked.

Flamebird paused and she raised her hand. A barrier rose up and blocked the arrival of the panicked population of Gotham City. They all hit the barrier hard. It knocked them out, but it didn't hurt them worse than that.

Unfortunately, it was a barrier she could only hold for a few seconds.

"Maybe we can find an alternate way down there," Wondergirl said.

"If there's a way to get us down there without being trampled by crazed Gotham citizens who have been juiced up on fear gas, then I'm open to it," Nightwing said. She hoped that Flamebird's move was made. "Your move, boss."

"Everyone stand close to me, grab onto each other," Flamebird said. "And let's hope that this actually works."

"Wait, what happens if it doesn't work?" Wondergirl asked.

There were some questions that you shouldn't really ask, but at the same time, there were other questions you honestly couldn't help yourself from asking. She frowned when Flamebird closed her eyes.

"Just let me focus, so I don't rip anyone in half."

Needless to say, that set off a panicked reaction. Alex couldn't be too concerned about it. She closed her eyes and they would know in about five seconds whether or not she was good enough to teleport five people underneath ground or now.

* * *

><p>Jonathan Crane could wait for a few seconds for his grand plan to come true. In fact, all he needed to wait for three minutes, and the 6:00 PM train in Gotham City were about to arrive. Crane patiently clutched onto his walking stick. He clutched the serum of fear toxin in his hand. When it got exposed to open air, it would be ignited and would cause a glorious chain reaction.<p>

Two and a half minutes to impact. Crane's second phase of his experimentation might have been thwarted by the Junior Justice League, but he was going to be damned if this third phase was going to be stopped.

"One minute until impact," Crane said. He placed his hand on the bottle. He awaited for the train to make its way down for the tracks.

Seconds crawled by, but unfortunately nothing occurred. Crane frowned, this wasn't supposed to happen this way. The 6:00 PM train for Gotham City was about to come, only it was late, for the first time in twenty five years.

It was late the one time that he needed it to be perfectly on time. This unintended variable to this experiment caused him to hesitate.

"Ah, Crane, is your train not on time?"

Crane was surprised. He turned his position on his walking stick. His stiff knee acted up something fierce. "The Young Justice team, I wondered when you would be showing up. It was only inevitable, wasn't it?"

"You should know that better than anyone else," Flamebird said. She looked a bit winded.

"And the train is a bit late, but it doesn't….."

An arrow show from the side and caught Jonathan Crane right in the knee, and a second arrow busted his cane. He dropped down to the ground and the vial of the fear toxin prepared to smash onto the ground.

Supergirl threw herself in front of the vial, and caught it expertly in her hand before it hit the ground. She let out a heaving sigh of relief. She didn't want to say that was a bit too close for comfort, but it honestly was a bit too close to comfort.

"Oh, you played that one close," Supergirl said.

Crane reached for his busted cane, but Flamebird snatched it out of his possession. There was another sleeve of fear toxin in it.

They knew that this was going to happen. The terrifying Jonathan Crane was just another pathetic little man.

"Do you think that you can take these off to the Clocktower?" Nightwing asked Flamebird.

Flamebird gave a rather casual shrug and it was obvious that she was more than capable of doing it. She disappeared with the fear toxins.

"My experiment, it was supposed to be so perfect, you ruined it!" Crane howled at the top of his lungs. "You ruined my experiment, you ruined it, you ruined….."

There was a loud smack and Wondergirl smacked Crane straight in the jaw. Crane fell down onto the ground, blood pouring out of his mouth. It was obvious that she knocked him pretty hard in the jaw.

"I wasn't the only one who was thinking about to doing that, come on now," Wondergirl said, putting her hands on her hips. "And now he doesn't talk anymore."

Crane was counting sheep thanks to the Demi-Goddess smacking him in the face.

"Just make sure he's secure," Nightwing said. She made sure Crane was clean.

"Yeah, we always do, don't we?" Red Arrow asked. "So, how did I do?"

"In the immortal words of Harry Fucking Potter, if you have to ask, then you must be able to do much better than you did," Nightwing explained to her partner. "I'd give you an eight out of ten, pretty good, but obvious room for improvement."

"Oh, that's far better than I did on my first mission," Wondergirl said. "Thank Hera that Diana was able to pull me out of there before the heat got on."

"You better be thanking more than Hera that you got out of there before you messed up," Supergirl said with a cheeky smile. Cassie glared at her. "Just saying that's all"

* * *

><p>Alexandra Audrey Potter returned to the clocktower. All things considered, her situation could be much worse, but also all things considered, it was nothing to cheer about.<p>

She found that teleporting underground and then teleporting above ground twice was a bad thing to be honest. Alex shook her head. She was pretty sure that all of her internal organs were still intact when she made her way out there.

Someone rushed over towards her. Alex looked up and saw Whitney West standing there. One of the senior members of the Young Justice Team and member of the Justice League known as Impulse, she stood over her.

"You don't look so good," Whitney said.

"I'll be fine," Alex said, shaking her head.

She looked like someone had kicked her in the ribs with a steel toe boot several times. Overall, she thought that she mostly felt fine, and by mostly fine, she really did feel almost fine.

Okay, maybe a little bit sore, but other than that, perfectly fine.

She was pretty sure her random mental babbling made even more sense.

Gwen was standing there waiting for her. She took one look at Alex and said the obvious.

"You don't look good."

"Yeah, but Gotham is going to look worse if you don't develop that counter agent," Alex said. She barely held onto the wall holding up herself. "I'm pretty sure these two samples will be more than enough…be careful, I think when they're exposed to air, they are properly activated. Just to warn you about that."

"Right, I'll pass on the message," Gwen said. She held her hand out and lead Alex into the lab. "You really should get looked at. Harry will kill me, or withhold sex for me for about a month if something bad happens to you."

Alex was about ready to say that she was fine, but the words never left her mouth. She grew increasingly dizzy and the desire to sit down visited her. Along with the desire to throw up and coupled with the desire of stick her head through a buckle of ice.

Gwen was making her way across the lab. Alex didn't really pay any attention. All she needed to do was put her head on her hands. She shook her head. Normally she would think that seeing three Gwens in one place wouldn't be a bad thing, but the fact was she was pretty sure that she gave herself a concussion with teleporting her friends all underground.

An attractive brunette made her way over. She was dressed in a lab coat, with a casual t-shirt and jeans.

"So, how many fingers am I holding up?"

"About twelve, I think," Alex said. She shook her head to clear it. "I'm sorry, we haven't had the pleasure of meeting directly….."

"Caitlin Snow," she told her. "I'm the one that your brother discovered and saved before the government hunted me down."

"Oh right," Alex said. She snapped forward. "Actually, you could stand to be a bit more specific than that, because my brother…you are referring to Harry, aren't you? Because, he's technically my cousin, well actually he's technically me from an alternate universe. I know, it's confusing."

"You'd be surprised with some of the things I've seen," she said. The brunette scientist smiled. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm pretty sure that all of my internal organs are intact," Alex answered. "That's encouraging…you're the one with the frost powers, aren't you?"

"Yes, and I thank you for not giving me the name that the press gave me," she said with a shudder.

"Well, at least Harry sorted out that particular problem, and gave you the bracelet, before you went full Elsa on us," the woman in the chair said. She was monitoring the situation. "The sooner Whitney runs out the antidote, the better. Back to the normal insanity that Gotham City has….too bad we can't cure that."

"That would be overstepping our bounds, I think," Gwen said with a smile and a shrug.

"Hey, first time out there for this particular team, well the five you together….well not together, together, but you know what I mean," the woman in the chair said. She kept her back turned. "And Whitney, you might want to get in there fast."

"Fast, of course, fast, gotcha," Whitney said. "I'll be in and there so fast, it's like…."

"I swear if you say you'll be in there like a Flash," Caitlin said, but Whitney shook her head. "I never get used to that."

"Welcome to the club," Alex said. She closed her eyes.

"Well, there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with you, although I would recommend some rest," Caitlin said. She sighed. "And I don't suppose that you could back off in doing what you did again."

"What trying to teleport through solid concrete with five other people?" Alex asked. "And likely concussing myself under ground."

"Why didn't you say that you had a concussion?" Caitlin asked her.

"Um, I forgot," Alex said dryly. That caused Caitlin to put her hands on her hips and peer into Alex's eyes. "That's really not funny, I know."

"No, it isn't, but at least you'll feeling better," Caitlin said. She checked over her pupils to make sure that she wasn't dilated. "Well, the good news is that Harry won't kill us, because you're going to make a full recovery."

"Oh, I'm sure Harry won't kill you, he'll just make sure you have a dry next couple of months," the girl in the chair responded. She sighed. "Which, yeah, that's pretty much worse, all things considered, so I guess that I'm going to shut up now."

"How does it feel to sit in the big girl chair?" Gwen asked.

"Not the first time I did this, although this is on a much larger scale, because it's the Justice League, Earth's Mightiest Heroes," she answered. "I'm not sure if I can even stack up to Tess, Chloe, or Barbara though…or you….and not in that way."

She paused.

"Oh, full disclosure, sticking my foot in my mouth might be my super power," the woman said. "That's just….my brain really thinks of the wrong way to think completely innocent things."

"Not as bad as Kitty," Alex said, waving her hand.

"Oh, I don't know," Caitlin said in a teasing voice. "I'm pretty sure that…it's a pretty close race."

'_Hey, you have your moments, normally around Harry,' _Iris reminded her.

'_Yes, I know….and you do as well, and so do half of the girls in the collective,' _Caitlin thought.

'_Can't believe it's been five years since this entire Young Justice project thing got put into place,' _Alex thought.

The woman turned around. It was obvious that she was a fairly attractive woman, with her hair tied back and wearing glasses. She wore a white top and a short black skirt that flowed. The clothes fit fairly snugly around her.

"So, how did I do?" she asked. She realized what she said. "Oh, you're going to give me the Potter lecture, first…."

"If you have to ask, you didn't do as good as you thought that you would," Alex replied. "But, you did good Felicity. There's always room….."

Felicity Smoak finished the sentence. "For improvement, I know."

'_Welcome to the Oracle seat, just don't grow too attached to it,' _Barbara thought. _'But, I thought you did a fair job.'_

Barbara did make this seat her own when she was out of commission for a few years. She was just getting back onto the field.

The majority the Justice League weren't present, but they would be returning shortly. Then it was going to be time for the part that every young hero dreaded.

It would be time for their performance review.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on July 21<strong>**st****, 2015. **


	80. Meet the Team

**Chapter Eighty: Meet the Team.**

* * *

><p>The chaos tapered after the mission and it had been a really intense mission to say the least. Artemis and Whitney arrived. They made their way to the cave that was the secret headquarters for the members of the Young Justice team. There was a facility for the junior members who were training, many of them who needed to properly fine tune their abilities rather nicely.<p>

In Harry's absence, responsibilities fell upon Artemis and Whitney to be the team members that would give the team guidance, being the senior members of the team, and League members in their own right. Laura was also a part of this, although she was off doing her own thing, which was fairly understandable all things considered.

"I wonder when they're going to get back from their mission," Whitney said.

Artemis shrugged in response, "Well, you know, they said that they would be back, when everything is settled. That takes a long time before that really happens, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does," Whitney agreed. It went without saying that it was taking a long time now. Not that she wanted to be the one that was impatient, but still, it was really kind of taking a long time.

Then again, that's just how Whitney acted. She could be extremely impatient for all of the wrong reasons. Artemis noticed that, and she grabbed her hand.

"I'm sure that Harry will be back before too long," Artemis said. She didn't want to bring back the obvious point that so much had changed within the past five years.

The doors opened and two young girls entered. One of them was dressed in a tight black leather costume, with a black "bat" symbol etched upon it. The other one wore a combination of red and green attire, with a black symbol with an "R" etched inside of the symbol. They were the latest young females to put on the mantle of Batgirl and Robin.

"So, how did your first mission on the team go?" Artemis asked.

"It wasn't my first mission, technically speaking," Batgirl said shortly. She folded her arms and removed the cowl slowly. "Vision is awful."

"Yeah, it took me a while to figure out the hood," Artemis said, shaking her head. She watched Batgirl open the mask, to reveal a beautiful Asian girl. Cassandra Cain stood before her, with a slight smile on her face.

"Yeah, I thought for sure we were going to mess things up for a long time out there," Robin said. She sounded like she was the youngest member of the team, and that's because she was. She was right at the edge of the cut off for members to be accepted for field duty, at age fifteen.

"If it wasn't for you, we would have been buggered big time for sure," Nightwing said. She and the rest of the semi-senior members of the team showed up. Flamebird looked at Nightwing with a raised eyebrow in response. "And I don't mean buggered….and you know, if I'm using a word like that, I've been hanging around Flamebird way much."

Robin sighed and Nightwing smiled. The older girl stepped forward and cupped Robin underneath the chin.

"Steph, you and Cass did good out there, we couldn't be more proud," Nightwing said.

"Yeah, you were really awesome!" Cassie cheered.

"You played a vital role," Red Arrow said. She leaned against the wall.

"You did well as well," Artemis said, stepping over towards her and putting her arm around her. "It's a wonder how you didn't go out on the field sooner."

"I didn't think that the time was right before," Red Arrow replied. She gave her shoulders a slight little shrug and she fired back with a grin. "And now that the time is right, here that I am."

"You were pretty awesome out there," Nightwing said with a grin on her face. "If that was your first time….."

"First time with a team, not first time, first time," Red Arrow said. "And not first time with a group of women either."

"Oh, tell me more," Flamebird said. Nightwing gave Flamebird the side look and Flamebird responded by sticking out her tongue.

"I see that you're in a chipper mood after today," Nightwing said.

"It's good that she's feeling better," Supergirl said. "I thought for sure she was going to collapse, and her heart was racing pretty fast when she teleported underground."

Flamebird gave Supergirl one of those looks. The brunette Kryptonian clone placed her hands on her hips and gave Flamebird a smirk over to the side.

Artemis cleared her throat. Not that she wasn't amused by the interplay, and it did happen far often with the senior members of the League, she knew that pretty much better than anyone else, after all.

"So, this is the point where you give us a critique, isn't it?" Flamebird asked.

"I'm no Harry," Artemis said. "But, we did have some reservations on sending this particular team out. We didn't have too many options. Crane checking himself out of Arkham was something that we should have seen coming and if Harry was here, he would have had about nineteen contingency plans."

"So we asked ourselves the eternal question, WWHFD," Whitney said. That got her fair share of stairs from the Young Justice team members. "What would Harry Fucking Potter do?"

The team members got that, of course it would be easy to get when it was put in a clear and concise language like that.

"And what he would do, would be to send the seven best people he had available as a strike team, and you were the seven best people," Whitney said.

"The mission has been recorded, and I'm sure that Harry will want to go over it in grand detail when he returns," Artemis said. "But overall, I think that you all did well, and I'm certain that future missions will go just as well, given the chance that you have to grow."

"So, now we wait for Harry's critical eye," Nightwing said.

Nightwing and Flamebird looked at each other. There were a couple of times where they felt that they could have done differently, or more certainly they could have done fairly better. And they were sure that Faora and Helena would give them the detailed feedback.

"Red Arrow, a word with you, if you please," Artemis said.

Red Arrow didn't question it, when her mentor told her to come with her for a word, than she was most certainly coming with her for a word.

"I wonder what that's all about," Cassie piped up.

Stephanie shook her head. "Mentor, sidekick type…stuff?"

"I don't know," Flamebird said with a frown. She did wonder when Harry would be return. He had been gone for nine months, and while he had been gone a lot over the past few years, this had been the longest trip.

Then again, reestablishing an alien planet took a fair amount of time and resources, that much was for sure.

* * *

><p>Harry stood with Kara on one side of him, on one arm and Karen on his other arm. The trio looked on with grins on their face when they approached the edge of the city of Kandor.<p>

"So, what do you think of it?" Harry asked Kara.

Kara looked over the city with an appraising eye before giving her honest opinion. "It's about as close as a replica to the original city as possible."

"And I'm sure that people are going to be worried that we're gone so long," Faora said. She turned up and decided to pay her respects by kneeling before their king.

"It really couldn't be helped," Harry offered her. He motioned for Faora to get to her feet and she did. Harry wrapped his arms around her with a sensational kiss. Faora returned the kiss with an equal amount of fire and flavor.

"No, it couldn't be helped," Faora admitted. She felt Harry nibble on her lower lip when it pulled away.

"Besides," Karen stated. "We wouldn't have been gone for this long if we didn't know that we left the world in pretty good hands."

Harry smiled. "That much is true….even if the League is busy in other areas. It does seem like the world has gone insane half of the times."

"The STARRO invasion five years ago left a lot of threats open, didn't it?" Jean asked. She was glad to see new life be brought. It was a welcome change from the life being extinguished.

"Yes, but we're up for it, aren't we?" Katrina asked. She stood side by side with Harry. "So, what's the deal with….."

"This could be the most important mission of your life," Harry said. Katrina looked at him through the side of her eye. "Are you sure that you're up for it?"

Katrina smiled. "You know, I'm always up for trying to earn my keep…especially given the circumstances of my arrival."

"Don't think that you haven't earned your place here," Harry said. He reached forward with a swooping motion and cupped Katrina's chin. He looked her straight in the eye with a smile on his face and kissed her.

There was something about a kiss from Harry Potter that eased a girl's nerves. Katrina couldn't quite put her finger on it, but it was extremely true. The two of them kissed for a moment.

Laura showed up, followed by Galatea and Divine. They had just been making sure all systems were online. They stopped and stared at the spectacle that was about to take place.

Galatea snickered and turned to her sisters. A wicked grin spread over the clone's face before speaking, "I think that we're interrupting a moment, you know."

Katrina pulled away from Harry and smiled, "And I thought that you already had people in place."

Harry decided to ease their worries and their burden.

"It could never hurt to have a few extra hands on deck….give who we're going up against, I think that you'd agree," Harry said. This was the very definition of a five year plan, and Harry didn't want to leave anything to chance.

It was a five year plan that had been years in the making as well, as far as Harry was concerned anyway.

"So, I guess we're just going to have to do, what we got to do, then?" Katrina asked. Harry smiled when he nodded.

"I'm sure Galatea and Divine will be of valuable assistance as well," Harry said.

"What's the plan anyway?" Galatea asked.

"I'll explain it to you when we get back," Harry said. Tea smiled, she figured about as much. "But, I believe that you have a status report to give me, don't you?"

Galatea decided to stand up straight and adopt an extremely business like expression. She nodded swiftly, "Yes….it appears that….well, everything is going about as well as can be expected."

"That's a good sign," Harry said. He had to admit that he was a little bit worried at first, with everything.

"Since the insurgents had been dealt with, everything was fine," Faora said. She turned to Harry. "And I really apologize that you had to deal with our father twice. Both in his younger form and the classic psychotic General form."

"Something tells me that Fifty Shades of Zod won't catch on," Kara joked. Karen shook her head.

"I really hate you for making that particular reference," Karen said. Kara responded with a little shrug and a shake of her head.

"Yeah, that was about as disturbing as anything I could have ever said," Kara answered, with a slight shrug and a smile.

Laura raised her eyebrow and turned to her older sisters. "Is it a good thing that I didn't get what the hell she was talking about?"

Katrina nodded in a solemn manner. "Yes, it was an extremely good thing that you didn't get a word that she was saying."

Laura looked at the statue of Harry. She frowned, when she looked at it. Faora looked at her and could see that Laura was frowning when she looked at it. That caused Faora to lean over and look at the younger Kryptonian. "There isn't a problem, is there?"

"The nose is a bit off center, isn't it?" Laura asked. That caused Faora to cork her eyebrow in response.

"I guess, a little bit," Faora conceded. "I guess no one is perfect, but Har-Zod."

"And thus my statue is one of the most imperfect things that are every created," Harry commented. "But, it's the thought that counts more than anything, isn't it?"

"Yes, I would have to agree," Faora said.

The group looked up over New Kandor. It was really the monument and a testament of all of the hard work that they were able to accomplish over time. Acquiring the survivors had been a tricky endeavor, given the hell that they had to go to recapture them. It had been hell that had been well worth the effort though.

The group exited the portal from the Fortress. Claire got back a little bit ago. She was casually sitting on a block of ice, waiting for them.

"Welcome home," Lara answered with a smile on her face. Claire raised her eyebrow. "And the test run of the portal is a success."

"So is everything alright?" Claire asked.

"Everyone is pretty safe and secure on the planet," Kara said. Claire nodded. "There might be a couple of problems though."

"Define problem," Claire said.

"Harry's nose is off center on the monument statue they built," Kara said. Claire raised her eyebrow and resisted the urge to face palm.

'_So, glad to see that you're all back, safe and sound,' _Chloe thought. _'I'm actually back from guiding the main League on their big mission.'_

'_Did you retrieve it?' _Harry thought.

'_Yes, we did…it's extremely dangerous,' _Chloe thought.

'_Hence why we have it and didn't allow it to go into anyone else's hands,' _Harry thought to Chloe. _'I'll be back….Artemis, Whitney, are you online?'_

'_Yes, we are,' _Whitney thought. _'Well I am….Artemis went off with her protégée for some Arrow themed stuff…or something. I'm not sure, but I'm here and the rest of the team are going to eagerly anticipate your feedback. Including your new tech girl, I'm pretty sure that she's going to eagerly anticipate your feedback, your through and detailed feedback where you give her a going over.'_

'_Well, that's not subtle at all,' _Lois thought.

'_Have you ever known Whitney to be subtle?' _Iris popped up.

Harry chuckled. He had missed the wider bond banter in the months that he was away. The Council of Karas had their quirks, and Jean could have some dry wit when the mood struck her, but it honestly was good to be home.

'_So, Whitney, summarize, how did things go?' _Harry asked.

'_Well, the team was put on their first mission, the Scarecrow was let out of Arkham, and he tried to use the entire city as Guinea pigs for his experiments of fear, and doom,' _Whitney thought. _'I know, shocking, right?'_

Harry proceeded to get a full report, when he finished up a couple more things at the Fortress, and it would be off and back home.

* * *

><p>Felicity was glad that she was not completely out of her depth when she was with Gwen and Chloe. She saw Chloe walking over to the vault and she placed an object encased in a black casing in the vault.<p>

"Well, it's something extremely valuable and extremely dangerous," Gwen said. Felicity looked towards Gwen.

"Yeah, I figured about that much out to be honest with you," Felicity said. She wondered whether or not she would be able to see what was inside the package.

League business, she figured, and since she was the official technical consultant for the Young Justice team, she wasn't fully League. Felicity almost qualified for the League, but not quite. Hopefully she moved up in the ranks soon.

"I'm not quite sure what it is, but Harry was adamant that the team retrieve it," Chloe answered with a shrug. "And you know when Harry's adamant about something, nine times out of ten, it's for pretty good reason."

"He does not do anything without a good reason," Felicity conceded. Her lips curled into a frown. "But that's just how he rolls, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is," Harry said.

Felicity nearly jumped halfway up. Chloe and Gwen both seemed rather non-plussed. In fact, Gwen made her way over and threw her arms around Harry for a tight hug. The two of them exchanged an extremely passionate kiss which followed up that hug.

"It's good to see you two, Gwen….is Caitlin, Caitlin, and Susan here?" Harry asked.

"They're working on another project….they had to check out the team to make sure they were okay after their first mission," Gwen said. "And….all things considered, they were fine. The medical reports are on your desk if you want to look at them."

Harry raised his eyebrow. Medical reports, that sounded a bit interesting, didn't it? He didn't know to be honest exactly what would be up with that.

"And I've got a full log of the mission, if you want to see it," Felicity said to him. "You know…we can look at it in my office….alone if you want to."

"Yes, that would be a good idea, alone in your office," Harry said with a smile. "Right now."

"Yes, right now, and I'm sure that Chloe and Gwen want to put away the…whatever, right now anyway," Felicity said.

The two of them walked forward. The skirt Felicity wore fit snugly around her tight ass and she was proud to say that choice of wardrobe was only about eighty nine percent intention. She moved her way over.

Harry smiled, when he watched her saunter over. The skirt did a good job of fitting snugly around her ass and also it showcased her legs, which Harry would have to say were very nice, if he had to admit so himself.

"Forgive the mess…you know what they say though…a messy desk means that you're actually doing something," Felicity said. She did bend over to clear over some stuff on the desk and smiled. "And I'll just get onto my computer….and I don't think that I was doing anything that I shouldn't be doing."

Harry raised his eyebrow. "What shouldn't you be doing?"

"Well the surveillance feed for the shower room is for security purposes only, aren't they, and….the ones in all of the bedrooms," Felicity said. "You do realize that a seedier person could use those satellites to pretty much get incriminating information on any politician in the world."

"It's for security purposes, it's just what you said," Harry said. "And it allowed you to get a good look at the scene around Gotham City, and allowed me to look at things."

"Whitney gave you a full briefing, didn't she?" Felicity asked.

"Yes, she did," Harry confirmed. She got out of the chair and offered it to Harry.

"You'd think that I'd get more than one chair," Felicity said, shaking her head. She looked over the computer. "Let's see….that was the slumber party that some of the Young Justice team members had on Saturday night….I have a feeling you want to review that one in detail later."

Harry raised his eyebrow, and Felicity amended the previous statement.

"You know, just to make sure nothing too unsavory happened, when they were having….well you know why someone would watch a video like that," Felicity said. She sat down on Harry's lap with a smile on her face. "Okay, here's the mission…oh good, I didn't accidentally bring up any of the other videos."

"What exactly have been archiving, Felicity?" Harry asked.

"Oh, nothing really bad," Felicity said. She shifted herself above Harry and Harry reached around, wrapping his arm around her slender waist, holding her in place. "There you go….I kind of cut out a lot of Crane's monologue. I don't think you wanted to hear all twenty minutes of that."

"Thanks, Felicity, you're the best," Harry said. If he never heard any of Crane's monologue again, Harry might scream. "You know, Alex should have teleported two of them underneath ground, and then got the other two, and teleported them underneath ground."

"Yeah, I thought so as well….but….I didn't want to step on your toes….well technically they're not your toes, but….you know," Felicity said. She shivered when Harry's fingers brushed against the back of her neck.

Harry noted about five times where they could have disabled Crane, most of them when he was talking. He didn't fault the junior team members for how they handled the mission though. It was easy to arm chair super hero when you're not out on the field and the logical thing came easier when you weren't under a button of pressure.

"So, I hope that my editing job got all of the good parts," Felicity said.

"You did great Felicity," Harry said. He pushed her out of her lap and picked her up, putting her on the desk. "And you were able to get my girls out of there….that's the best thing…you should be proud of yourself."

"So, am I worthy of the name Oracle?" Felicity asked.

"Well, you've earned the right to sit in that chair," Harry informed her. "Although, if you're comparing yourself to Barbara, or Chloe or Tess or Gwen….you really should be your own person, you know."

"Yeah, I know," Felicity said. She got lost in his green eyes and she frowned. "It's a pleasure to have you back….I think that a lot of us missed you over the past nine months."

"I know that you did, but if the amount of footage that you have is any is any indication," Harry said. He smiled and put his hand on her thigh. "And you did a really good job…..keep that up. Consider yourself promoted as the official technical operative of the League."

"I guess it is like riding a bike, you never truly forget," Felicity said. "I guess that I'm good at riding things."

Harry smiled and Felicity realized how that might have come across.

"And that never comes out the way that I want it to, because apparently my brain hates my mouth," Felicity said.

"Oh, you're pretty good with your mouth when you want to be," Harry said. He spoke without a hint of irony in her voice.

"Yes, sometimes though…..oh I see," Felicity said, shaking her head. She smiled and took off her glasses, to pinch the bridge of her nose.

She knew where this one was going, or where it should go. But unfortunately, there was one key problem. Harry's cell phone rang, thus interrupting the fun and games.

"I think that I better take this," Harry informed her.

"Yes, I figured as much," Felicity said. She wondered who cock blocked her this time."

"Yes, Lana, I'm back, I'll be over there," Harry said with a smile. "Felicity, I need to take care of this, we'll continue this later."

"Yes, I know," Felicity said. Duty called, after all. She could see Harry move over and give her an intense kiss on the lips. It was a kiss she returned with full eagerness and passion, before he pulled away from her.

It left Felicity in a daze when Harry pulled away. She shook her head.

"Okay, valuable lesson learned, with Harry, talky talky, later, go straight for the sex, before someone has a chance to cockblock."

She saw Whitney walk on in, getting her hands on a cup of coffee. Felicity closed her eyes. This may or may not be a bad idea waiting to happen. Whitney's tolerance towards coffee varied on each day.

Then again, if she was hyper on coffee, could anyone really tell? Felicity figured that she couldn't tell one way or another, and she doubted very much she was the only one.

* * *

><p>"It's good to have you back, I might have mentioned that one time already," Lana said.<p>

"When it's good to be back, and good to see that you're running things pretty well," Harry said. The two of them sat in the office of one of the many branches of the RAO building. "The past five years have been a busy one for us, hasn't it?"

"Yes," Lana agreed, grinning in response. "For you and for me both, I think. We're going to be able to build something great, I just know it."

"Well if you know it, who am I to argue about that?" Harry asked. "We're going to expand over International waters now…..four new facilities open up within the next few months."

"First the United States, then the world, and then…the galaxy," Lana said. She chuckled. "I don't know about you, but I think your mission statement sounds like a bad supervillain."

"Well, it's close enough to our goals that it's fitting," Harry said. "I just have to sign off on this mountain of paperwork, and our international expansion will be pretty much good and ready to go."

"Looking forward to it," Lana said. She spoke honestly, from the bottom of her heart. Ever since Martha moved up in the world, Lana had to take control of things for a short amount of time. Felicity being brought in was a godsend and Kitty was really useful, and Harry had a couple more people that he brought in.

All and all, the entire RAO team was ready to move in. Harry read over the paperwork. Lana looked at him with an appraising and extremely anxious eye. She frowned when she waited for what he was going to say, whether it would be good or bad.

"Please tell me that's all ready to go," Lana said. She hitched in a breath when she spoke. Harry chuckled when he looked at Lana.

"Yes, it's all good, you do well," Harry informed her. He enjoyed letting Lana squirm a little bit to make her really think about what he was doing. It was really good for her. "You did excellent, Lana, I can't be happier with your work."

"Thank, Felicity, she helped hold a lot of things together," Lana said.

"Well, I was going to thank her, but you rang me up, and that got kiboshed for now," Harry said.

Lana shook her head. She honestly could be the queen of bad timing sometimes, but business waited for no person. And there would be plenty of time for sex later.

Harry signed off on the papers and Lana moved down the hallway to file them officially. There would be a press conference. Then there would be a more intimate press conference later that only certain reporters were invited to.

He moved forwards the balcony. It had been a long time since Harry had a gasp of the fresh Metropolis air and he allowed himself to take it all in.

Someone dropped down behind him with a thump. He turned around and saw a figure approach him. She was wearing a red hooded top and tight leather pants, that were appreciated. She stepped over towards Harry.

"Red Arrow now, isn't it?" Harry asked.

"Yes, it's me," she said. She pulled off the hooded shirt, when she was sure that no one was looking. She revealed an extremely gorgeous girl with short brown hair that went down to her shoulders and stunning brown eyes. She wore a tight white top underneath her top and it was obvious that she got braless. "Finally, you're back."

Thea Queen, Red Arrow, smiled and leaned forward and gave her boyfriend/business partner, a long kiss. The two of them worked against each other, with Harry pushing his tongue deep into her mouth.

Thea broke free from Harry, kissed absolutely breathless from him. She couldn't believe it, but she at the same time, she could believe it. Harry was the type of person that would ensure that she got the most out of any greeting.

"I couldn't agree more."

Artemis turned up, dressed in a green tank top, and a pair of green shorts. She moved forward and greeted Harry with an equally passionate kiss.

She looked at Thea out of the corner of her eye, as if to tell her "that's how it's done, kid." Thea folded her arms over her chest and stuck out her lip in an absolute pout, but didn't say anything.

"And for the record, before you say anything, I can't believe I did something as cliché as shoot a guy in the arrow with a knee," Thea said. "It was cliché years ago and the obvious joke ceased being funny around the same time."

"Well, it became cliché to say something was cliché years ago," Artemis fired back. Thea looked at her, with a raised eyebrow. "And that's about as far as I'm going to go, before I get stuck in an infinite loop where there's no way out."

Harry smiled. "Pretty smart."

"So, I think that Ollie will be proud of you for taking up the mantle in the way you did, and making it your own," Thea said. "And he wouldn't be as proud of you for corrupting the innocence of his baby sister."

"Please, your innocence was well corrupted since before I met you," Artemis said. "And you were about three seconds away from jumping Harry, if I didn't show up."

"Never denied it," Thea said, shaking her head.

"And I guess Ollie didn't talk, because he slept with pretty much everything with a pulse and at least one thing that didn't," Artemis said.

"Good thing Chloe snagged up Queen Industries, after my brother, in his infinite wisdom, lost the company,' Thea said, shaking her head. But then again, that was Harry who masterminded it, she was sure. "If anything, it's better."

"I'm really glad that your more actively involved now," Harry said.

"Well, you're the one that wanted me to finish my studies, so I did," Thea said. "I'm surprise I actually completed a private school before they kicked me out. Guess anything is possible with the proper incentive."

"And speaking of incentives," Artemis said. She smiled. "The more advanced members of the team could be good League material before too long. Even Thea, even though she just joined us six months ago."

"I'm a fast study, what can I say?" Thea asked.

"You are indeed," Harry said. He wrapped his arms around her, and kissed the absolute hell out of her.

Thea could feel her body heat up when Harry shifted his way into her head and he was about ready to find his way into her in every other way possible. She couldn't wait.

* * *

><p>Alarms went off in a prison. There was a guard that rushed around in a frantic manner. He was terrified, for many reasons.<p>

An imposing green skin woman approached then. She towered over the guard.

"Please, have mercy, we didn't know that she…."

"No Tamarian is going to escape, I want you to find her, and return her," the imposing woman declared.

People the universe over feared Gamora. Species the universe over called Gamora the deadliest woman in the known galaxy and likely the unknown ones as well. She didn't suffer failure. Her father would not be pleased with her if they didn't recover it, and she was less than pleased with the guards who were unable to secure it.

The thief thought she pulled one on Gamora, but Gamora vowed to squeeze the location of the gem out of her, sooner rather than later.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on July 24th, 2015. <strong>


	81. A Case of Mistaken Identity

**Chapter Eighty-One: A Case of Mistaken Identity.**

* * *

><p>Gotham City still reeled from the chaos of the Scarecrow's attack a couple days ago. The crazed criminal's attack opened up a chance for some of the petty thugs in Gotham City to take advantage of what was a bad situation already and really lay a hurting.<p>

"The Bat….he's out of the picture, don't know what happened," the thug said. He had lifted several hundred dollars from the cash register.

The crime wave in Gotham City escalated even more, "I don't know, aren't you afraid of the competition? I mean, the Bat might not be around, but…..you know."

"Yes, I know there are a lot of people rising up in his place, but we're just going to have to take that chance," the thug said. "Look, I've got an imprint of the Bat's fist on the side of mouth, I'm the last person who wants to ever run into his ass ever again. Trust me on that one."

"Yeah, I trust you, for what it's worth," the goon commented with a grumbling. He leaned back against the pillar and waited for his partner to wrap things up. "And that Justice League, I thought that they'd be a problem, you know what I mean."

"Nah, those guys, they're too busy worrying about the big fish," one of the goons commented. He craned his neck back and allowed himself a sigh. "We're going to have to….what was that?"

"What was what?" one of the goons asked.

"Someone is out there, and I don't know what," the goon said. He drew his firearm, and looked around. "But I don't like it."

Another one of the goons raised his head and looked absolutely terrified, when he looked around. "Maybe….maybe it's the ghost of the Bat."

At least one of the goons felt a chill with such a statement. What if killing the Bat wouldn't be enough to stop him?

"Yeah, maybe," one of the goons commented. He stepped around and fired a shot into the shadows.

Absolutely nothing lingered in the shadows. Something nailed him in the back of the leg. A jolt went through his body when he fell back, landing on the ground with a thud.

"You know, I don't like these games!" one of the thugs yelled. He lifted his gun.

Another figure swooped down and thumped him down as hard as they could manage right on the back of his head. Several smoke bombs dropped seconds later and filled the area with choking clouds of smoke.

A swooping figure scrambled in the dark. Several fists attacked the rest of the goons. The goons bumped into each other.

One of them tried to get through the door, trying to leave his buddies behind. A shot to the heel prevented him from doing that. He fell forward onto his face.

The dust slowly cleared, and a black leather figure stood over him. One look at her indicated that she wasn't Batman. Unless, Batman made a few changes, the biggest one being his gender.

Batwoman stood over the top of the goon, holding him up.

"What were you after?" she asked, hoisting him up off of the ground.

"Just…just a little bit of cash here and there," the goon breathed. "You know how it's hard to make anything….figured that you would be taking a break….but why are you….."

The goon passed out. The excitement had gotten to him a bit too much. Blood poured from his nose when he slumped to the ground.

Batwoman stepped back and she turned to the figure in the shadows. The Huntress stepped out of the shadows, dressed in a tight black and purple costume, with a black mask and her hair tied back.

"So, when I go back on the field, I guess that I go back on the field with a vengeance," Batwoman said. Her red hair stuck out of her mask, the biggest clue of her identity. "I guess that because the mission support chair is in pretty good hands, I need to focus on helping clean up Gotham City. Guess this was a good workout."

"I think that these goons are really the least of our problems in Gotham City," Huntress said. "There are people who just because Batman is gone, they think that it's wide open season for the city."

"Well, in some ways, it is," Batwoman said. "And let's face it, everyone is recovering from the Scarecrow's attack, so this is the perfect time to go all open season on Gotham City. I don't know what happened."

"All we know is that he's not here," Huntress said. She looked over her shoulder and then back at the goons. They were both knocked out and tied up, so there was going to be nowhere that they were going to be able to go anytime soon.

The Huntress took half of a step out of the door, and paused. She looked around and motioned for Batwoman to follow her.

'_You did well, Barbara,' _Helena said in her head. _'I know it was hard for you, being on the shelf for that long, but you eventually recovered.'_

'_Yeah, I'm glad that I was able to….put it all together,' _Barbara thought. She found her way at the top of the building with Helena. _'So, what do you think happened to him?'_

'_Many things could have happened to him, he could be pulling some secret undercover mission on his own accord without telling anyone,' _Helena thought. _'Bruce Wayne went away an extended business trip, for reasons of his health. Thankfully, Harry and I were able to run interference at Wayne Industries to keep things from falling apart too badly, and Lucius Fox helped us. He's a big help."_

"_Isn't he always, though?' _Barbara asked her.

'_Yes, pretty much,' _Helena added. If she sounded distracted, that was because she kind of was. A lot was happening and it was weighing extremely heavily on her mind. A pounding resounded in the back of her head when she sighed.

There was another alarm that gone off in the distance. Barbara and Helena locked eyes with each other.

It was just the type of night that took place in Gotham City. Both of the crime fighters disappeared into the night.

'_The other big problem is that there's a turf war brewing,' _Barbara thought to her. She could feel Helena's penetrating gaze even beyond the bond link. _'Yes, I know, this is Gotham City, when isn't there a turf war of some sort?'_

'_Black Mask is making his move,' _Helena thought. _'He's been waiting for an opportunity like this for an extremely long time, and he might actually cause some real damage this time.'_

'_Wonderful,' _Barbara thought, when they disappeared into the night.

* * *

><p>Princess Koriand'r raised her arms and relaxed when she walked outside of the royal palace at Tamaran. She enjoyed the sun and the fun outside, and why wouldn't she enjoy such an event. The beautiful day made her feel really happy to be alive.<p>

The princess stood extremely tall at six foot four inches, with bronzed skin, and bright green eyes. She had curves that really showed her elegant breeding. She stretched out and pondered what she was going to do next. There were so many choices, the princess didn't know what to do. But she figured that she better do something.

The Princess thought that she would head off for a nice long swim, or perhaps just be worked over by many busy hands to ease the tension in her muscles. She walked outside, dressed in the traditional royal garb. The only place she wore clothing was in the palace, because it showed her status as Tamarian royalty.

The eyes of the young princess widened when she saw an individual turn up. Her mouth hung open in surprise when she saw who was coming. This was one of the last people that she expected to show up, she would have to say.

She resembled Kori, only she had dark hair as opposed to Kori's blazing black hair. She looked at her sister with a smile.

"Sister!" Kori yelled at the top of her lungs. "You're back from…your studies."

"Yes, I'm back from my studies," Princess Komand'r, which translated into Blackfire like her sister's name translated into Starfire, declared. She sounded rather amused for some reason. "I hoped that you didn't get into too much trouble without me around to bail you out."

Starfire looked at her sister, pulling away from her. "No, no trouble at all, everything has been so quiet without you around….I didn't even know what to do, you know."

"Believe me, sister, I know what you're talking about," Blackfire said. She pulled away from her sister. "Did we get a new window?"

"Yes, it was redone just last orbital cycle," Starfire said with a smile.

"Lovely," Blackfire said. One could tell from the dryness in her tone that she was just attempting to make conversation. "And just look at you, you've grown up so much."

Her eyes shamelessly raked over her sister's body and down the cleavage that her royal garb was presenting.

"I'm sure that you've been doing lots of things when I was away at boarding school," Blackfire said. If Starfire had been not delirious with her happiness, she would have noted the sarcasm in her sister's voice when she spoke that. "I'm going to say, that Mother and Father were firm, but fair when they sent me away."

"Yes, I understand that you protested it fiercely, but they would not budge," Starfire said. "But you are back and this is wonderful, I cannot wait to inform them."

"Kori, sister, listen," Blackfire said. She placed her finger on her sister's lips. "You cannot inform Mother and Father that I have returned."

Starfire looked at her sister with a look of stunned innocence and she looked back at her. "Oh, and why not?"

Blackfire smiled and she led her sister further away from the palace. The guards at this place were always way too lax. The one guard she ran into on her way here, well she charmed him and took care of him really nicely.

"I have a big surprise for Mother and Father, but you can't…you can't tell them that I'm here, because it will ruin it," Blackfire said. She smiled at her sister. "I know that you would be disappointed if you would ruin their surprise."

"Yes, very disappointed, oh you've been away for so long, I am sure that they would be glad to see you home," Starfire answered.

"Yes, I'm sure they would," Blackfire said. And again, Starfire missed the sarcasm in her tone of voice, being so blinded with jubilation that her sister had returned.

Blackfire shook her head, lightly tutting. _'Poor innocent naïve, Kori, you have no idea exactly what I've been up to, haven't you?'_

"But, I was about to go swimming, but now I guess that I really do have plans today, if you're back," Starfire said. She looked at her older sister. "But, when will it be ready? I cannot keep a secret from our parents for very long. It is just wrong."

"Actually, I need your help to get it finished," Blackfire said.

"Oh, what is it that you want me to do, Komi?" Starfire asked her.

Blackfire's lips shifted into a nice little smile.

"That's not something that I could explain to you, Kori, not right here."

"Oh, I see," Starfire said. "Well, are you going to take me to some place where you can explain it to me?"

"Yes, but we really need to leave quickly," Blackfire said. She led her sister by the hand over towards the gates.

Starfire was surprised to see one of the guards down on the ground. His clothes were rumpled and he had marks all over his neck and face. Along with a bruise on the side of his head and she frowned.

"Guess he had a nice time," Blackfire told her sister.

"Oh, yes, a very nice time," Starfire added. "But where are we going?"

Blackfire didn't answer her sister's question straight away. That caused Starfire to huff in response. And that caused Blackfire to laugh.

"What, what's so funny?" Starfire asked her.

"Oh, you just remind me how you were when we were both children," Blackfire said. Starfire put out her lip in dismay and Blackfire reached over. She patted Starfire on the top of the head. "It's going to be fine, trust me."

Starfire smiled when she looked at the vehicle that was parked at the edge of one of the ports that lead off of the planet.

"The surprise is off world?" Starfire asked.

"Yes, Kori, it is," Blackfire responded. She opened the door and let her sister inside. "I borrowed it from a friend."

Starfire got inside and Blackfire gave her a stern look. "You better buckle up, because it's going to be a bumpy ride."

She did and needless to say, Blackfire proved to be correct. The vehicle shot out into space. Starfire thought that her sister was right, this was going to be a bumpy ride and it was a good thing that she buckled up.

* * *

><p>Harry placed his hand underneath his chin and sat next to Kara, well she was perched off of his arm chair. They were watching a training session extremely closely and with great interest.<p>

After Carol moved up in the world, Kara passed the Supergirl moniker down to Connie and she adopted the Ms. Marvel name from Carol. Needless to say, Harry thought that it was rather fitting for her.

Presently, the members of the Team were in the middle of a training exercise. Harry watched them carefully and calmly. Artemis and Whitney sat there as well as senior members of the team.

"Well, they're getting more in tune with their thoughts with each other, aren't they?" Whitney asked. She grinned when she turned to Harry. "I'm not sure if that's because they're all on the bond network, or what…but that's just how things are going."

"Oh, they've done well," Harry said. "And it's not necessary because of the bond."

Whitney looked at him with a questioning look. Kara jumped in with an explanation.

"As you should know," Kara said. Whitney stuck out her tongue in response and Kara smiled. "As you should know, Harry is able to regulate access to the bond as he pleases. Therefore, he can shut off the bond link during training exercises, to make sure that the bond mates don't grow too reliant on it."

"Yes, I should know this," Whitney said. "And there are a few villains who mess with people's minds, and….you might not be able to trust the voices in your head all of the time."

Whitney paused and opened her mouth in realization. She grinned, despite herself. "You know, in our line of work, that's pretty much the only place where that remotely comes close to making any kind of sense."

"For sure," Kara agreed with her.

They watched as Thea and Rebecca worked together, getting some super powered back up from Alia. Alia blasted one of the bots that took the form of a dangerous enemy.

"The training simulator works rather well," Harry said. "Jean actually called it the Danger Room for some reason, I don't know why."

'_Inspiration from my former universe,' _Jean thought. She was glad that a few familiar faces made the translation from this world, Kitty showing up excited Jean.

'_I kind of like it, it has a kick to it,' _Kitty thought.

'_Well, maybe you should join in, there's a spot open for you on the team,' _Kara thought to her.

'_Um, I'll think about it,' _Kitty said. She wasn't completely sure that's what she wanted to do. _'I don't really know if I want to….well you know.'_

'_I don't really blame you,' _Harry informed her. He watched the team get through a particularly sticky situation. _'But, I think that you've got more than enough work at LuthorCorp to last you a life time.'_

Kitty laughed despite herself. _'Yeah, that's really for sure, I mean completely.'_

Harry could see Cass make her way through. She had been trained to do this, particular since the time that she could walk.

'_And I think Cass really should be a team leader,' _Artemis thought.

Harry shook his head, _'Believe me, I offered her the spot, if I offered it to her once, I must have offered it to her a million times. She turned it down every time. She seems to think that she isn't fit to be the team leader.'_

'_Well some people were born to lead and some people who could lead…have enough baggage,' _Kara said. She had no idea where she was going with that one. _'Not that I'm accusing…'_

'_You're right,' _Cass piped in.

She returned back, and positioned things in. Stephanie did a tuck and roll and avoided a blast. The two girls had struck up a rather unlikely friendship, when Cass had taken Stephanie underneath her wing.

Cass gave Stephanie a stern look and she fell into line.

'_What did she do wrong?' _Whitney asked.

'_Don't tell me that you weren't paying attention,' _Artemis said. Whitney looked at her. _'Yeah, I forgot, you had ADHD on super speed.'_

'_Hey, I don't….at least I'm not OCD,' _Whitney said. Artemis stared at Whitney through the bond, but Whitney stared back in determination.

'_It's true,' _Jade commented in complete dead pan.

As much as Harry liked to enjoy the interplay, he had to focus on the task at hand. He watched just in time.

'_Oh, and she was looking to you for approval, a bit too much,' _Cass said.

'_That means she needs plenty of work,' _Laura added. She was working on something with the rest of the Kara Squad. _'But, she's a newbie, cut some slack on her.'_

'_Six months, I think that's long enough to stop her classified from being new,' _Cass said. _'You're going to heighten the difficulty setting, aren't you?'_

'_Har-Zod likes watching teenage girls sweat,' _Jean joked.

'_Well, that's right,' _Cass agreed.

Harry dialed up the danger settings of the room. He wouldn't do it, unless he was completely sure that they could handle it.

"And, how pleased were you with their performance in Gotham City regarding the Scarecrow?" Kara asked.

Harry smiled when he turned towards her, "All and all, they shouldn't really have been put out on such a high stakes mission….but I'm glad that they were."

"They have to learn to be out there when the pressure is on, sometime," Whitney offered with a slight shrug.

"Yes, that's for sure," Artemis said. She remembered her first official mission. The less said about it, the better, but she most certainly remembered it. She shivered when she remembered it.

The fact she could go only up from there did very little to calm her nerves, which felt extremely fried. Artemis placed her hand down and watched Thea. "I would have liked to have her out on the field sooner."

"She might be the newest member of the team," Harry agreed. "But she has a lot of raw potential."

'_Providing she keeps her head in the game and level,' _Dinah added mentally. She was rather pleased with her progress however. She smiled, it was a quiet night. That much worried her because it was just the calm before the storm.

Harry kept watching what was going on for a few more minutes. He was rather pleased with what was happening.

He received a text from Felicity.

"Guess, I better go finish his off," Harry said. He smiled, rising up to his feet.

Kara stole a quick kiss from Harry. He leaned forward and whispered into her ear.

"Meet me in an hour."

She grinned, and knew where this one was going. The Danger Room (she did like the ring that had) session would be done in about an hour.

'_Well, I interrupted their meeting earlier,' _Lana thought, shaking her head. _'Business does have an awful habit with interjecting its way with pleasure too often.'_

'_If that isn't the truth, I don't know what is,' _Lois thought with a sigh.

'_I'll sign off on that one,' _ Chloe thought.

Harry entered the office and he could see Felicity sitting there, waiting for him. The moment he entered the office, she made her way towards him.

"I think that we have some business to finish," Felicity said. "And for the record, I've learned my lesson."

She threw her arms around him and gave him an extremely passionate kiss. Harry returned the kiss, making sure to clear the paperwork off of the desk.

Felicity straddled Harry's lap and wrapped her arms around him.

Harry allowed her the position on top of him when he kissed her, although he was able to quickly and efficiently turn the tables, because that's how he worked.

* * *

><p>Blackfire felt pleased to spend some time with her sister, before everything hit the fan. And she was almost sad that things had to escalate to this point. Unfortunately, there was a saying that all good things must come to an end.<p>

"We look like we could be each other's twins," Starfire said in a giddy voice. She had her hair dyed darker like Starfire's and Blackfire had her hair made up to look like her sisters. The woman leaned forward, a grin crossing her face.

"You look great, Kori," Blackfire said.

"Is there something the matter?" Starfire asked. She heard the sound of melancholy in her sister's tone.

"No, nothing is the matter," Blackfire said. She shook her head. "I was just thinking about how the day would be over soon and I would be sad to see it end."

"Yes, but we can make up for lost time when you're home," Starfire said. She smiled when she placed her hand on her sister's hand. "You are coming home, aren't you?"

"Yes," Blackfire said. "And I'm sure that no matter what happens, our parents will love you."

"They'll love you as well," Starfire said. She wondered why her sister was acting in such a mood.

Blackfire lead her into some kind of planet side in. She stepped inside and the sounds of loud music blared into their ears when they entered this particular location.

"Sorry about the noise, but….this is where I need to pick up our parent's present," Blackfire said. "I'll be right back, just sit down, and….well don't do anything that I would do."

Blackfire gave her baby sister a smile and a wink, when she walked over to the edge of the bar.

Starfire sat down and hoped that this surprise would be something that her parents would love. Even though she had been trying to tell her sister, that the biggest surprise would be that she would be home and they could be a family once again. She was practically giddy with all kinds of excitement.

"Okay, I'm back!" Blackfire said. She held a miniature box in her hand and placed it down in front of Starfire.

"Oh is this the surprise?" Starfire asked.

"Yes, why don't you take a look at it?" Blackfire asked her. Starfire nearly bounced up and down in excitement. Blackfire enjoyed the show as much as she would dare. "I want your honest opinion of it."

Starfire opened up the box and she gave a gasp in response. She was transfixed when she looked at the gem that rested in the box. The girl practically squealed in delight, "It's gorgeous, I'm sure that they'll love it!"

"I know that they will," Blackfire said. "Why don't you…hold onto it? I need to go….well, you know."

Blackfire rose to her feet and disappeared into the crowd of the club. The loud thumping of music went off. Starfire hoped that her sister would be okay, and there wouldn't be any problems. It made her sad whenever her sister was sick and not feeling her best. The woman leaned back on the chair.

The doors of the club blasted open and there were loud screams of terror. Those screams of terror gave way to paralyzing fear. Starfire looked up and she saw why. There was a tall, green skinned woman that was feared through many planets. Not completely because of who she worked for, but because of the reputation that she had.

The person she answered to did not help and when they incurred the wrath of the Titan, that was a horrific thing as well.

Gamora looked at the woman sitting at the table in the middle of the inn. Everyone backed away from the table, allowing the path for the Deadliest Woman in the universe to be wide and open. She walked forward and looked down at her.

"You thought that you were clever, weren't you?" she asked Starfire.

Starfire looked at her in confusion, "I'm afraid that I don't understand…"

Gamora reached across the table and grabbed Starfire by her neck, dragging her over the table.

"You think that you can get away with this. You think that you can steal from Thanos?"

The name of one of the most feared men in the universe caused Kori to become terrified.

"I didn't….there has been some kind of misunderstanding," Starfire said. The guards refused to listen to her and dragged her over.

She didn't want any trouble. Especially against a woman who was tough as nails and could really give her a tough time, if she wanted to.

"We don't have misunderstandings," Gamora said. She looked at the gem in the box. "You have the gem on you."

"This was a gift for…"

"It doesn't matter to me if you stole it as a gift, it's still stolen property," Gamore said. She made sure the guards had the Tamarian hooked up. She picked up the box.

Starfire was dazed and confused. It slowly came to her what happened and how much she didn't like it. Blackfire showed herself to be capable of some cruel and mean spirited things when they were children, but this might have beaten each and every one of them for certain.

She thought that she and her sister had bonded and for this to happen, she didn't like it. Tears came down Starfire's face.

"Don't let her sway you, she's a diabolical mastermind that has already escaped custody twice," Gamora said. She was unmoved by this show of emotion from the Princess.

The guards fastened the criminal up in chains and lead her off. Starfire looked up and saw Blackfire standing in the crowd. She casually lifted her hand and blew her sister a kiss goodbye, before going back into the crowd.

* * *

><p>Rebecca thought that the training session put her through the paces. She was glad to get some one on one training with Harry, mostly because she was pretty sure that the one on one training was going to lead in a certain direction.<p>

Technically, the training one be one on two, giving that Alex made her way next to her. Nightwing and Flamebird were on the Gotham City rooftops.

"So, what are we doing now?" Alex asked.

"Well, you know how one of these exercises go," Rebecca explained to her. She looked over her shoulder. "If we get tagged, we lose."

"And Harry tags hard," Alex said. She looked over her shoulder. "It was rather sporting of him to give us a three minute head start."

"Yes, it was," Rebecca said.

Although Rebecca didn't think that it was a good idea for the two of them to be chattering during this head start period. She felt her heart race a bit quicker when she looked over her shoulder.

"Relax, Becca, we can do this," Alex said.

"Those are always famous last words," Rebecca said. She could sense that Harry would be close by, or close enough, in about thirty seconds.

Alex smiled. She had been gifted the codename of Flamebird by Laura and Rebecca got Nightwing. Now, Galatea and Laura, the two former users of that name, had been given the codenames of Hawk and Dove. It shouldn't really take a rocket scientist to know which was in fact which.

Rebecca climbed down in an area of Gotham City she knew rather well. She actually found it liberating to be left along with her thoughts here.

She tensed up. The hair stood on the back of her neck.

"So, do you think it would be better if we split up?" Alex asked.

"We can't," Rebecca said. "The purpose of the exercise is to stick together…if we split up, we get disqualified automatically."

Alex deflated with that thought. It was just a suggestion. She heard a buzzing.

Another one of Harry's rules was no powers. This rule didn't effect Rebecca any, but for Alex, it was. Or would be, if Harry didn't teach her how to defend herself without her powers, which he did and Alex was really grateful for that.

There was a blast and she dodged the attack. Rebecca dodged another attack. There were two scorch marks that were left on the building.

It was close to being over before it even began. Rebecca made her way down the building and Alex followed her.

They bounced up and they avoided being nailed on the ground.

"This way!" Rebecca hissed through her teeth.

"Gladly, if it gets me away…." Alex said. She didn't have a chance to say this, because Rebecca pulled her up.

She used a grapnel and she pulled her up the building. Harry was right on their asses and not in the good way either.

Rebecca thought that her lungs had finally caught up with her. Her breathing grew increasingly ragged when she was lead up the stairs.

They were on the top of an apartment complex, and they noticed something that temporary distracted them from what Harry was doing.

Catwoman poked her head out of a window she opened up, and she popped her head up. There was a bag slung over her shoulder of merchandise she acquired when she started to shop. The dark haired felonious felon craned her neck back.

'_She came out of an apartment complex belonging to Roman Sionis,' _Harry thought. _'We've got a new training exercise.'_

Rebecca nodded. Her gaze followed the woman as Catwoman snapped her whip and it wrapped around a gargoyle. That allowed her to pull herself from one rooftop to the next rooftop.

Alex and Rebecca were glad they didn't get tagged during this training exercise, but only because another problem at presented it.

Catwoman smiled when she saw a certain young man following her. She looked at him with a smoldering look in her eyes.

And she obviously taunted him with the statement of "catch me if you can."

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on July 26<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	82. Mask of Discontent Part One

**Chapter Eight Two: Mask of Discontent Part One. **

* * *

><p>The fact the Iceberg Lounge still remained a big hotspot after all of these years amazed the people of Gotham City. Numerous high rollers turned up. Some of them were on the legit end of high society, and there others existed on the not so legit end of high society. The man in charge, even though he had a few more years behind him than he did before, didn't ask any questions.<p>

Oswald Cobblepot entered his club. It was one of his many visits to the club to see how everything was doing. He was extremely surprised to see how everyone was doing when he strode into the club. A wide smile crossed the face of the man when he made his rounds.

Everyone seemed to be happy, but no man seemed to be more happy than one Roman Sionis. This individual tended to treat his employees well enough, but when he was pissed off, he let the entire world know it, in the worst possible way.

"I hope that you are doing well, Mr. Sionis," Cobblepot said.

The two men had been business rivals and business partners throughout various stages of Gotham City life. Sionis's fierce expression sent chills down the spine of any man, whether or not he wore a mask.

"Oswald, no need to be so tense, sit down," Sionis said. "Have a drink, take a load off. You've done a fucking great job with the place."

Cobblepot wondered who this man was and what he had done to Roman Sionis. He sounded a lot more jovial and carefree then he had been in the past.

"Drinks all on me," Sionis said. "Today is going to be a really good day for me in Gotham City."

He was in a good mood and could not be generous enough. He smiled nicely and why shouldn't he smile? Most of the old school mobsters had finally retired or had been retired, if you caught his drift. That left several pieces of territory open in Gotham City. Thorne had lost a lot of power and control himself.

Sionis had the most useful criminal organization, it was organized, and he was able to swoop on in and do what he needed to do to achieve his goals.

"This, is power," Sionis said. He held a jewel onto the table. "Take a look at this, Ozzie."

"Well, now that's a mighty fine piece of jewelry," Cobblepot said. "I say, that if you find the right buyer for that beauty, you're going to be filthy rich."

Sionis didn't say anything, but he was already filthy rich.

"This will provide wealth far beyond money. Power will be mine. But, Gotham City always will have people who will challenge me."

"I've gone past that, I have to say," Cobblepot said.

"And I've always thought that you were a smart man, going past that," Sionis said. He took a cigar and passed them all around.

"Yeah, no one is going to stop you now, not even the Bat!" one of the men at the table stated with a wicked smile.

Everyone tensed up at the mention of Batman. That tended to be a sore spot for Sionis. Bringing up the fact that he could be out there would surely destroy his jovial mood.

Instead, Sionis responded with a round of laughter. He turned to the bartender and bellowed loudly, "Another round of drinks!"

The people in the table tensed up for a moment. Cobblepot decided to break up the tension and take one for the team. He figured that he would have a lot better job of doing it then some petty gangster.

"Batman does tend to be a present thorn in our side," Cobblepot answered.

"Well, he isn't present, and hadn't been for months," Sionis said. He took a long drink and allowed it to savor. The substance burned in the back of his throat when he continued to speak. "You didn't hear a word about the Bat, in ages, haven't you?"

Everyone shook their heads. Sionis pressed on.

"I thought for the first few weeks he was pulling some kind of con and he'd be back," Sionis said. "The explosion that killed him, no one found a body. We all know what that means in our line of work, don't you?"

There were murmurs of agreement. They all knew what they meant. They knew what that meant completely.

"But, the weeks turned into months, and the months went on, and there were no sign of the Batman," Sionis said. "There might have been pretenders, and sidekicks, but….he's not around anymore. And his friends in that Justice League, they can't be everywhere. They've got bigger threats. There's an alien invasion about every other Thursday and the League stopping it is good for business for me."

Sionis looked more relaxed and took another drink. The various members of the gang looked at each other. They didn't know what to make of his clavier behavior.

A man entered the Iceberg Longue. Some of the men sitting around the table recognized him as a chief security member for Sionis.

He bent down and whispered in the ear of Sionis. Sionis's expression went from jovial to stormy. It was surprising how much the man could get pissed off.

Sionis got up from the table and stormed from the club. His anger was such that no one dared asked why he was pissed off and no one dared follow him.

The moment he reached the club, he stood outside of his limo. He took a deep breath to calm himself down. He whipped out a cell phone and started to dial a number.

"Yeah, put out the word right now," Sionis said. "One hundred million dollars….to anyone who brings me Catwoman's head and what she stole."

The bitch picked the wrong person to fuck with. Sionis was willing to pay an arm and leg for it. The two jewels were useless apart, but one of the most useful things that he could ever have together.

Sionis entered the limo. He half hoped that he was the one to run into Catwoman first. He would slowly strangle the life out of her and make sure that her life was full of nothing of misery and woe, when it ended.

The hardened mobster vowed to make the thieving bitch pay with her life.

* * *

><p>Nightwing had to say something about Catwoman, the woman had the ability to be slick and sneaky. She shimmied through Gotham City and kept herself a few steps ahead from the young crimefighter.<p>

She looked over towards Flamebird who was closing in on the other side of town. She adjusted the headset, "So….anything?"

"Nothing, she seems to have slipped under ground," Flamebird said. "She could be anywhere….maybe she's done for the night?"

Catwoman might be finished for the night, she slipped into the darkness and disappeared in a blink of an eye. Nightwing clenched her fist and frantically looked around.

"She's got to be around here," Nightwing said. She lost track of Harry as well.

Surely that meant that the game was over, wasn't it? She didn't know and Nightwing turned her head around and could see someone down below.

Catwoman motioned to Flamebird to follow her down. A second later, the crafty cat burglar disappeared.

"I think that she's heading her way to Old Gotham," Harry said in their ear. "Just keep her distracted, and I'll cut her off."

"And the world's longest foreplay continues," Flamebird said. "This better be worth it at the end."

"Trust me, I think that it will be," Nightwing said. The two of them tried to get on either side of Catwoman.

She smiled, looking over her shoulder when she was made her way up over the fence. The game of cat and mouse was getting fun, but she needed to get home. It was getting early in the morning, so it was late in her night.

The young man in front of her caught her in his arms. Catwoman bounced off against him and was surprised in response. "Oh, hey."

She tried to nail him with a roundhouse kick, but he dodged out of the way of it. He grabbed her arms and forced her down onto the ground. He was practically on top of her and brought her down onto the ground.

"So, are you ready to talk?" Harry asked her.

Selina grinned and he backed off for her. It was obvious that she was going to be taken down again and again and she was almost excited to see what he was doing. Her heart beat rather strongly against her chest when she looked at him.

"So, talking, well, I'm not sure that if I want to do that," Selina commented. She looked at him through her eyelashes. "I think that since you caught me, you need to punish me for being a very bad girl."

Harry smiled when he looked at her. "It's tempting."

"It's extremely tempting," Selina agreed. She wrapped her arms around him and leaned forward with a kiss.

Harry stopped her for a moment, and placed his hand on her rear. He backed her up against the wall.

"So, what were you to?" Harry asked her. Selina looked at him and felt her backed against the wall. His crotch lingered an away from touching hers.

"Oh, you know, nothing much," Selina said. She licked her lips slowly when she looked at him. "Just trying to make an honest living."

Harry smirked. He knew Selina saved enough money due to her side business at the club where she didn't have to steal. She just chose to do so, because she enjoyed the rush.

"You've been stealing from Sionis?" Harry asked.

"Word is on the street that he got his hands on a pair of gems that….are extremely valuable," she breathed. Harry reached forward and slowly undid the zipper of her top. The feline felon's burst burst from the top when he played with her zipper.

"How valuable?" Harry asked.

Selina's breathing grew extremely ragged when the powerful young man continued the interrogation. She welcomed a more hands on approach.

"Very valuable….I heard that it's a treasure beyond money," Selina said. Harry stepped back and stopped teasing her. She was a bit agitated, but excited as well. He was going to make her work for it and it was going to be extremely amazing when he did.

"Oh, that's interesting," Harry commented.

"Yes, it is," Selina agreed with him. She could see both of Arcane's sidekicks standing on either side of her. Well, technically they were old enough not to be classified as sidekicks, but still, she thought of them as innocent little sidekicks in the back of her mind. "It's the type of thing that Sionis would kill for to get back."

One saw the wheels of justice turning in Harry's head and he frowned extremely deeply in response.

"Son of a bitch, he's going to kill you for it, you realize that," Harry said.

Selina gave a nonchalant shrug in response. "Hey, I'm a big girl, I can handle myself, and…"

Harry experienced some kind of danger sense come off. Sionis sure got out of the word fast and he wondered how much he put on Selina's head. There was a sniper perched on the roof. Harry shot a burst of fire from his hand.

The ledge he stood on fell out from underneath him. Harry allowed him to nearly fall, before stopping him landing on the ground. He landed hard and snapped his arm in response. Harry leaned down and looked at him.

"Okay, you and I are going to have words," Harry said. He strung the man up. "And you better give me answers that I like, or we're really going to have problems."

"Yeah right, you don't fucking scare me," the man said. There was an echo in Harry's voice when he spoke.

"Yes, you should," Harry said. He frowned when he looked at him, not that the man could see it due to his face being covered. "Why did you try and take a shot at her?"

"Didn't really get to take a shot, did I chief?" the sniper asked. He felt a pained grip and a bone in his ankle cracked. "But, there are a hundred thousand reasons why someone is going to knock that bitch off. If it isn't me…it's going to be someone else. Just got up early enough in the morning….."

"Yes, you didn't get up early enough apparently," Harry said. He rendered the goon unconscious.

So, someone placed a bounty on the head of Catwoman, and it wasn't the first time. Harry had bounties put on his head in the past and the people who put them on his head weren't really all that much of the upstanding folks. And the people who collected them, well Harry was going to make them question their sanity for going for a quick buck or two.

Harry frowned when he thought about it. And he noticed that Catwoman slipped away in the confusion. He tagged her with a tracker, so she wouldn't be able to get far.

Was it cheating? Technically one might argue Harry cheated her in their game. But Harry decided that he wasn't going to take any chances.

He was now curious how valuable the things were. "Hey, Felicity, we've got a problem."

"Well, you are in Gotham City, so that goes without saying," Felicity said. "So, what do you need, Harry?"

* * *

><p>Starfire could not believe what happened to her. Her heart drummed against her chest with a loud thump. Gamora terrified her more than the goons and the man who Gamora worked for, well she was terrified of him most of all.<p>

Kori struggled to hold herself up strong. The normally bold girl noticed the bearing eyes of Gamora dig into the back of her head. The girl faltered and nearly collapsed.

"Face front," Gamora informed her. Starfire whimpered when she was lead forward. She heard tells of people who were going to be executed that would be lead exactly like this. This didn't do any wonders in helping with her mood. In fact, she whimpered at the fate. "Don't….be calm, we're almost there."

Gamora blocked out all of her emotions, just like her father trained her to do. The prisoner always tried to stir up sympathy in an attempt to gain control.

"You're making a terrible mistake," Starfire argued with her. Gamora turned towards her, peering at her through narrowed eyes. "It wasn't….I didn't mean…"

"I don't make mistakes," Gamora answered. "We don't make mistakes."

She reached forward and snatched the gem up. "This isn't….."

She paused and frowned. They tracked the gem here, yet the feelings were all wrong. Gamora turned it over in her hand and frowned. The rock in her hand didn't do anything.

"Did you really think that you could pull this over me?" Gamora asked.

"What?" Starfire asked. She sounded terrified. "I was not trying to pull anything over you."

Gamora grabbed her and pushed her back. She was incensed.

"You have this…where is the real one?"

The confusion in Starfire's eyes continued to flicker and her breathing increased in how ragged it became.

"It was something that my sister gave to me, I didn't…" she said. "My sister, she stole something from you, didn't she?"

"No, you stole something from me, and you continue to lie to me," Gamora said. Her lips curled into a frown. "We have ways of making you talk, if you push me so far."

"I have talked, I have told you everything," Starfire said. She sounded extremely nervous and her heart beat against her chest hard.

She didn't know what she could tell this woman, she was beyond all reasoning.

"Lock her up," Gamora said. "Let her stew over the evening…give her only the minimum that she needs to survive. We'll see if a lack of food will weaken her resolve to lie to me."

Gamora felt herself be put underneath a lot of pressure to retrieve it. Her father hadn't learned that she lost it to the Tamarian just yet, but there would come a time where he would. She felt that she would get mercy when she recovered it.

She technically oversaw the transfer of the prisoner into the cell. The woman was hooked against the chair with a cot and a small bucket for her to deposit her waste.

"So, are you feeling willing to talk?" Gamora asked. "Or are you going to just stew there?"

The tears streamed down Starfire's face. She looked completely helpless when she tried to pull herself away from where she was.

"You can struggle all you want, but it's extremely futile," Gamora answered. "So, you have one final chance, and I will speak to him…and request that he put you out of your misery."

"I told you, it was my sister who gave me that gem, I thought that it was a gift for our parents," Starfire stubbornly persisted. She sounded like she was about to have a breakdown for obvious reasons.

Gamora's sympathy wasn't stirred. The woman continued to stare down Starfire without blinking.

"You assumed that, didn't you?" Gamora asked. She brushed her hair out of her face and frowned. "Well, I still don't believe your lies."

"They are not lies!" Starfire yelled.

"If you don't tell me soon, you will have to deal with Thanos," Gamora informed her. "And that will not be too favorable for either of us."

She turned around, leaving Starfire in the cell to contemplate her fate. Starfire's throat grew progressively dry when she attempted to swallow the lump that grew in it.

She knew all about Thanos. He was a name that was spoken in low whispers, if people dare spoke it at all. Legend had it that he was a man who actively courted Death and brought countless civilizations to their knees and their ruin, all in the name to impress his mistress. He was a nasty individual and Kori didn't even want to contemplate what he could do to her.

'_I don't have it,' _Kori thought. _'Why would my sister do something like that, how could she be so cruel? Why would she be so cruel?'_

Kori kept asking herself these questions constantly, over and over again. Her sister had bene needlessly cruel to her when they were young, but that was something that Kori could justify it.

It wasn't her fault that her older sister was different from the rest of her people. There were whispers, rumors, of why, but Kori did not scarcely want to repeat them. It shouldn't really matter.

It shouldn't matter, but her sister had a hatred in her heart.

What did she steal and why did Thanos want it back so bad? She feared that her sister and her selfish actions might have condemned her people.

Why did she do that, why did she do that? Kori didn't understand. She didn't think that she had the ability to understand or comprehend anything else that her sister did. It terrified her to think about how cruel one person could go out of spite and out of anger.

Now the name Thanos, the one that was capable of more cruelty. Her sister not only put Kori in danger, but friends, family, were all put into danger.

Greed and spite, those were reasons, honestly. She wanted to face Blackfire one more time and ask her why she did that. Not that she would get a straight answer out of it. That seemed to be the problem. Blackfire was incapable of giving a straight answer.

* * *

><p>Selina returned to her apartment. Her little encounter with Arcane was interrupted thanks to some psychopath with a gun. She met another psychopath with a knife on her way home and she made him eat that knife. Not literally, although she could have given the position.<p>

She took the long way home. It might have been a rough way home, but there would be few people that would want to follow her on that route. Only the utterly fanatical would dare to follow her through that route.

"And here I thought that you'd be home a while ago. But I guess you ran into trouble."

She looked up, having removed her mask. She saw Arcane casually sitting on the couch in her apartment. Her eyebrow corked and she stepped towards him.

"You know, we never really did finish our little game," Selina said. She stepped towards him and placed her hand on her thigh when she leaned down. "So, I figured that you knew where I lived….."

"It might be considered a little predictable to go back to your apartment like this, Selina?" he asked her. "But just in case, I slipped a tracker on you to keep an eye on you."

"I knew that guy didn't really trip over his shoe laces and shoot himself with his own gun," Selina said. "I thought that Sionis wanted this….but I honestly didn't think that he wanted to kill for it."

Harry stared at her and Selina sighed.

"I know, I said that he would, but it was a figure of speech," Selina said.

"He has a hit out on you," Harry said. "One hundred thousand dollars."

Selina let out her breath in a low whistle, "Wow, you'd think that I shoved his mother down a flight of stairs for that much money."

"This is serious, Selina," Harry told her, or rather practically warned her. "You stole more than a valuable, you might have stolen the key to his retirement fund."

Flamebird and Nightwing popped up outside and wasted little time reporting in.

"No one followed her back here, so we're safe," Nightwing said.

"Well, the gang's all here," Catwoman said. "And, you're welcome for contributing to your training tonight."

"Put the bag out on the table, Selina," Harry informed her.

She did as she was told. Several of her ill gotten gains fell on top of the table. Harry only raised an eyebrow at some of the cash and jewels that sat on the table.

Two of the jewels caught Harry's attention straight away. He frowned when he looked them over.

"So, this diamond, it must be worth about as much as Sionis put on my head," Selina said. "Maybe if I give it back to him, I can….."

"That's not what he wants, Selina," Harry answered. He pulled two dull looking emeralds out of there.

"Come on, that's what he wants back, seriously?" Selina asked.

"Yes," Harry answered. It was the most unassuming looking items in the entire bunch, but yet when Harry looked at them, they looked amazing in their own right.

Selina shook her head. Of all of the items to put out on the table, and all of the items to throw a fit over and put a bounty on her head, a couple of dull looking emeralds.

"I have to say, I'm going to have to agree with Selina on that," Nightwing said. She crinkled up her nose in surprise. "That's what Sionis wants back?"

'_Yeah, that really doesn't seem that impressive, does it?' _Kara thought. She paused and thought once again. _'Then again, appearances can be deceiving.'_

'_Harry thinks that there are more to them than meets the eye,' _Gwen thought. _'And I have to say that I agree.'_

Harry held the emeralds up. He had a look of intense concentration on his face, he was trying to solve a puzzle. He held the emeralds together at various different angles.

"What exactly are you looking for?" Flamebird asked him. Harry lifted up his head.

"We'll know in a minute," Harry said.

If his theory was right, he was able to line them up right at the proper angle. A part of the emeralds flickered underneath the light and flashed right underneath his gaze.

"It's a map," Selina said. She sounded a bit impressed. "But…that looks like a pretty strange map, doesn't it?"

Harry frowned. He had a theory.

"Felicity, I'm sending you a scan right now….see if you can dig up anything," Harry told her.

"Right, and…..I've got a partial match," Felicity said after a moment's pause. "That looks exactly like the part of the emeralds, but there's a piece missing….like there's a third jewel to them or something."

"That's because there is," Harry informed them. "And Sionis just picked up the third and final part to the set at the Iceberg Longue tonight."

"So, what is he worried about the jewels if you can easily access the map online?" Nightwing asked.

"You know, that's a fair question," Selina said.

Harry thought that was an extremely fair question and he thought about it for a moment. "The jewels are not just a map, they're something else."

Harry paused and thought about it. It was all coming into his mind. He shook his head in response.

"Some kind of key, maybe?" Flamebird suggested.

Harry looked at his inter-dimensional twin and nodded in response. He figured that was the case. The treasure was beyond money.

What would a treasure beyond money be interest to a thug like Sionis? There must be something extremely powerful.

"I haven't been able to find anything regarding what's in that temple," Felicity said. "He must….he must have gotten his panties in a knot for some reason….yeah I know, that's an image that none of us really need to have right now."

"Yes, I would prefer that you didn't bring up that particular image," Harry said. "Just figure out what we're dealing with."

"Going to try, but this falls into the category of myths and legends….and it could be some cursed artifact that turns Sionis into stone the moment that he touches it," Felicity said.

Selina raised her eyebrow and gave a soft smirk. She didn't want to say that it would serve Sionis right, but it would serves Sionis right if he got hoisted by his own petard.

* * *

><p>Sionis thought that tonight was two steps ahead and three steps back. He looked at the two jewels. There was a bounty on Catwoman's head and another bounty on returning the jewels back. Once he uncovered these treasures, he had plenty of money to burn.<p>

He was so close to having the treasure. He could taste it. The third jewel was acquired. It would make him the King of Gotham City, but why stop at Gotham City.

Sionis walked over towards a bust of Al Capone which rested in a spot of honor on the mantle piece. He pulled it back to reveal a secret room. He stepped over and picked up an elegant looking Black Mask of a stylish design.

Slipping it on, Sionis changed out of his casual clothes to the pinstripe suit that was famous for Black Mask.

He pulled a switch and it opened out a second room. Sionis entered the elevator and lead his way inside a secret chamber underneath the Sionis Steel Works factory where he conducted all of his business.

Sionis, now under the guise of Black Mask, stepped into the shadows. He saw his men standing around, talking with each other. He approached them and cleared his throat immensely. He caused them to turn around and face him.

"Alright, listen up, you boys know that I've got people searching for Catwoman," Sionis said. "She picked the wrong fucking night to start fucking with me."

Money and power behind his wildest dreams slipped from his fingertips. Sionis clenched his hand.

"You goons are going to help me get it back," Sionis told them. He lifted up the picture of the jewels. "Here's what Catwoman stole."

"I don't know about this," one of the mouthier goons said. "I mean, those jewels are tacky looking, and didn't that bitch steal more than that?"

"Jewels, cash, pocket change compared to the rest that these can bring me," Black Mask said. He held up one of the rocks.

"Looks like nothing special to me," one of the goons said. "But, you're the boss…boss…so what now?"

"You should be out there, searching for my property," Black Mask said. "No one gets in and no one gets out of Gotham City, until Catwoman's head and the jewels are brought before me. I want men at all of the exit points, the bridge across from town."

The men nodded, none of them daring to say anything to disrupt his plans. They knew that when their boss had something on his mind, he wasn't going to back up.

"Number One has your assignments, there are other men who are moving into position," Black Mask said. "I want everything cleared up by morning. I don't care if I have to bring all of Gotham City to its knees."

"What about the other mobsters, they won't like you moving in on their territory?" one of the goons asked.

"Get rid of them," Black Mask said.

The dull emerald in his hand was doing a wonderful job in tempting him. He heard the stories, the whispers. The golden mask had mystical properties beyond his wildest dreams. It would go nicely with his collection of masks at the very least, but it would bring great fame and fortune to its wearer.

Normally he wouldn't be blinded by such mystic insanity, but Sionis was intrigued by the possibilities. The mask had been in the collection of many great rulers and now Sionis thought that it would present him with a unique opportunity to be the Kingpin of Gotham City.

Sionis exited his lair and prepared to monitor the man's efforts. He could see two of them about ready to leave.

Two shots fired and knocked them down to the ground. A third man fell down onto the ground and blood poured out of his mouth when he landed on the ground.

Sionis looked like someone had practically shot him hard. He turned and gazed at the man standing in the shadows. His face turned into an extremely ugly scowl. "You've picked the wrong day to fuck with me."

"Relax, I'm here to show you that I'm the only man for the job to collect your little bounty," the man in the shadows commented. "You shouldn't send a thug to do a professional's job."

He turned around with a solid whip and shot another man who tried to attack him from behind.

"I heard of all of the failed efforts tonight," the man said. He clicked his tongue in absolute embarrassment. "You know, if I were you, I would be embarrassed….and….I deserved that."

He fired the gun out of Black Mask's hand, without getting wounded at all. He looked like an old school gunslinger and a good one at that. He looked on with a twisted smile on his face.

"Roman, Roman, Roman," he commented, shaking his head. "I believe that we have a long discussion to have. If you want Catwoman taken out, with no questions ask, then I'm your guy. I've been sent here….by some people who want to see you succeed. It's best for business. And you don't have to pay a dime, because they're giving me my fee up front."

"What's the catch?" Black Mask asked.

"Well, my…employers want a hand in your little treasure," he commented. "Nothing really important, and naturally, you can take whatever you want first."

Black Mask thought the offer would be more than reasonable. All he wanted was the Golden Mask that would allow him fame and fortune. Any other treasures they wanted, well they could have him, at least temporarily.

Gotham City would be his.

"So, who are you?" Black Mask asked. "And who sent you?"

"You see, I can't tell you about that second one, confidentiality oath I'm afraid," he said. "But as for the other part, call me Deadshot. I'm your guy who never misses."

He looked around and saw the goons down the ground. "Case in point."

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on July 28<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	83. Mask of Discontent Part Two

**Chapter Eighty-Three: Mask of Discontent Part Two.**

* * *

><p>Arcane, Nightwing, and Flamebird waited for another figure to show herself, and sure enough, she turned up right on schedule. Batwoman turned up in all of her glory. She was just finishing up beating up some thugs elsewhere in Gotham City. She frowned when she turned up and looked at the trio.<p>

"Looks like Sionis is pretty serious about the jewels, if he wants Catwoman dead for it," she commented. Harry nodded in response. "But, is he….exactly what does he want? What could be beyond all riches for someone like Sionis?"

That was a good question and Harry wanted to find out the answer straight away. If he knew Selina, she wouldn't take this one laying down. He had just knocked out two other potential assassins on his way out there.

Selina always showed herself someone you wanted to get keep your eye on, for various reasons. Harry tapped his foot on the ground and hummed underneath his breath. He was thinking about something and he switched to the bond link.

'_So, how goes the research, Felicity?' _Harry asked her. He wanted to see if she could uncover what he needed before too long.

Felicity sighed and gave him her honest assessment. _'Well there are a lot of legends out there regarding this item….I'm not sure that I can vouch for the accuracy of them or not. The problem is, I think that Black Mask believes it and that spells trouble for us.'_

'_Whatever he's looking for, it has to be a vital component for him to take control of Gotham City,' _Harry thought. He knew Sionis had gotten more desperate over the years.

The man already gained a fair amount of territory and craved more. That was the type of the man who was extremely obsessed with what he was looking for.

He turned to Barbara, who frowned. "Well, all I've been able to find out was about the bounty that he put on Selina. Which is old news by this point, isn't it?"

"Yes, it's old news," Harry agreed with her. "And by this point, some of the more cerebral people would have found out about the bounty so….I think it goes without saying that's what I'm worried about."

"Well, I'm sure if Selina was here, she'd tell you that she's a big girl and she could take care of herself," Barbara said. Harry raised his eyebrow. Barbara smiled back at him, even though it was wrong to see Batwoman smiling in any way whatsoever. "I know, that could be the problem."

Harry looked around. He was pretty sure a reckoning drew even closer. Nightwing and Flamebird stood on either side of him.

"It would help if we knew who we were looking for, you know," Nightwing commented. She folded her hands together with a frown on her face.

"Could mean any number of high profile assassins coming to Gotham City," Harry said.

'_Any news of anyone in the League of Assassins trying to make a quick few bucks,' _Harry asked Sara.

Sara snorted in response, _'They wouldn't be able to pay their medical bills if they tried anything against one of your women. But nothing through my contacts….we've got bigger problems as you well know. Mostly with the Ra's fanatics….some people just can't let it go.'_

'_That's really the sad truth,' _Talia agreed. She wished that people would get that her father is dead. He chose his own manner of death and Harry as his successor. It was pretty much over for them all.

'_Okay….I'm not sure if this classifies as good news, but I've got news never the less,' _Felicity piped in. _'And this makes perfect sense if this is what Sionis is after.'_

'_Well, don't leave us in suspense,' _Barbara commented with a smile.

'_There are untold riches in that chamber, but the most valuable asset is a gold mask that legend has it is able to warp the entire fabric of reality without any effort,' _Felicity thought to herself. _'I tell you….some of the things people will believe. Well, anyone, legend states that the Pharaoh who had the mask was able to defeat enemies seamlessly, at least for a while and obtain untold riches.'_

'_But the mask was cursed, wasn't it?' _Harry asked.

'_How did you know?' _Felicity asked.

'_Well, the Pharaoh isn't kicking around anymore, is he?' _Harry asked. That wasn't a point. _'This might be a short term fix to anyone's goals. And it's a dangerous item to be put in anyone's possession.'_

'_That's for sure,' _Barbara thought. _'But Sionis is only interested in his short term goals, to push himself to achieve them and rule over Gotham City…..I guess obsessed doesn't even begin to describe what he's feeling.'_

'_I remember this….my mother told me about it,' _Cassie chimed in. _'It was cursed…the user would get a sense that they could do no wrong and that they were on top of the world, at least for a little bit. That sense promptly died and…..well it just promptly died.'_

'_I see,' _Harry commented.

'_I'll confirm that it did, it's one of the many mystical artifacts that caused a great dynasty for a short amount of time,' _ Helena Sandsmark chimed in. _'And then it's promptly forgotten by history….except for those who are willing to dig deep enough. It's so great that it's been regulated to legends and rumors.'_

"And this is what Sionis wants, because he thinks that it will put him on top of Gotham City," Harry answered. "Very few men could handle the awesome power that the mask has."

"And women to be fair," Alex said. She doubted that she could handle a mask that warped the very fabric of reality.

All magical artifacts contained a backfire. If life could be solved by the usage of an artifact, everything might end up differently.

"So, did you find out where Sionis is throwing a fit?"

Catwoman slunk back onto the rooftop. She stood back, brazen as ever. Her hand dripped with blood.

"Got in a scrap with someone who had a hundred thousand reasons to do it," Catwoman said. "I don't know where they find these rank amateurs, but it's kind of depressing. And by kind of depressing, I mean very depressing."

Harry nodded in response. Relief filled his body; no one extremely dangerous took a shot at her. Regardless, he leaned in towards her, explain to her what he found out about the mask that Sionis was after.

* * *

><p>Much later in the evening, Arcane slipped off into the shadows to follow the lead. It left Nightwing, Flamebird, Catwoman, and Batwoman sitting on the rooftop with each other. It was a tense situation.<p>

"You know, I'd find this more amusing if there wasn't someone who put another bounty on my head," Catwoman said. "You know, you're a bit too good at your work when that happens….nothing compared to what's being offered for the head of Batwoman."

She turned to Batwoman.

"So, what's the deal with him?" Catwoman asked. "He disappeared one night….and since no body was found….there's no….well you know how it goes in our line of work. No body, no death, and all of that."

"We're current investigating," Batwoman said.

Catwoman looked on in surprise, "So….you don't know…not even his sidekick?"

Her eyes shifted over to Nightwing, who scowled in response and gave her a frown, "I ceased being his sidekick a long time ago."

"Sorry if I offended you," she said, practically purring. She placed her hand on the top of Nighwing's head and ruffled her hair playfully. "Why don't we kiss and make up?"

"Now that sounds interesting," Flamebird said. She looked at Nightwing, who gave her one of those looks of "do not encourage her."

Everyone waited anxiously in the unsettling silence for Harry to return. Normally the sounds of gunfire would not put them on edge, given that this was Gotham City. There was about a hundred thousand reasons why Selina would be put on edge though, along with the rest of them.

"Hopefully he didn't run into any trouble," Selina said.

Barbara shook her head. "By his own admission, he doesn't run into trouble, trouble normally finds him and at the worst possible times as well."

Selina frowned and conceded things with a nod. "I'll take your word for it."

Barbara smiled, the woman looked fairly sour and the fact that the bounty was on her head wasn't willing to do her any good. She looked around with her infa-red eyes hooked into her cowl, but saw nothing concealed.

That was either good or bad. She was pretty certain that there was no one there, but the person could have been covering their tracks pretty well. She responded with one of those deep frowns that got even deeper the more that she thought about it.

"Anything?" Rebecca asked her.

Barbara shook her head. "Nothing….oh wait, there's a downed body on the ground. Not sure if it's some drug addict or assassin, it's really hard to tell at this point."

"Assassin, and I took him out before he could get in position."

The girls all whipped around and Harry stood casually there, having gotten the drop on them once more. It seemed that after all of these years, he hadn't quite lost his touch in inducing heart failure in women. Selina stood up straighter when she looked him in the eye.

"That's…that's….." Selina said. She shook her head to clear it, knowing that it would be essentially useless to call Harry out. "Just how many of them are there?"

Harry frowned. "Three on my way back and three on my way around. The word is spreading fast, but I'm sure a few of them are biding their time."

"Why would they wait around?" Rebecca asked.

Alex decided to step over Harry and answer the question for him. "Well, they think that Sionis would up the price."

Rebecca conceded her words made a lot of sense. She could see Harry casually step to the side, almost like he was waiting for something.

A gunshot brought the group out of their thoughts and Harry teleported in front of Selina instantly. Three bullets fired at him, hitting the chest plate of his armor with a resounding crunch. The bullets dissolved the moment that it hit him full on.

Selina took a moment to catch her breath and she knew how close she was to getting smacked. It was pretty close, so close that she had to catch her breath.

Harry jumped up and whipped his hand. A loud crack echoed in the air and energy flowed from the palm of Harry's hand. It caught the shooter and he jumped up, and pulled him over.

He ably disabled the guns and slammed the man on the ground. It was obvious that he was a skilled assassin, but Harry as well.

"Deadshot," Harry said.

"You know him?" Selina asked.

"Ran into each other in the past," Harry said. "He's a skilled marksman who never misses, ever. He's given his services to the highest bidder, and that bidder tonight is Black Mask."

"So, if he's that good, I should feel fortunate," Selina said. She looked at him, but Harry held his hand up. She took half of a step back.

He crouched down to look him over. While he took out his guns, he didn't want to take any chances, that he might have had another surprise on him. Harry frowned when he looked over the man. Clean for right now. Harry waved his hand and in two fell strokes bound the man and jolted him awake.

"The Dreaded Dragon," Deadshot said. He looked up in surprise. "If I would have known it was you, I would have worn a better suit than this ragged piece of shit."

Harry's eyebrow corked when he looked down at the man in question. He pressed his foot down onto him.

"Black Mask, yeah, I'm pretty sure that you know he put a bounty on the pussy," Deadshot said. He chuckled at the meaning of his words. "And he's after a treasure….but I wasn't about to take the money. I've got someone bigger that I'm working for that is paying me more than a hundred thousand."

"Well, you're going to tell me all about that," Harry said. He injected a chemical from his suit into him. "The truth can hurt, but lying to me will hurt even more. Do you understand?"

Deadshot nodded in response. "But, I'm sure you already know the people that I'm working for, don't you? They're someone that have been giving you headaches for a long time. For years in fact, but we don't need for me to tell you that, do you?"

Harry didn't need him to tell them that indeed.

* * *

><p>Black Mask thought that he hit the jackpot, or at least he assumed he did. He found himself out of an abandoned penthouse on the outskirts of Old Gotham. It looked far nicer than a lot.<p>

"Then again, the bitch is able to steal a lot from anyone," Black Mask grumbled. He pushed his way through the door and it cracked open, allowing him to enter the Penthouse with ease.

Black Mask looked around, contempt flashing through his eyes. He turned his head around and frowned when he took a step forward.

The mobster spotted stacks of money instantly. Maybe it was his, maybe it wasn't, he didn't give a fuck at this point.

Black Mask stepped over and saw them lying on the table, as clear as day. The two pieces to the map vanished, and his teeth curled into a smile, even if it was not that visible underneath the mask.

"You thought you were clever, didn't you, bitch?" Black Mask asked.

Maybe if the criminal thought the coincidence through a bit more clearly or a lot less blinded by his ambitions; he might have questioned how he was lead to this place. He didn't really pay much attention to any thoughts of doubt racking in his mind.

He picked up the two jewels. They glinted into the light, surprising because they were normally so dull. It might have been due to the fact that it was in such close proximity of its third jewel.

"You thought that you could outsmart me, but….I've got it now, it's mine, it's all mine!" Black Mask crowed. He sounded like he was about to burst.

Black Mask exited the penthouse and made his way down the set of stairs. He looked at the limo and his men were waiting.

"We put them together, we get the key, and power and glory will be mine!" Black Mask yelled. He got into the back seat and the limo was driving down the street.

Arcane looked down from the rooftop. He smiled when he saw the two emeralds that rested in his bag. Black Mask would hand him the third, having taken the decoys quite nicely. He swallowed the bait.

"Batwoman, Nightwing, and Flamebird, make sure you're in position," Arcane said over the radio head set. He could always talk through the bond network, but sometimes you didn't want to confuse things by having about forty people listen into what you're saying.

"Right, he's bringing the package through," Nightwing said. "The package is now bringing down the security network of his warehouse."

"Finally," Harry said.

Arcane created the decoys with a subtle trigger that would destroy the security network at Black Mask's headquarters, allowing them to slip in. It had been a long time coming, but it was time for them to take that bastard down a peg or two, or three.

Harry smiled when he saw Catwoman slip inside. She made her way inside with a grin crossing on her face.

Black Mask stepped over and held up the two jewels in his hand. He was about to rejoin them with the third.

He placed them down next to the third and he frowned. Something was wrong. The jewels were supposed to form a key that he could use to find the treasure. It wasn't forming together. Something was extremely wrong. No matter what he did, he couldn't snap them together. He tried to do so constantly, placing the two emeralds together. They weren't playing ball with him. That was not a good thing.

Black Mask's frown deepened when he held them up. His eyes glinted fiercely when he tried again and again.

"What's the matter Roman, having trouble?"

He turned around and saw the bitch that stole from him crouched over the catwalk. She smiled and waved casually at him.

"You're going to pay for what you've done," Black Mask said.

"Your little mercenaries didn't do any good, maybe you're going to take a shot at me now," Catwoman said. She smiled.

Black Mask snapped his fingers and his men made his way over. They all had Catwoman covered.

"There's no way out, you've robbed from your last person," Black Mask said. He turned to his men. "Whoever puts the final bullet in the Cat gets the bounty. It's so simple that I don't have to spell it out for you, do I?"

The men all shook their heads, they got it perfectly. They aimed their guns and were about to fire on Catwoman.

The only problem was their guns were all knocked out of their hands in one fell swoop. A smoke pellet landed on the ground and a choking cloud of smoke caused them to be blinded.

Batwoman swooped down from the shadows and nailed them full on with a brutal double clothesline. They nailed the ground hard.

Nightwing rushed in and cracked them on the kneecap. She dodged their attacks. She used the acrobatics that made her a star in the Circus. She knocked out one of the nearest goons.

Black Mask turned to face Catwoman who dropped down. "That just proves it, if you want something done right, you've got to fucking do it yourself."

Black Mask fired a shot at Catwoman. She crouched down to avoid the attack. A second shot hit the armor, but thankfully didn't penetrate deeper.

The rug got pulled out from underneath Black Mask quite literally. Arcane jumped into the air and landed on the back of Black Mask's head, curb stomping him into the ground.

Arcane's attack did the job of knocking him out. He made sure though with one more shot to the back of the head. You could never be too careful.

The emerald-eyed vigilante reached down and fished through the pocket of the gangster. The shining emerald was fished out of his pocket when he pulled back and he smiled in response.

"Well, looks like that we've completed the entire set after all," Selina said. She watched when Nightwing, Batwoman, and Flamebird pretty much tied up the members of Black Mask's gang. "I'm curious to see where this leads though."

"That makes two of us, doesn't it?" Harry asked her. She nodded in response. She couldn't wait to see where the map lead them.

Right now, Black Mask's gang needed to get rounded up and brought to justice. Gotham City would sleep a little safer, until they were back on the street.

* * *

><p>"Roman Sionis, better known as Black Mask, is currently in Blackgate tonight, although he has claimed that he will fight this to the full extent of the law and his attorneys are on it. The alleged crime lord known as Black Mask has committed several crimes and has been tied to several murders. We will have more information on this late breaking story as it comes to you. This is Vicki Vale, signing off."<p>

Harry smiled when he kept his eyes on the table, at Selina's apartment. He had a decoy everything, including penthouse. The young man reclined on the couch, dressed in a casual pair of slacks and a nice t-shirt. Selina had switched into a nice silk bathrobe that was extremely short and showed a tantalizing hint of her thighs.

"You know what surprises me," Selina said. Harry frowned and he looked at Selina with a raised eyebrow. "Well there are a lot of things about you that surprise me, but….you know, you have a decoy penthouse here…just in case."

"Well, would you rather me send you to your actual apartment?" Harry asked.

"I'm flattered that you had me upgraded to penthouse as well," Selina said, shaking her head. "I really wish that was for real."

"Just say the word," Harry said. Selina placed her finger against his lip.

"Tempting, but I've got to stay humble somehow," Selina commented. She shrugged in response. "I guess that I don't do a good job of it."

'_Runs in the family,' _Karen chimed in and Helena looked at her in response. It was the thousand yard bat glare of doom that was surprisingly effective over the bond link all things considered. _'And aren't you upset that you missed this mission?'_

'_Slightly, but I guess that I'm going to have to get over it,' _Helena thought in response.

Harry smiled when he leaned back.

"So, I'm surprised the rest of your crew isn't here," Selina said. She placed her hand on Harry's thigh and slowly eased its way up.

"Well, Batwoman had to go take care of something, and Nightwing and Flamebird wrapped up their patrol," Harry said.

"So, that just means the two of us are here all alone,' Selina said. She looked at the three emeralds on the table and turned back towards Harry with a smile. "And I know that you're a bit curious about why Sionis had his panties in a ruffle."

Harry frowned when he looked at her.

"Bad image I know," Selina agreed. She folded her arms and frowned. "But, seriously, he was all agitated for a good reason I think. I'd like to know why if I were you….at least I would if I were you."

Harry continued to look at Selina. Green eyes met green eyes and she pulled back with a shrug.

"Okay, I'm curious, but can you blame a girl?" she asked him. Harry smiled at him. "You're not blaming me, which is a good thing, I think."

"Maybe, maybe not," Harry muttered. He could see his gaze rake over Selina's face and she sighed.

Harry decided that the time for fun and games was over. He slid over the emeralds where they rested on top of each other.

The emeralds clicked together without any prompting of his own, and there were questions about how created this map in this way. Questions, Harry wasn't certain that he would want the answers to.

A flash of light manifested around them and a three dimensional map appeared in front of them. Harry looked at it in surprise.

'_So, does that look familiar to any of you, or is it just me?' _Harry asked.

Kara gasped through the bond link and she nodded. _'Yes, that's the same exact location where she found Kat's ship.'_

'_You mean we had an extremely powerful treasure there this entire time, and we didn't know it?' _Donna asked. She could hear murmurs of agreement. _'Well that about figures, doesn't it.'_

Donna's pouting amused all of them, but Harry turned his attention away from her to focus on Selina. Selina obviously was looking at him.

"I take it by the look in your eyes, it was familiar to you," Selina informed him. Harry smiled. "Yes, I thought so."

"It most certainly wasn't foreign," Harry told her. "I've been there before."

Harry's statement made Selina even more curious. Harry could see that she was looking at him with having questions in her eyes.

"This mask isn't the first cursed artifact that I've encountered that came from this particular area of Egypt," Harry explained. He smiled when he looked at her. "It's something dangerous, perhaps a good thing that Sionis is locked up."

What worried Harry were the individuals Deadshot worked with. Those men and women might be more dangerous than most.

"Oh, you mean the McElroy thing," Selina said. "That guy was absolutely out of his mind before his brain became saturated in pure evil."

"He did live a hard life," Harry said.

Selina slid her hand closer towards his inner thigh. The woman casually rested her hand against his thigh.

"Well, I'm sure that you're going to figure out some way to solve things, you always do."

Harry smiled when she leaned forward. Their lips met with an extremely passionate kiss. It was obvious after tonight, she was pent up and ready to explode.

"You know, our standard meeting didn't go as planned," Selina said. She straddled his lap and grinded herself up against his crotch. "Maybe we should finish it."

Harry grabbed the sash of her robe and yanked it off, to reveal Selina's ravishing body. Her breasts pushed up in a lacy black bra. She wore a black thong, showing off her sexy ass.

"And now, I think that you're a bit too overdressed, aren't you?" Selina asked him. She shifted her lips into a wicked smile. "Maybe we should fix that?"

* * *

><p>Harry decided to leave the three women in his wake. He smiled when he heard Doctor Sandsmark breathing on the outskirts of the bond link.<p>

'_So, what can I do for you?' _Harry asked her. That caused her to look at him from afar and Harry smiled. _'That's a bit of a loaded question, isn't it?'_

'_Just a little bit, yes,' _she agreed. _'But I had been looking into both the map and the legend….I can't believe that I had been blind enough to miss it. Actually, I can't believe that we had been blind enough to miss it.'_

'_The emeralds must have acted like a secret keeper, and the temple where the mask is….is guarded underneath some Fidelius spell,' _Harry said. He paused and thought that he better explain that particular spell, one that he grew to hate because of how faulty it was despite people believing that it was foolproof.

'_So if it's faulty, then it should be remarkable that it remained hidden for this long, isn't it?' _Diana asked.

'_Yep, pretty much,' _Harry informed her. He thought about it. _'If the Light is going after the treasure…..it was obvious that they used Black Mask.'_

'_And how do you figure that out?' _Donna asked. She realized something suddenly. _'Oh, they were going to have Deadshot shoot him as well.'_

'_Very astute,' _Cassie commented. She was new at this and she figured this out. She folded underneath the "Mom" look from her mother. The Demigoddess personified power beyond all measure, but her mother always silenced her. _'You know maybe you should come over so we can talk about this, Harry…you know the three of us.'_

'_You're not being subtle at all, in fact you're being very obvious,' _Donna said. She looked at Cassie, who stuck out her tongue in response over the bond. Donna, showing that her age hadn't quite matched up with her maturity, stuck her tongue.

Helena turned her attention to Hippolyta. _'So?'_

'_I've learned to live with it after a while,' _Hippolyta said. She sounded resigned. _'When you have to deal with an entire group of Amazons, the antics of your daughter tends to not be as much of a frustration to you.'_

'_Point well taken,' _Helena agreed.

* * *

><p>Kori thought hard and knew the situation she experienced might be hopeless. Gamora had been by less than a handful of times, to try and get her to confess. Kori had argued until she was white in the face that she wasn't responsible for what happened.<p>

The arguments of the alien princess fell on extremely deaf ears. Kori placed her head in her hands and sighed. She waited, waited until she was put in front of Thanos.

Thanos, the man who she heard horror stories of as a child, showed little mercy to anyone. Kori doubted very much he would do to her, anymore than Gamora did at least. Kori placed her hands on the side of her head and rocked back and forth in a failed attempt to calm her nerves.

Why did her sister do this to her? What did she do to her sister? What crime did she do? Kori didn't know and that much terrified her. She rocked back and forth in the cell.

The guards walked, one of them sliding her daily food inside. It wasn't much, but it was all that she was allowed. Kori knew not to waste a crumb. Even as royalty, her parents drilled that into her head. It set a bad example of royals could callously waste food.

She didn't know quite what it was either that she was served, but it was better for her if she didn't ask questions. Kori placed the food into her mouth and chewed it. It tasted like….well something unpleasant.

The ship turned around and she could hear the familiar set of footsteps of Gamora walking up the hallway. The green skinned woman stopped at the cell door and looked at her.

"It's more than you deserve," Gamora said. The Deadliest Woman in the universe glared at Kori with contempt. "There's one final chance for you to confess before you arrive before him….and if you tell me where you hid the real one, I will ask him to make your death short and painless."

"I told you," Kori rasped. "I told you….I don't know…..I wasn't…"

"You can't lie to me," Gamora said. There was a small bit of doubt in her mind that she was the one that did it.

While she was the deadliest woman in the universe, Gamora still feared Thanos like many had. One could say that she was a coward, but she disagreed. She disagreed and thought that she was extremely intelligent.

"You will speak to him, but your sniveling will not go over well with him," Gamora said. "He doesn't take kindly to those that steal from him."

"You're talking about….them, aren't you?" Kori asked. "But, they aren't for any one person to hold, the power is too dangerous."

She wondered why she had been so blind not to find this out right away. She wondered how she could be so dense. She wondered, oh boy did she wonder.

"We're passing through Sector 2814, we'll be there within three orbital cycles."

"Plenty of time to confess," Gamora said.

She doubted now more than ever that this woman would confess. Thanos trumped over all. He raised her and showed her mercy when he didn't have to. He got her the training to become a fierce warrior many feared.

Soon, Gamora would be reunited with him and she dreaded his disapproval, like any daughter would.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on July 31<strong>**st****, 2015. **


	84. The Isis Temple Part One

**Chapter Eighty-For: The Isis Temple Part One.**

* * *

><p>Harry arrived at the Sandsmark Residence to acquire the information Helena dug up for him. He had a feeling they were going to be stumbling into something big, something a lot of people wanted their hands on.<p>

'_Wow, I don't even know if we've scratched the surface,' _Alex thought.

'_But, when isn't something big, that a lot of people want their hands on?' _Gwen asked. _'It just seems to be what goes on during our line of work.'_

'_I agree,' _Barbara said. She looked thoughtful and agitated at the same time. _'The bad guys come in and try and get something big and dangerous. We stop them, hopefully before it's too late.'_

In Harry's mind, time never ran short. To think about the terms of an event coming much too late defeated the purpose of everything he was going to do. With what Harry intended to do in mind, he made his way to the front step of the Sandsmark residence. He could teleport inside, but might be a tad bit rude.

'_And when has that stopped you before?' _Chloe asked.

Harry brushed off Chloe's teasing and raised his hand and knocked on the door.

The sorcerer waited at the edge of the steps for someone to answer, but Harry didn't have to wait for very long. The door swung open and there was a squeal of, "Harry!"

Cassie Sandsmark ran out the door and threw her arms around Harry in a tight hug. The demigoddess squeezed him in a tight hug. Harry smiled, when she wrapped her arms around him tightly. She leaned up and he captured her lips in a brief kiss.

The girl stepped back, dazzled from the kiss.

"It's so good to see you again," Cassie said. Harry raised his eyebrow at her. The girl threw her hands into the air in the universal position for surrendering. "Okay, it's been, what, about three days since you've last seen me, but still, the point still stands, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does," Harry said. He gave both of them added room to breathe. "So, how are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm fine," Cassie piped up in a cheerful voice. She gave Harry a grin in response when she gripped his hand and lead him inside. "Just enjoying one of my few days off. The mission in Gotham City was a real test and I'm surprised Diana hasn't been over to critique my performance in great detail yet."

Cassie realized far too late about the importance of the virtue of keeping one's mouth shut.

' _I haven't, have I?' _Diana asked. _'Thanks for reminding me.'_

Cassie developed a rather obvious, "me and my big mouth" type of frustrated look on her face. Harry patted her on the back of her head in a consoling manner and Cassie's lips curled into a frustrated frown before she pulled back.

Some cleared her throat in the distance and a fairly amused Helena Sandsmark stepped in. She walked towards Harry, greeting him with a smile.

"It is good to see you again, Harry."

She threw her arms around Harry with a hug and he responded by kissing her extremely hard. Helena returned the kiss even harder, as if to show her daughter how to kiss her man.

Cassie resisted the urge to rub the area between her legs, but she came to the consensus the action turned her on. Pretty hot, to be blunt, and Cassie cleared her throat.

Helena pulled away from Harry and shook her head at Harry.

"To business now."

"Right, to business," Harry answered.

Harry allowed her to lead him into the living room. The two sunk down on the couch. Helena adjusted her glasses up the bridge of her nose. She picked up the packet of information.

"Well, what I've dug up about the temple, it isn't exactly the most encouraging of news, when you think about it."

Harry raised his eyebrow.

"How so?"

"The temple is cursed," Helena said. Harry frowned. "Yes, I know, they say about all temples, but….this one has some proof it's cursed. And well….three years ago, someone I knew very well paid the price."

"Adrianna Tomez?" Harry asked.

Helena nodded. She closed her eyes and returned back to the conversation.

"Yes, she and her team went into the temple. She reached the temple, they never did. She never left inside the temple. The last thing one of her team members heard was some screams and…..well….we don't know what happened."

Harry frowned. He thought about what Helena told him.

'_So is anyone reaching the obvious conclusion?' _Harry asked.

'_You mean someone trapped her in the temple?' _Karen asked.

'_Bingo,' _Harry said.

Helena caught the bond exchange and frowned.

"You don't think that there's a possibility she's still alive after all of these years, do you?" Helena asked. Harry raised his eyebrow. "I know we're shooting around in the dark, but you can't really blame someone from being hopeful, could you?"

Harry shook his head in negative.

"No, you really can't blame someone from being hopeful, you're right."

Helena sat down on the couch. Harry's hands brushed over the back of her neck and give her a massage. Helena appreciated Harry's actions because she was so tense. Both the business with an old colleague being business and work in general left Helena intense.

"It might be a lot easier if you take your clothes off, so I can get full coverage," Harry said. "Because, you have a lot of tension to relieve."

"Right," Helena said.

Helena stood up from the couch and slipped off her jacket. The MILF unbuttoned her blouse and revealed a pair of nice, firm breasts pressed up in a bra and a toned stomach. It was obvious she worked out a lot. She pushed her skirt down to reveal a shapely ass and beautiful smooth legs.

"Get down on your stomach and just focus on the pleasure I'm giving you," Harry said.

Helena obeyed Harry's instructions. Harry started at the back of her neck and started to rub down her shoulders. Helena moaned when Harry's magical hands raked over her body, going all the way down her back.

Harry rubbed her middle back, brushing down her. He edge closer to a sensitive area. Harry's finger brushed against her anus and his actions caused her to shiver, but Harry rubbed his hands down her legs. Her moans increased when he ran down the back of her legs.

Her legs spread for him, so he could move up down the insides of her legs. He made his way closer towards her inner thighs.

Helena gasped when she felt her panties pulled back and Harry was about ready to explore the treasure beneath.

* * *

><p>A beautiful sixteen year old female with brunette hair marched with a purpose towards the headquarters of the RAO Corporation. She adjusted her skirt and stood up in front of the front desk where another brunette waited for her.<p>

"Excuse me, M'am."

The receptionist at the desk looked up. The girl looked completely innocent. Hair tied back in a ponytail, glasses on, wearing a nice black sweater, and a long plaid skirt, along with thigh high boots. The girl gave a cute demeanor, in a girl next door type of way.

"My name is Mary Batson and I'm looking for Harry Potter," she said. "Sorry if I sound…but it's pretty urgent."

The receptionist hit a button the desk.

"We have an urgent problem."

Karen made her way down the elevator as quickly as she could. She handled Harry's affairs while he played tomb raider in Egypt. She heard there was an urgent problem and well urgent problems could be a crapshoot, anywhere from a real urgent problem, to what someone meant as urgent, but proved to be less than urgent.

She came face to face with the sixteen year old brunette.

"May I help you?" Karen asked her in a calm voice.

"I really, need to speak to Harry Potter, it's…well it's really urgent," Mary said. She was bouncing up and down on her heels. The girl's movement continued, and she failed with any attempt to stay in one place at the same time.

"Harry's not here right now," Karen said. "He left for Egypt earlier this morning."

"Darn, I'm too late," Mary said. She pumped her hand into the air and looked almost comical at her disappointed.

At least it would be comical, if she didn't look too serious. Karen thought she must have a good reason for coming all of this way.

"Why don't you come up to my office and you can tell me?" Karen asked. "It might not be too late after all."

Mary thought over about the offer for a second and she nodded. She allowed the older girl to lead her upstairs. The girl defined beauty, and Mary knew why Doctor Potter took this girl as one of his many wives.

Granted, the fact Doctor Potter acquired many wives wasn't public knowledge, although many people, well they figured it out, if they were smart enough, and Mary fancied herself as pretty smart. She blushed a little bit at the thought of the kind of man who could take care of many women. A naughty boy having fun with many women, but Mary figured this spiced up life.

She made her way up to a spacious office. The moment she entered the office, Karen led her ot a chair.

"Would you like anything to drink?" Karen asked. "Coffee?"

Mary shook her head. Karen frowned and raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, heaven's no, coffee puts me on edge," Mary said. "Sorry, if I came across as being rude, or something."

"Don't worry, you didn't," Karen said. "How about water?"

"Water would be good," Mary said. She had worked herself up into such a tizzy her throat gotten really dry. She couldn't even properly smack her lips together.

Karen smiled and walked over to get Mary a drink of water. She walked over and handed Mary the glass of water.

"There you go," Karen said.

"Thank you," Mary said. She downed the water in a few gulps and took a moment to collect her thoughts. She shook her head and returned back to the conversation at hand. "I rushed over here as quickly as I could after seeing the press conference Doctor Potter had with Doctor Sandsmark and Doctor Hall. The one where they announced they planned to investigate a particular area in Egypt….it's a pretty dangerous area. There's a lot of….well weird things over there."

Karen raised her eyebrow.

"What do you mean by weird things?"

Mary took in a deep breath.

"There's the Isis temple….there's far much more to it than meets the eye."

"The Isis Temple?" Karen asked.

"You haven't heard of it?" Mary asked. Karen shook her head. "It's the temple where the one lady, Adrianna Tomez, she disappeared about three years ago. The last thing people hard were her screams. It was horrible, wasn't it?"

Karen frowned. Talk about your small world after all kind of situations.

"Yes, I've heard how horrible it was," Karen said.

"She's….well, she was taken by them and chosen by them," Mary said. The girl took another drink of water. "People say the temple is cursed, but it's far deeper than the temple being cursed, far deeper than any one person could do."

Karen's interest increased to a new height. It was obvious Mary was trying to figure out how to break this to her, and Karen smiled when she looked at her.

"You can tell me, you know," Karen answered her.

"Yes, I know," Mary said. She finished the water. "The goddess who commissioned the temple waited for the Earthly vessel she would be able to lead her people to a new age. And…there's great power within the temple. And I think someone is after her great power, someone dangerous."

Karen hated when she learned things like what Mary described. Perhaps it would be obvious people were after great power. The greed of humanity, and people in the universe in general staring her in the face brought the mood down.

"Perhaps you should tell me everything you know."

X-X-X

Kat shuddered. The Princess reminded herself she agreed to this mission. Kat joined Harry, Diana, Shayera, and Helena Wayne on their way to the temple. The temple located in the same area her ship marooned a long time ago.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked.

Kat blinked and nodded.

"Yes, well no, but yes, kind of, I don't know."

Harry squeezed her hand to give Kat the strength to return herself to a state of calm, at least what passed as calm for her in such circumstances.

"It's just…this is the first time I've been back here, since you found me," Kat said. "I spent thousands of years trapped while my people forgot about me."

"It can be rough," Harry said. Kat nodded in response. "But, we'll be there for you all of the way."

Shayera leaned back against the chair. She had recalled this place. One element annoyed the woman.

"I can't believe we missed what we missed there. I mean, it was right on top of our heads, wasn't it?"

"Maybe, but things are so vast out there," Harry said.

Helena nodded as well.

"We were a tad bit preoccupied with the cult we fought with, as you well know."

Shayera clutched the handle of her mace. Her fingers grew numb from clutching the mace so hard.

"Yes, I'm well aware of , they were something demanded a lot of attention."

Harry leaned forward and checked the scanner for a few seconds. He frowned. There was more to this area than met the eye, he had a feeling.

'_You know, if there's a chance she's still alive in there, and I'm not saying she is, but there's a chance,' _Helena Sandmark said. _'I'm babbling, aren't I?'_

'_Yes, a little bit,' _Harry said. _'At least I know where your daughter gets it from sometimes.'_

Helena shook her head and calmed herself down. She decided to try and choose her words more carefully when she spoke to Harry.

'_But, seriously, I think there's a good chance she's alive out there. But, I'm not sure if there's a good chance she'll be the same, at least the same you knew her as'_

Harry hated to be the one to bring this point up.

'_Whatever happens, we'll know when we get there,' _Harry thought.

Harry hated to be the bearer of bad news. He found himself entering the role far too often for his liking.

'_Right, of course,' _Helena answered. She drummed her fingers against the seat where she sat in her office. She thought about going on this mission, but Cassie convinced her to stay home and it was likely for the best.

Diana turned towards Harry.

"What are we going to do when we find her?"

Harry frowned. He leaned forward to check to see if they were on course. He verified they were and answered Diana's question.

"You pose a good question. To be honest, we're going to have to play it by ear, see how how she reactions. The temple….."

'_I've had a very interesting meeting,' _Karen thought.. _'This young girl showed up, she said her name is Mary Batson, and she really needed to talk to you.'_

'_Young girls showing up needing to talk to Harry, well nothing new, is it?' _Kara said. Karen gave her sister one of those looks through the bond.

'_It isn't, very common place in fact' _Karen said. _'It isn't anything new, but….when she came here, she had something extremely interesting to tell me. It's about the temple you're heading to.'_

Harry's full and undivided attention directed upon Karen now. He wondered what was going on now and he suspected now showed itself to be the proper moment to learn.

'_Proceed,' _Harry said

'_She said Adrianna Tomez went into the Isis temple, and was chosen to become a vessel for a goddess,' _Karen said

'_Pretty insane though, isn't it?' _Gwen asked. She shook her head and rushed to amend what she said. _'Well, it's no more insane than a lot of the other shit we have to do with, but still…why some researcher?'_

'_Again, you pose good question,' _Harry said.

All of them found answers of some sort, but the answers raised even more questions.

'_Well, Adrianna was knowledgeable at what she did,' _Helena said. _'But, I'm not sure if being knowledgeable really is…..'_

Helena paused for long enough to collect her thoughts.

'_Do you think we have verification she could still be alive in there?' _she asked.

Harry smiled, and couldn't fault Helena grasping on to any explanation.

'_Maybe,' _Harry thought. _'If we're dealing with divine manners, we better….well this is beyond any curse, so I don't have to tell anyone how careful they need to be.'_

Kat eased up a little and hated herself for the fact she did. She feared something KRyptoanin or alien down there.

'_I wish I could tell you more, but she was in a hurry to leave,' _Karen offered. She frowned deeply. _'She seemed a bit….odd to say the least. Given many teenagers these days aren't really polite.'_

'_It really is a sad state of affairs when you're complaining about the politeness of a teenager,' _Lois said, shaking her head.

'_Hey, not really complaining, just making an observation,' _Karen said.

Harry turned to Helena. The woman leaned back and checked the onboard computer. They were getting rather close to their destination and they would be touching down in a matter of moments. Their level of excitement increased the closer Helena got to touching the ship down.

"So, everyone brace yourself because, we're getting close," Helena said. "So, what do you think?"

She address the crew at large, but Harry in particular. Harry placed his hand underneath his chin and leaned his head back.

"I think there might be a little more to Mary Batson than meets the eye. We might want to take a look at her."

Harry reckoned he and Mary Batson crossed paths before too long. The future proved to be uncertain and now, Harry and team ventured into some treacherous territory.

At least he hoped it wouldn't devolve into a fight. Sometimes, the luxury of what Harry wanted failed.

* * *

><p>Whitney put herself at work at the RAO main labs. She burned through some serious hours. The speedster burned through the keys making up the map.<p>

The energy readings popped up with a solid blip and she frowned. Whitney couldn't pinpoint the exact term for what quality these gems had. Enchanting, not the right word, and not a good word for a scientist to use; Whitney struggled to find another word. Eerie worked out well. Extremely eerie, extremely weird, two perfect ways Whitney found to describe these mysterious gems.

Susan, Caitlin, and Caitlin popped up in the lab. Whitney jumped with a start.

"Please stay behind the shields, I don't know how dangerous these things are if I prod them the wrong way," Whitney said.

Caitlin Snow frowned.

"If you're prodding them the wrong way, then….won't you get caught up in the blast?"

"Super speed, babe, I can handle it," Whitney said.

Caitlin's eyes narrowed.

"Call me babe one more time, and I'll give you the biggest case of brain freeze imaginable," Caitlin said.

The threat caused the other Caitlin and Susan to break out into laughter and Whitney sighed.

"When did I become everyone's butt monkey," Whitney said.

The speedster sighed and returned to her work.

'_Oh, but you're such a cute butt monkey,' _Kara said.

Whitney figured Kara wasn't going to let this comment pass without one in return.

Whitney cleared those thoughts from her mind, and resumed focus at the task at hand. She figured these gems, they radiated off an interesting dosage of energy. The trick was….well the trick was not to have the lab blow up when she was prodding at the gems.

'_Surprised you left these here,' _Whitney said to Harry. _'Didn't you say you needed a key to get inside?'_

'_If I didn't have my powers, I would, but I found out, I didn't need a key,' _Harry thought. _'If my theory is right….we're dealing with a lot of trouble.'_

'_Trouble with a capital T,' _Whitney said. She blinked when she saw it light up. She scanned them quickly and cross referenced the gems. Her hands moved at super speed when she tried to find it. _'Well, isn't this interesting?'_

Caitlin Fairchild frowned and she stepped closer.

"So, I'm guessing your gasp must have meant you found something."

Whitney nodded her head at super speed. There was a moment where she struggled to find the right words. She hated when she got tongue-tied; when her brain started to go faster than her mouth.

"So, what is it?" Sue asked.

"Well, remember the staff, McElroy stole a couple of years back," Whitney said.

None of them worked at the lab when this happened, but they recalled all reading it through the archives. Besides, McElroy's rampage as Tut and him causing the three plagues registered as national news. Granted, he got his history backwards just a little bit, but it was still national news with how crazed and how insane he was.

"We remember it, yes," Caitlin Snow said. The brunette leaned towards Whitney. "So, spit it out, babe."

Whitney thought Caitlin mocked her, but she couldn't be for sure.

"Well, the gems, they have a similar energy source….not as strong as the staff, mind you, but it's….like they came from the same manufacture."

The redhead speedster took a few seconds to really catch her breath. She frowned when she leaned against the pillar and thought about a few things.

"And, the package the League liberated, Harry locked up, it has the eerie energy source in spades," Whitney said. "He did say it was important, but…..if the gems have a touch of it, then whatever is in the temple, has it in spades."

Whitney's mouth hung open and she decided to tap into the bond network. Unfortunately there was no way to call Harry. She turned worried.

'_I wouldn't be, they are flying over a heavily magical area,' _Kara said. _'Besides, if Harry and the others get into trouble, we've got reserves on the way and she's a hell of a reserve all things considered.'_

'_It's a wonder you don't break her out more often, because the bad guys would be toast in seconds,' _Whitney thought. _'Too easy, right?'_

'_Yes, much too easy, it does cheapen things if we go for the easy route,' _Artemis thought.

Whitney thought a study of the gems taught her an insane amount and the girl only scratched the surface. She wondered what other secrets they would have.

"They're giving off a low level energy," Whitney added. She frowned. "Not a good thing, mind you."

"With the energy levels the gems are giving off, someone could track them to this location, if they wanted to," Sue said

"Yes, they could, maybe," Whitney said. "But only if they knew what they were looking for, when they were looking for, and they had the proper equipment. And even then, it's kind of a crapshoot to be honest."

Whitney conceded Sue's point about the chance. Earth was getting a bit more known on the galactic scale and it was getting more well known for all of the wrong reasons. She continued her studies and hoped to learn more about what she was dealing with. The power of the gems piqued the scientific curiosity in her mind.

Sometimes, Whitney thought she was a bit too nosy for her own good and this was one of those circumstances where she certainly was. But, damn it, she just wanted to find out all she could. Her mind was running a million miles a minute.

"Better take a lunch break," Whitney said. "A girl's got to eat."

"For once, one of the few ideas you've which make sense," Caitlin said. Whitney looked at her with a raised eyebrow. The ice themed heroine/scientist smiled in response. "I don't think there's much more than we can figure it out."

Whitney made sure to secure the items necessary, because having something like laying around in a lab where anyone could pick it up and start playing with it, always proved to be a recipe for disaster. Nine-tenths of all super heroes received their powers in such a fashion.

* * *

><p>A group of well-dressed and armored men dragged a large drilling contraption outside of the door. The drill bit was put through the door, but it melted off before it could even penetrate the surface.<p>

Their leader, a large well-dressed man. The well-dressed man resembled brutish a caveman with his brutish features, stepped into the scene and surveyed them with an extremely critical eye.

"Yes, keep it up, don't back off, not at all."

The men nodded in response. Vandal Savage lived for a long time thanks to the meteor giving him longevity.

Today, he was looking for something very interesting. Sionis was a bit of a wild card, he knew all about what Sionis intended to do, but he never the less verified what they sought loomed in these temples

"Boss, I don't think we're getting through the door," one of the men said.

Savage grunted.

"Yes, perhaps not with conventional tools and methods. A great power lurks behind door of the Isis Temple, and my benefactors, they want it."

The goons knew not to question their boss. They wondered how they could get inside. One of the thugs made a suggestion.

"Maybe if we rig the door with dynamite and blow, we might be able to crack the surface enough to break our way inside."

"Trying to blow up the door would be an ill-advised move," a rough voice said.

A large and imposing gentleman dressed in a black suit with thick shoulders stepped into greater prominence. The men all backed up. The hardened men, part of Savage's private security force all paid this man his respect.

"Do enlighten them on why, Black Adam," Savage said.

Black Adam chose his words well.

"The magic cannot be broken by any….mortal means. This temple was forged by an extremely powerful being. A being I will claim once the enchantment is broken. If you had acquired the key as I had requested, we wouldn't have to do this the hard way."

"Yes, but there were circumstances, our associate…didn't do his job properly," Savage said. "I can assure you, he will pay."

"Just remember the agreement we made," Black Adam said.

"Yes, you get your bride, and we get everything else," Savage said.

Black Adam nodded. He didn't really care about the treasures. Trinkets failed to capture his interest for long. He wished to solidify his rule and he would need a queen to do so. What better queen to do so then a goddess?

"You know, there might be a spot for you within our organization," Savage said. "If we're able to work together…"

"Yes, I'll keep your offer in mind," Black Adam said.

He thought the Light assumed the was brutish strength. He was some kind of pawn they could maneuver to achieve whatever their goals were.

Adam looked at the edge of the gate and he turned the private security force.

"Step aside."

The men all stepped aside. They wondered what he was going to do, because he said the temple could not be opened by any mortal means. Then again, they weren't dealing with any kind of mortal.

Savage knew Black Adam had his own plans regarding the temple, but he wouldn't be at this location if it wasn't for the Light. When he had a chance, he would remind Black Adam of how he owed them and owed the Light.

* * *

><p>Kori thought she spent way too much time on this ship. Months dragged by. Or maybe was just her imagination, because of the accommodations. It did seem for ages since she was sent to see Thanos.<p>

She shivered; this wasn't the best place she had been in her life. Kori stretched back, the tattered prison garb she wore made her skin crawl with disgust. Kori wished for the ability to strip it off, but her restraints had made it extremely difficult to do.

Footsteps caused Kori to grow a bit nervous. She knew the guards made their rounds at this time and one of them stared at her like a piece of meat. If Gamora didn't intervene and tell him to return to his station, she didn't want to think about what this individual would do.

She looked up and saw Gamora stood once more across from her.

"Yes?" Kori asked.

The woman clutched the side of the bench. Any cheerfulness left the woman's voice.

"We'll be there soon," Gamora said.

"You've been saying that for a long time, you know," Kori said. She shifted against the cot. One of the jagged springs poked her and she grimaced. "Do you really mean it this time?"

Gamora resisted the urge to slap the prisoner for her insubordination.

"We're almost there. Do you have something to tell me?"

"I don't think I have anything further to tell you, that I haven't told you dozens of times," Kori said.

If she wasn't in these restraints, Kori intended to punch Gamora. A stupid maneuver given Gamora's status as the most dangerous woman in the universe; temptation cancelled out any intelligence. Did Kori have anything left to lose to begin with?

"It would be easy on both of us if you would just admit what you did and where you put the real gem," Gamora said. She stepped back. "Very well, he won't be lenient on you."

A loud boom rocked the entire ship and Gamora turned around to investigate the source. She quickened her pace, walking at an accelerated rate. Several more booms connected. A boom sounding like an engine failure followed.

"What's wrong?" Gamora demanded.

"The engine failed," the navigator said. "There's something….something's gone wrong….and we're heading for a collision course with the third planet from this universe's sun."

Gamora racked her brain. The ship headed straight for Earth, a planet rose in prominence, but was rather low on the Intergalactic scene. A few prominent universal figures made their homes on Earth, but only a footnote.

"There's nothing you can do to get us the rest of the way," Gamora said.

"Nothing, we're going to crash."

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on August 2<strong>**nd****, 2015.**


	85. The Isis Temple Part Two

**Chapter Eight-Five: The Isis Temple Part Two.**

* * *

><p>The group scrambled in the direction of the temple, and it went without saying Harry felt something in the air. He couldn't figure out exactly what precisely he felt. The feeling unsettled Harry and, he expected the other shoe to drop in the worst possible way. The vessel flew with Harry, Kat, Helena, Shayera, and Diana on it.<p>

"We're almost there," Harry said.

Shayera gave Harry a side long look and could tell how intense he was. The intensity terrified her, which was saying something given how intense she could get in her day.

"Don't worry about it, we're ready."

"I'm not worried about it, and I know," Harry said.

Magic pulsed in the air and drove Harry closer. The vessel jerked a little bit in the air, but it didn't crash.

A whoosh echoed off to the side and a bang followed seconds later. Something hit against the edge of Harry's plan and nearly damaged one of the wings of the vessel. The onboard system started to give him a warning hum.

"That shouldn't have happened, should it?" Kat asked. "I mean, no one should have been able to hit the ship hard."

"I don't know," Harry informed Kat.

Helena leaned over to check over the system and gave her assessment.

"It wasn't too damaging, it wasn't a complete and direct hit. But it goes without saying the attack did it still did its share of damage and we're going to go down really hard on our way down."

Harry glanced off to the side out of the corner of his eye. He double checked the shields. They were, but something extremely powerful struck against the shield. He managed to see the individual who struck against the shield. Harry recognized the flying individual.

"So, is he…." Kat said. Her mouth hung open.

The super powered being plowed a fist into the side of the ship. The ship rattled from the ship. Another bang threatened to dismantle and rip the shields apart. The flying man pounded on the hull of the ship with a loud smack, smack, smack.

"It's him, isn't it?"

"Yes, yes, it is," Harry said. Harry took a full gaze at the man hurling towards the plane. "Black Adam, he's….."

Harry failed to finish his sentence. The shields cracked around the ship when Black Adam pounded on the ship. Extremely powerful magic intermingled with Harry's extremely powerful magic. The end result proved to be a bumpy ride.

Harry closed his eyes. The sorcerer tried to repair the damage or at least guide the plane down.

"One more shot, and we're all screwed," Kat said.

"Maybe we should get out…." Shayera said.

"First thing's first, we got to get the plane down to the ground," Diana said.

Harry's face screwed up in concentration. Said concentration failed to be broken by any means. Diana gripped Harry's hand.

"Working on it, right now," Harry said. The sorcerer kept his eyes shut and started to guide the plane the best he could.

'_The moment of truth is now.'_

Harry watched Black Adam nail the plane. The sorcerer fortified the plane. Harry prepared to fortify the shields around it, to lock him out.

Then again, he didn't have to. Someone flew towards Black Adam and engaged him in the air. She punched him as hard as she could. The punch resulted into a sonic ripple effect.

Explosions and loud bangs resounded around them. Several superfast fists plowed into each other. Harry spent a second observing the fight.

'_Never mind, we need to land the plane.'_

"Okay, one of the wings have been ripped off, and the wheels won't detach from the bottom," Harry said.. "Guess, I'm going to have to do this the boring way."

He placed his hand on one of the consoles and caused it to light up. Magical waves repaired the wings and caused the wheels to jut out. The plane descended to the ground.

"Great Rao," Kat breathed, at the same time Diana whispered "Hera."

The vehicle made its way down onto the ground and the entire group landed.

"Everyone get ready," Harry said.

Shayera clenched her mace, and smiled. The winged warrior swung around her head.

"Believe me, I was born ready."

The group prepared to exit the plane. Another problem manifested for them and blocked them. The door lock on the ship jammed.

"Again, no problem," Harry said. "Just going to have to do this the boring way."

He fixed the system with one touch of his hand. This plane worked like a charm ninety-five percent of the time. The five percent of the time it failed to work, Harry groaned.

"Good, finally."

The doors of the plane burst open, and Harry and company exited the plane. The final seconds of the battle greeted them the moment they left. The plane's attacker flew off, now the target of his attacks grounded in the middle of nowhere.

Harry looked up and smiled. His attention turned to at a dark haired female, wearing a nice tight black top. The black top fit around her upper body, showing her fairly large chest. She dressed in a short looking black mini-skirt stretching down to her legs, and what legs they were. Her black boots shined in the light and the moment she turned around, Harry caught a glimpse of her posterior.

'_Eye catching for sure,' _ Harry said.

"Hi!" she said. The girl bounced her way over to Harry. "It's a pleasure to meet the Justice League, I…mean, I've been really waiting for this for a really long time, it's so cool, my name is Mary, Mary Marvel, and it's great to see all of you, I don't think you have any idea how excited I am."

"I think we can guess," Diana said.

'_Well, she grows up pretty nicely,' _Karen said.

"Perhaps you can tell me what's so urgent, Mary," Harry said.

Harry waved his hand to Mary in invitation for her to sit down. She looked into his eyes for a brief moment, getting lost in them. Harry cleared his throat and she blushed.

"Yeah, sorry, didn't…just sorry."

Mary breathed in and out. Her chest expanded and contracted against the tight black top. The heroine launched into an explanation the moment she regained her composure.

* * *

><p>Thanks to the help of Black Adam, Vandal Savage and his men busted their way through the gateway. They entered inside, the treasures taunted to them.<p>

Savage stood at the end of the tunnel, watching his men, his arms folded. The treasure loomed close, Savage knew it. The inscription of "turn back" flashed on the door. The warning fell onto deaf ears, and blind eyes.

His benefactors wanted Black Adam on their team. The benefactors refused to take no for an answer.

"Hey, this is a funny little statue," the goon said.

The funny little statue glowed to life and, its spear stabbed the man straight through his back and chest. He fell down to the ground. Blood splashed from the mouth of the goon and fell to the ground.

Several loud cracks followed. The other statutes flashed to life and stalked the goons.

"We are the guard of the royal queen Isis, and you have trespassed in her sacred place," the lead stone guard said.

"Step back," Savage said. They obeyed, and allowed their employer room to stand up to the statues. "Rest assure, I mean you no harm."

The stone guards stopped straight in front of him. The stone faces contorted into contemplation.

"But yet, you and your men violate this tomb for items which do not belong to you," one of the guards said.

The guards took a defensive stance, not an offensive stone.

"I hoped we might come to an agreement."

Savage sprung into action the moment the second the opportunity presented itself. He took out the lead stone guard. Savage knew the first rule of war. The general falls, and the rest of the troop fell with them.

Unfortunately though, it read like a sound strategy in many ways, a couple of flaws taunted them. Namely the fact these stone statues refused to play by the same rules everyone else did, and the psychology of them skewed. They marched forward, and continued to attack Savage's men.

Savage used his super powered strength to snap the skull of one of the warriors. The statue knocked one of Savage's men to the ground, pummeled and destroyed by the jagged stone edges. Savage didn't spare any time thinking of him, because if he was weak enough to get pummeled like , then he deserved to perish.

Another crack fired off and Black Adam rushed to join them. He knocked the stone statues down onto the ground. His large and powerful fists smashed the stone statues with brutal intentions.

The busted up stone fragments piled up when a rather agitated looking Black Adam started to lay waste to them. He punched one of them so hard he bruised his hand. The skin healed for a second.

His power crushed the stone guards underneath his foot. He stepped back, brushing the dust off of his shoulder and frowning.

"Thanks for the assist, my friend," Savage said.

"You lost some of your men," Black Adam said.

Savage turned to him and frowned.

"They should be lost, if they were foolish enough to get themselves killed."

The rest of his private security force stepped on in and scrambled down their way down the corridor. Savage still had about eighty percent of the men he had, which spoke well of their conditioning and more important of their training.

He could sense a deal of hostility coming from Black Adam.

"You look troubled."

"I am troubled," he said. "Captain Marvel has intervened."

Savage raised his eyebrow on the news, and cleared his throat.

"I assumed still remained on a mission in space."

"No, not that Captain Marvel, the other one," Black Adam said. "I decimated the former Captain Marvel and his sister took up the mantle."

"I don't think any teenager should be a problem for men of our skills and experience," Savage said.

The girl's rage of the demise of her brother fueled her. Savage struggled to care about the drama of a teenage girl.

"She shouldn't be a problem, but, I saw them coming here," Black Adam said. "The Justice League, and Har-Zod is leading them."

Savage pondered Black Adam's for a brief moment. The empowered caveman tilted his chin back.

"Yes, this particular scenario could constitute as a bit of a problem. We're going to have to deal with sooner rather than later."

When Vandal Savage set his mind on something, very few people stood in his way. Savage planned a suitable reception for the League.

They had gotten so close, they couldn't turn back now.

* * *

><p>"Black Adam….he's twisted, the power he has twisted him," Mary said. She slumped a slight amount, closer her eyes, and sighed. Harry's encouraging look caused her to continue. "He killed my brother, and he's now made an alliance with this Vandal Savage guy."<p>

The League encountered Savage in the past, the key word being the past because he had been around for an extremely long time. Harry knew Savage acquired many resources in his lifetime, and became an dangerous threat to anyone.

Diana's frown deepened.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Harry asked.

"I don't see an alliance like this lasting very long, though," Diana said.

Mary nodded.

"Yeah, but while works out, they're going to cause some real trouble. And Black Adam doesn't work willingly with people, unless they give him something he wants."

The question of what Savage and Adam both wanted remained unanswered. The League worried more about wiping out the man in question first. They stepped inside the temple. Someone already entered the temple. There was a chilling burst of cool air coming through the table.

They stepped into the temple. The enchantments in the air prickled Harry's skin. The League hung back.

"So, everyone on your toes," Helena said.

Mary tensed up. Lingering magic haunted her in the temple.

"So far, so good," Harry said.

'_Until now,' _Kara said.

'_Yes, of course, until now,' _Karen said.

The makers carved some elegant runes into the temple and, Harry hitched in his breath. He knew the chances of the statues coming to life and attacking him grew higher.

Helena gripped his shoulder and pointed out something. Statue fragments lingered on the floor. Inert magic flashed in Harry's mind.

'_Well, it looks like someone has the same amount of bad luck you do,' _Karen said.

Karen suppressed a whistle, only by the barest of instances.

'_Damn, pretty impressive, isn't it?' _Jaime asked.

They found themselves greeted by the battered and broken statue fragment. Someone broke them in such a way the statues failed to reassemble each other. Harry stepped carefully over them.

Shayera couldn't help, but bring up another point.

"Is it bad I'm disappointed we failed to get some kind of fight?"

"You would be," Diana said. She placed her hand on Shayera's shoulder. "But hold tight, I have a feeling a fight's on a way and I'm sure you're going to be up with it"

"Good, I'm glad."

"Not really a feeling," Helena said.

She spotted Savage's mercenaries make their way down the corridor. She reached into her costume and she threw a grenade. The grenade broke open and caused smoke to spill into the tunnel. Savage's men gagged underneath the cover of smoke.

"Get them!" one of them yelled.

Shayera swung her mace for the fences. The bones of the goons cracked underneath the force of her mace. Another hard swing of the mace dropped the goons.

Diana blocked the swing of one of the goons. She wrapped her hand around his arm and flung him down onto the ground. She jumped high into the air. Diana brought her feet down into the chest of the goon.

Mary clapped her hands. The backlash resulted in goons falling down the shoulder. She rushed underneath their swing and pushed towards them. She had one thing in mind, she had to stop Black Adam from whatever he was doing.

Harry flipped over the top of one of the goons. He took them out, causing them to slam into each other. One of the larger and more skilled goons charged Harry.

The powerful man stepped back and goaded the man forward.

He stepped on a mine had been set up as an attack, and the impact blew his leg off. Mary punched him down to the ground.

"I'm going to get Adam!" Mary called to them.

She flew over two of the men. One of them grabbed her by the leg. Mary drew back and kicked the goon in the face. He flipped down to the ground and crashed with a hard thud against the ground.

Harry noticed Mary's impulsive nature, despite her sweet demeanor. She set herself up to fit in nicely with some of the other females in the collective. Harry jumped up high into the air and hurled a dagger at one of the goons. The dagger demolished his body armor and caused blood to pour from his mouth.

Kat joined Harry when they slipped down the tunnel, and they went after Mary. There were a couple of more guards blocked their progress in the temple, holding really big guns.

Duel heat vision fired down the tunnels and disabled the guns.

"Thanks!" Mary cheered. She kicked one of them in the face. "It's rude to shoot at someone, you know."

'_But perfectly acceptable to kick someone in the face,' _Kara commented with an amused tone.

Harry and Kat made their way down the tunnel. They drew even closer to the treasure. Someone called out for Harry and drew him closer.

* * *

><p>Vandal Savage prepared to bask in the moment of triuph. He could see the jewels, the gold, the trinkets, and everything one might. Savage made a step forward and looked for one item in particular.<p>

Plans worked out rather well. He turned and Black Adam stared at him. The would-be ruler crossed his arms.

"I believe this is what I'm looking for, my friend," Savage said.

Savage reached to the fabled Golden Mask and lifted it up. He held the mask up. The mask should be able to give him plenty of power.

"You can take anything else you want from this temple, my friend, this is what I've come for," Savage said.

Black Adam stepped forward. The twinkling of a crystal crypt caught him. The beautiful form of Isis rested on the other end of the crypt. The gorgeous black hair and blue eyes caught his fancy. Adam stepped to her to get a closer look.

"She's everything you want, isn't she?" Savage asked him.

Black Adam nodded and he considered how to liberate the woman from the crypt. He grunted and clenched his fists. His eyes narrowed, and Adam turned back to Savage.

"Is there a problem?" Savage asked.

"Out of all of the treasures you would want, you take the Golden mask?" Black Adam asked. "It is the most unremarkable looking thing in the temple. Therefore, you want it, and there must be a reason why you want it."

Savage's frown deepened. The mask dangled in his hands.

"You should tell me, if you want our partnership to have any kind of foundation."

Savage clutched the mask for a moment. The mask transfixed him, and Savage straightened up.

"I think an explanation is in order."

"Yes, if we want to continue this partnership, I'd like to be made a full member of your Light," Black Adam said. "And transparency is the key aspect to any partnership."

Savage narrowed his eyes. Black Adam grew too powerful. Savage wished to have everything in this temple for himself, but he needed Adam as insurance until he could make a getaway.

"This gift couldn't have been acquired without you," Savage said. He thought about what he could say. "This fabled mask was a gift from the heavens, given by a grand pharaoh to Isis. The pharaoh said the mask would bring her great power, and it would cause her to bend reality to her will, or to the will of anyone who wore the mask. It will give them power to make the world into theirs, at their thoughts."

"Whoever wears the mask could make the world into theirs?" Black Adam asked. Adam reached at him and wrapped his hand around Savage's throat. Adam throttled Savage. "Do you think of me as a fool? Perhaps of dumb muscle…you wanted to use the Golden Mask to make the Light masters of the world, and therefore you wanted to use the mask to get rid of me."

"Very astute, but I did value our partnership," Savage said. "But, all great organizations have a contingency plan."

A series of loud bangs broke the silence. Hard white cables wrapped around Black Adam. He fell to the ground and he tried to push himself out of the cables. Savage stepped over and cracked him hard in the chest.

"I believe I'll take both your treasure and mine….because you're not worthy to have a queen such as this," Savage said

"Good plan, but there's one problem."

Vandal Savage turned around and turned face to face with Harry Potter.

"Har-Zod, we meet again, but I can assure you, this is for the last time."

He prepared to slip on the mask to utilize it. Kat charged in at the speed of light and speared the breath out of Savage.

The mask flew up in the air. Black Adam took advantage of the distraction and busted his way through the cables. He nailed Savage's private security force and took them down on the ground.

"Only one is destined to rule the world!" Black Adam yelled. He leaned down to pick up the mask.

"Not so fast, mister!" Mary yelled. She punched him back. Black Adam caught her second punch. She returned fire with a brutal kick to the face. "You killed my brother…you jerk!"

"Yes, I did, and I enjoyed having the life squeezed out of him," Black Adam said. He grabbed Mary Marvel around the throat and putting her in a neck crank. Mary squirmed. Adam tightened his grip in response. "Don't worry, you'll be reunited with Billy soon enough."

Savage scrambled to the golden mask. Harry hoisted up the conqueror caveman and propelled him into the wall.

Mary's gasp turned Harry away from Savage.

He grabbed Black Adam by the shoulder and pulled him away from Mary. The sorcerer pummeled Black Adam in a throat with a stinging jab. Black Adam doubled over, and Harry responded by blistering Adam with a series of jabs.

Diana grabbed Black Adam from behind and slammed him down against the wall. He struggled against her.

Rocks fell. At first the rocks slid because of Black Adam. The rocks continued to crack above their heads.

"Oh, I don't like the sound of that," Kat said.

"No, I don't either," Harry said.

Rocks fell, but Harry refused to leave without Adrianna Tomaz, or Isis, now.

He pressed his hand on the edge of the crypt and it opened. Isis's eyes opened, and she looked at Harry in faint recognition

"My Pharoah!"

She collapsed against Harry, her arms tightened around the young man's neck. Harry lifted her up, scooping her up in her arms. Diana picked up the mask before anyone could grab it. He turned around and saw Mary and Black Adam continuing to throw huge punches at each other.

"Mary, we need to get out of here!" Harry called. "The place is about to come down!"

"Right!" Mary yelled. Black Adam grabbed her by the ankle. She struggled against him.

"Tonight, the entire Marvel Family, dies!" Black Adam yelled. "Any last words?"

"SHAZAM!" Mary yelled.

She reverted back into her mortal form and caused Black Adam to get struck by lightning in the process. He flew back and landed against the temple. The ground collapsed underneath him and forced Black Adam to plummet into a bottomless pit.

Kat scooped up Mary and she sped her out of there.

The entire group left the temple, avoiding being caught up in the collapse. They left Savage, Black Adam, and Savage's men to get buried alive.

"There's no way they could survive," Mary said.

Her eyes widened in awe, and mouth hung open around with it.

'_She has a lot to learn, doesn't she?' _Kara asked.

* * *

><p>The group returned to RAO tower. The League brought Adrianna to the medical area and she was getting checked out by Caitlin Snow and Susan Storm. Harry placed her in an enchanted sleep until they could determine what to do with her.<p>

Caitlin turned her attention to Harry the moment he arrived at the lab.

"Her brain scans are fairly off, it's like she had another personality written over the top of her."

"Technically speaking, she did," Harry said. Caitlin nodded. "Isis downloaded herself on top of Adrianna, but there was some traces of Adrianna buried in her mind, at least I think so."

"I'm not sure if she's a goddess, but….she should be dead, given how long she was trapped there without food and water," Susan said. She picked up the notes and flipped through what she was reading. Her frown deepened.

"Make sure when she wakes, and she gets food," Harry said.

"She's perfectly healthy, except for the fact she's fatigued," Caitlin said.

"We must have caught her through the final stage of the transformation," Harry said. He leaned towards her and smiled. "I'm sure you understand more than anyone else how a sudden change can cause emotional problems."

"Don't I know it," Caitlin said. She leaned towards Harry and gave him a smile. She looked at him. "Well, at least with my powers, I can eat all of the ice cream I want and never have to worry about brain freeze."

"Someone has her priorities straight," Whitney said, who had just turned up at the lab. Caitlin turned around and smiled. "But, it's good you're keeping the bright side of things, Cait."

"I seem to remember you getting brain freeze really badly one time, because you thought you could eat more ice cream than Kara could," Caitlin said. "Then again, the two of you seem to be locked in a potential state of competition, especially after the race the two got into with each other."

"Yes, the race was amazing, but since everyone was there, there's really no need to talk about it," Whitney said.

"Thanks for looking over her, Caitlin…you too Sue," Harry said.

The two of them smiled at the powerful wizard's words of praise.

Caitlin leaned towards him and gave him a grin.

"It was my pleasure….maybe we should do dinner, sometime."

"Well, I know what I can have for dessert," Harry teased her.

Caitlin nodded with a smile. She stole a quick kiss from Harry.

'_Well, she does taste like ice cream,' _Kara thought.

'_Is that where Whitney got her brain freeze?' _Artemis asked. Kara smiled. _'I don't hear anyone confirming or denying it.'_

Harry turned around and saw Mary standing there. He stepped towards her.

"So, how is she?" Mary asked him.

"We'll know how she is, in a couple of days," Harry told her. Mary smiled when she looked at him. "So, how are you doing?"

"Fine, I could have been knocked around a lot worse, against him," Mary said. Harry took her hands into his and she blushed. Harry pulled Mary close into her. "But, I got out of there, and he didn't."

"I wouldn't be sure, we didn't see any body, him or Savage," Harry said.

"Excuse my language, but darn, I guess I'm going to have to deal with him again," Mary said. She slipped her hands away from him and stepped back. "Guess it's just how things go, isn't it?"

"Yes, that's how it goes," Harry said. "I'd like to offer you a spot on the Team, if you want it."

"Seriously?" Mary asked. She smiled. "I mean, sir, it would be an honor, if you would….if you would…"

"There's no need to call, Harry, sir, Mary," Kara said. The perky girl bounced over to Mary. Mary's eyes locked on Kara's body as she should.

"There isn't?"

"At least not until he gets you into the bedroom."

Kara's words caused Mary to grow crimson red at the thought of it and she imagined what Harry could do to him. She might be innocent, but she wasn't completely innocent. It was so naughty, so wrong, and being so naughty is what made it so great.

Harry gave Kara a side long look, as if asking her to behave. Too much to ask, given Kara's attitude. Kara shrugged in response and shook her head. She placed her fingers to her lips and made a zipping motion.

"May I take a shower, please?" Mary asked.

"I'll show you to them," Kara said. Mary looked at her with a grateful smile. "And don't worry, Mary, the cold water works like a charm."

'_Behave, Kara,' _Harry thought.

'_Yes, I know, her innocence is yours to take, but doesn't mean I can't rile her up a little bit,' _Kara thought.

'_You're the master of riling the girls up.'_

'_And don't you forget it.'_

Harry made his way to the lab and looked at the mask. He sensed an aura. Harry's hand waved over the mask. A mystical force called out from behind the mask. The force peered back at him in the mask.

'_Curious, very curious.'_

He looked at what seemed to be an eye peering back from the mask. Harry realized he made a mistake. The eye wasn't an eye, it's a gem.

Harry's hand heated up and started to melt the gold mask. A yellow gem rose from the melted part of the mask.

Kara stood up straight in the bond.

'_Do you mind asking me why you jolted us?' _Whitney asked.

'_It's an Infinity Gem,' _Kara said. _'The Reality Stone to be precise.'_

'_The second one I've obtained,' _Harry said. _'Someone must have scattered them, to keep them away from him….but….'_

Harry prepared for what came next. If he was coming, the League would have to be read, the Team would have to be ready, everyone would have to be later. The Infinity Stones's power opened the door for obsession and cruelty.

* * *

><p>Smallville, despite the problems it had, could be a quiet and peaceful town. At least it could be a quiet and peaceful town when the meteor mutants and the like weren't attacking it. Alex, Rebecca, Connie, and Laura all hung around outside of the Kent Farm. It was a secondary base for the Team, in case they needed to go and recover away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Given Martha really did move up in the world, she was seldom, if ever around.<p>

"It's beautiful," Connie said.

She turned towards Laura, who smiled.

"Almost makes you not want to go back to the city, doesn't it?" Laura asked.

"I don't know, Smallville might be a nice place to visit, but I'm not sure if I wanted to live here for too long," Rebecca said. "I mean, it just lacks a certain amount of excitement."

'_Oh if you lived here when we went to high school, you would be saying a different tune,' _Chloe said. _'You want excitement; well you've got a lot of excitement. You would get way too much excitement in fact.'_

'_Intrigued, really I am,' _Rebecca thought. She frowned. _'But I don't think anything bad is going to…'_

Alex's ears perked up at a super powerful boom above the ground. She twisted her head around and looked at something explode above their heads.

"You and your big mouth!" Alex yelled.

"But, I didn't say it out loud!" Rebecca yelled.

Laura shook her head.

"Well, if it's said in the bond link, it can still sort of count, because…well it…."

She stopped and a mysterious ship hurled towards Earth. It wasn't accompanied by a meteor shower for once. The absence of the meteor shower caught the entire group of girls off guard.

The mystery slammed into the field. The group moved closer when the dust and the debris settled.

'_Hey, look, it's the same field my ship landed in,' _Claire thought. She didn't know why the field turned out to being a lightning rod for trouble. _'And to the surprise of absolutely no one isn't it?'_

'_It looks like a prison ship,' _Faora thought. _'Stand back, it could be dangerous.'_

'_It likely is dangerous, if we're going to have to deal with it,' _Alex said. She stood back and her shoulders slumped. _'Wonderful, it's starting to open, well…I don't know.'_

The prison ship cracked. They saw a figure rise from the dust and the figure was speaking in a different language. The different language caught all of the girls off guard because this language was not one any of them recognized.

A beautiful woman rose from the ship. She towered over them at six foot four. Her amazing red-hair came down past her ass. Her muscular body, amazing bust, long legs, and fit ass caught the attention of the girls.

The visitor's hands waved around in frustration, but none of them recognized a word she spoke.

She reached forward, and grabbed Alex. Before any of the girls could react, she kissed Alex on the lips. Alex didn't really know how to react to her actions, except to return the kiss.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued August 4<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	86. Around the Universe

**Chapter Eighty-Six: Around the Universe.**

* * *

><p>Harry arrived on Oa, and he didn't arrive alone. Carol Danvers, now known as Captain Marvel, joined him. After one of the many shifts in the management of the Guardians of Oa, she had been let go. Not she really cared at this point, because it was a real mess to behold and being part of the Green Lantern Corps became a bigger headache than needed.<p>

Carol's amusement grew at one element. Despite the fact the Guardians let Carol go, Lois stayed onto the Green Lantern Corps.

Still, Carol patched up enough for her to work with the Guardians in an adversary capacity. She stepped next to Harry. "So, the shit's really hit the fan now, hasn't it?"

"I would say so," Harry said. "I'm curious why an Infinity Gem is on Earth, given I thought they were supposed to be destroyed by the Guardians when they imprisoned Thanos years and years ago. But, the official story and the actual story rarely line up"

Carol could tell by the look on Harry's face he didn't believe the official story, and being a member of the League, even a reserve member given her other duties, Carol understood why. The Guardians played the standard game and screwed everyone around.

"So, the package you liberated…."

"Proof the Guardians are keeping something, yet again," Harry said. "Which as you know is standard protocol."

Harry and Carol stepped forward for their meeting with the Guardians. They would find out in a matter of minutes exactly what the game the Guardians of Oa played. Many overly large blue heads looked down at them.

"Har-Zod of Earth, why do you seek an audience with us?"

Harry gave them a frown and reached into his satchel. He pulled out a yellow gem, the Reality Gem. The reveal caused the Guardians to all recoil in horror. One assumed Harry performed an obscene and offensive gesture at them

"Where did you find the Gem of Reality?"

"It was being kept inside an Earth artifact," Harry said. "Curious considering how it got there, given the official word of the Guardians was the Infinity Gems were destroyed and Thanos was imprisoned. And I'm beginning to think neither of those things are true and you're keeping secrets from the people as per usual."

All of the Guardians looked at each other, resembling children who wedged their hands in the cookie jar. Under most normal circumstances, Harry might find the situation amusing. This time, the situation took a turn for the annoying.

"Some time ago, as you well know, a terrible titan rose, and tried to collect some of the more powerful artifacts in the universe known as the Infinity Stones," one of the Guardians said. "Separately, they are an extremely potent element with their own qualities. Whilst they are combined, they could make anyone who adds them to a gauntlet an unstoppable force. It took the combined forces of the entire Green Lantern Corps to defeat him and imprison him. We took the Infinity Gems and hit them through the outer reaches of the universe. One of them ended up on Earth over the centuries."

"Thanos is an extremely dangerous man, he actively courts Death, and will do anything to gain her favor," a Guardian said.

Harry chuckled. He hated to break this to Thanos, but Death's already taken. Harry ensured this fact a while ago.

"Looks to me like the Green Lantern Corps and the Guardians might be first on his hit list if he has woken up," Harry said.

"We have…contingencies, to deal with Thanos," one of the Guardians said.

His face contorted into a grimace for a second.

"Well, t's good, because, I would hate to see what might happen if you didn't tell the members of the Green Lanterns about this dangerous threat which effects them and all of the planets in their Sector," Harry said. "Thanos killed countless people. The blood he spilled before to get the Infinity Stones is extremely alarming. Anyone who keeps him from the stones, a cruel fate awaits them. I hope you take this matter serious"

"Yes, well, I'm certain a cruel fate will await anyone, hence your possession of the stone….could pose a danger," one of the Guardians said. "We would suggest you surrender the stone for your protection and the protection of Earth."

Harry frowned. He figured such a suggestion came and Harry prepared to counter the argument.

"I think I'll hold onto it," Harry said. "Thanos and I are going to have a reckoning sooner or later."

'_The Guardians are going to make threats against you, aren't they?' _Lois asked. _'By the way, this Thanos thing, him breaking out, first I've ever heard of it.'_

Carol beat Harry to the punch in denoting how serious a situation the group fell into.

'_Not a real surprise, is it?' _Carol asked. _'When the Guardians split up into different factions over the last war of the light….'_

'_They've never really stopped fighting over the light, they're around now,' _Lois said. _'Not sure what color we're up to at this point, but….they've been blasting through the rainbow at the speed of a junkie through his poison of choice.'_

Harry turned his attention back to the Guardians. Their arguments on surrendering the stone fell on deaf ears.

'_Allow them to have a taste of their own medicine.'_

"With whatever other plans you have, you should be prepared. A war is coming. Thanos has awoken and he will rip apart the universe in search for the Infinity Gems. And rest assure, Earth is prepared. We've known about this for a long time, but this is the final bit of proof we needed Thanos lives and is out for what he assumes to be his."

"Then you should have told the Guardians about this a long time ago. .

Lois gritted her teeth and shook her head. Everyone could agree Lois stood elsewhere other than the Guardian chambers.

'_So, is anyone else going to talk about the irony of them taking someone to task about keeping secrets? Or am I going to be the one is going to bring how hypocritical they are being?_

Harry didn't say anything; he just smiled and let Lois rant about what Lois might rant about. Good to allow the Green Lantern to let off steam, healthy to let her in fact.

* * *

><p>Mary Batson started around, eyes widened. Whitney and Artemis showed the newest recruit around the tower. She grinned when she looked and saw some of the high tech training facilities and the lab as well. Granted there were more, and she really wished for an extra set of eyes. Mary bounced up and down.<p>

Whitney's amusement almost broke out, at least until Artemis tapped her hard on the arm.

"This is so neat," Mary said.

"The quarters are down the hallway….for the girls who are staying here in a part time basis," Artemis said. "Many of us stay at the base., at least for a few weeks here and there."

"Yeah, it's just a lot easier," Whitney said.

"Well, it isn't as hard for someone who could run back and forth at the speed of light," Artemis said. "And you can be pretty quick, can't you?"

"So quick I can outrun your arrows, babe," Whitney said.

Artemis snorted.

"Kind of debatable. And it's not the ones you can see coming, the ones you don't see coming."

"So, when do we have training here?" Mary asked.

The girl's excitement spilled out. Whitney and Artemis tried to not be infected by it.

"Pretty soon, Harry is here regularly, and he's pretty hands on with the training," Whitney said.

Whitney's tone caused Mary to grow red. Satisfied she embarrassed the newbie, Whitney backed off.

"If he isn't here, Black Canary or Huntress take up the slack, and they're pretty good," Artemis said. "And sometimes we have….guests come in."

No team would forget the time the infamous Lady Shiva turned up at the tower to whip them into shape. Some of them still had the aches and the pains. They were a lot better for it, though.

A gorgeous blonde teenager walked down the hallway, and she smiled. Artemis turned to introduce them.

"This is Stephanie Brown, Stephanie, this is Mary Batson, she's new to the team."

"Oh, someone newer to the team than me, finally," Stephanie said. She reached forward and shook Mary's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mary."

"Oh, it's really nice to meet you as well, Stephanie," Mary said. The two newest members of the team shook hands. "So, how long have you been on the Team?"

"Oh, it's been about six or seven months now," Stephanie said. "I found a Robin suit by accident in Gotham City and put it on….started finding crime. Arcane and Huntress took me in and started training me. Not sure if Batman gave me an endorsement or not, but the original Robin did, and I think her endorsement works well enough."

"Oh, yeah, it's pretty swell, isn't it?" Mary asked.

Seconds later, Mary jumped with a start at someone popping out of the wall. Stephanie cracked up in laughter. .

"She's M'Gann, Miss Martian. She's new enough to be new, but old enough to be a senior team member. Doesn't really make any sense, does it?"

"Yeah, right, okay," Mary said.

"Hello, M'Gann, what can I do for you?" Whitney asked.

Whitney grinned at the young Martian. The serious tone of the normal bubbly girl took Whitney aback.

"There's trouble, big trouble even."

The speedster stopped short of the news.

'_Oh boy, never sounds good when someone says there's big trouble.'_

"What kind of big trouble?" Whitney asked.

"There's a situation cropped up in Smallville," M'Gann said.

Whitney's shoulders to slumped and she groaned.

"It better not be another meteor shower."

"We better go," Artemis said. She almost dragged Whitney out of the door, but stopped. The archer's attention directed at Mary. "Sorry about cutting things short, but the tour is over….if you need anything else….we'll answer all of your questions when you get back, I promise."

"Oh, it's fine, I understand," Mary said. The newest recruit turned to Stephanie. "So, how about we head to the lunchroom?"

"Yeah, lunch would be a good idea, I'm starving," Stephanie said.

Mary and Stephanie entered the lunch room in time to be greeted by another blonde who was sitting at the lunch table. The blond clipped back and she was wearing a blue top fit snugly around her body, and she was wearing tight red pants as well. It looked like she was in the middle of a work out or had just been getting done with a workout given how she was toweling herself off.

"Stephanie, hi!" the girl said.

"Hi, Courtney," Stephanie said. She encouraged Mary to go over to be introduced. "Mary, this is Courtney Whitmore, Courtney, this is Mary Batson."

"Oh, the new girl," Courtney said. She smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you….you haven't gone through initiation yet, have you?"

"What's initiation?" Mary asked. She seemed uncertain.

"Nothing too painful, in fact, you'll really enjoy it," Courtney said. Her grin spread over her face.. "But, Harry will take care of it when he gets back. All of the girls on the team go through it, its tradition. It helps us with communicating in our missions you see."

"Well, if you say I'll enjoy it, I guess it will be fun," Mary said. "Harry's really cute, isn't he?"

Stephanie and Courtney smiled in a knowing manner.

"Your opinion is shared by everyone and he can get hands on with his training, making sure all of us girls get the attention we desire," Stephanie said. She sauntered to the counter to fix herself a sandwich "And anything we need, well he gives us all everything and more."

Mary pondered at what the two girls said, joining them lunch.

'_Oh dear, what have I gotten myself into?'_

* * *

><p>The red haired space vixen kissed Alex breathless. As a bonus from the kiss, she gained a language, several languages as well, including a language where she could speak to snakes. She struggled to think where it could help her.<p>

"Oh, thank heavens tI landed here and found you!" she said.

She bounced up and down and given she dressed in a barely clad state did some really wonderful things to her breasts. Breasts the group of girls struggled to take their eyes off of.

They bounced up and down, so hypnotic.

"So, um, calm down," Laura said.

"Sorry, sorry, it's just…..I finally broke free, it must have been luck, because I was going to….I was going to be sent before him and accused of a crime I didn't commit!" the girl said.

Alex's brain rebooted enough from the kiss and the boobs and the general weirdness of the situation to take control of everything.

"Right…..um, I didn't catch your name," Alex said.

"Oh, I'm such a….sorry, my name is Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran!"

"I'm Alexandra Potter," she said. She traveled around the circle of girls counterclockwise to point them out. "This is Rebecca Grayson, Laura Kent, and Connie Kent."

The girl swept over the girls and smiled.

"It is a pleasure to meet you all, my friends, I just wish it was under better circumstances," Kori said. She looked like, despite her upbeat demeanor, she was going to break down and cry.

Alex's discomfort grew at the thought of such a perky girl breaking down to crying. The other girls looked more off.

"Relax, we'll do what we can to help you," Alex said. "So, what do you think we can do to help you?"

"If you can help me, it would be incredible," Kori said.

"How did you get on a prison ship?" Laura asked.

Kori's eyes snapped to the girl. Fire flashed in her eyes for a second. The princess relaxed after realizing Laura's question did not accuse her.

"It wasn't me," Kori said. "My sister….I didn't think she was capable of such cruelty. She stole something….something from a terrible man. And this monster, this terrible man, sent his people after her, but she tricked me into posing as her, and they thought I was her, I was my sister."

"So we've got a case of mistaken identity," Connie said. "I'm sure when the courts hear the evidence…"

Alex shook her head.

"If I'm right, these are the type of courts which really don't care about the evidence. They only want to see people hang for a crime and they don't really care who the person is who did it."

"You are correct," Kori said.

The alien princess stumbled and fell on her face. Thanos imprisoned her on the ship for a long time. Alex and Rebecca held her up. She gave them a gratitude of thanks.

"I've landed on this planet….it's…." Kori said.

"Earth, you've landed on Earth," Rebecca said.

"Oh, it's such a young planet, such promise, I always wanted to visit here, but my parents forbid it," Kori said. "Mostly because….well he's from Earth. You know, Har-Zod."

The girls smiled at Kori.

"You do know who Har-Zod is, don't you?"

"Yes, we know Har-Zod quite well," Rebecca said.

Kori frowned, not understanding at first. The thought struck her at once. The Alien Princess squealed.

"Oh, you must be members of his collective! He is well known throughout the universe. I'm sad he hasn't had a chance to visit Tamaran yet, but it's out of the way from where he normally is. People say he tamed Queen Maxima, something no man has been able to do. And it's just the beginning. But where is he?"

"Har-Zod is currently in space," Alex said. "He is currently trying to resolve the situation regarding Thanos."

Alex's words caused Kori to jump back and clap her hands over her mouth in absolute terror.

"Was it something I said?" Alex asked.

"He's after you, Thanois is the person imprisoned you, isn't it?" Rebecca asked.

Kori hesitated, and nodded in a grim fashion.

Laura, being a senior team member here, decided she needed to take charge.

"We need to get you out of here, and out of Smallville, to a safe place."

"Thanos could be after me, we could all be in grave danger," Kori said.

Rebecca hated to break it, but no matter where Kori stood, the danger existed.

"So, Kori, you said you escaped a prison ship, didn't you?"

"Yes, I was on it, but it broke….."

Alex groaned. She thought while there might be some innocent people on the prison ship, there might be some dangerous people on the ship. People imprisoned for some very good reasons.

She heard Whitney buzzing in her ear.

'_Not to interrupt you right now, but we've got a bit of a problem. There's been a touchdown in Smallville.'_

'_Yes, I'm aware of what's going on, we've got her right here,' _Alex said.

'_No, you don't understand! There was someone else who touched down in Smallville, other than the Princess you found. And there are pods dropping all over the world. The League is being deployed all over the world to prevent them from….well….'_

'_A prison ship exploded and was sent flying all over the planet,' _Alex thought.

She hated to say this, but this situation flipped from bad to worse in a hurry.

* * *

><p>Galatea arrived outside of Smallville. A large piece of the ship touched down on the ground a few yards away from her. The flaming wreckage painted the grim picture. The nightmare of many people perishing in the wreckage flashed in the mind of the girl.<p>

'_Shit's hit the fan and not in a good way.'_

Galatea failed to think of how anyone could have survived this. Tea could see something stirring within the ship. She saw a green hand pull her way out.

A rather incensed looking green skinned individual broke out of the wreckage. Scratches and bruises covered every inch of her body the moment she busted through. Her heavy breathing indicated the bad state.

Gamora's anger rose. She fought on through blurred vision. The party approaching the ship.

Galatea stopped. One of the universe's most dangerous women stared at her.

'_And shit has hit the fan, in a bad way. And she's pissed.'_

"Get, out of my way!" Gamora said.

Galatea flinched for a second, but stood form.

"We don't want any trouble."

Gamora jumped up and drilled her face. Galatea slammed onto the ground, wind knocked out of her.

The Kryptonian clone dragged herself to a standing position.

"Okay, I didn't want any trouble, but I have no problem in dishing it out, if you insist," Galatea said.

"I have to acquire a dangerous prisoner," Gamora said. "And you won't stand in my way."

She removed a gun from her belt and fired a blast at Galatea. The energy blast sailed over Galatea's head. The busty clone avoided several hard blasts.

"Give it to me!" Galatea said.

The endowed heroine ripped the gun out of her hand, grabbed her arm, and hoisted her up in the air. Gamora flew backward and landed on the ground. Gamora's anger rose from getting propelled onto the ground. She prepared to correct the matter.

A stun laser nailed Galatea in the large target of her chest. Galatea winced for a moment, but empowered herself and pressed on through.

"Kryptonian, yellow sun, of course," Gamora said.

Gamora refused to let her opponent's durability to stall the inevitable. The deadly woman drilled Galatea with a vicious roundhouse kick. Galatea hurled back and crashed with a bone shattering impact through a barn door.

"Try it again!

Gamora launched Galatea down again. The clone bounced off of the wood door again.

"Gladly."

Galatea hitched in the breath she had in her body and avoided being punched. She dodged another attack and a third attack. Those punches really packed a punch, for lack of a better term. Galatea received a lot of height on her leap, and stuck the landing behind Gamora.

The powerful woman wrapped her arms around Galatea, but Gamora kicked back against the wall. She turned around and pummeled Galatea with a series of rapid fire shots to the stomach. The knuckles bruised when they connected with Gamora's knuckles. The woman hurled herself out of the window.

Galatea's annoyance hit a new fever pitch. She kicked off and flew out of the window. Something grabbed her foot and pinned her against the fence.

Restraints snapped around her. She squirmed against the restraints, one of the cables cut into her shoulder. She tried as she might to escape, but she found herself unable to break free. A titanic struggle followed which hurt Galatea.

"Impressive, for someone who doesn't have your gifts, or your advantages?" Gamora asked. "I'd love to stick around, but I've got a thief to nab. And my father, he doesn't….he doesn't take too kindly to people who aren't punctual."

Galatea realized the device nullified her powers. A field flashed around her like red sunlight.

'_Crazy prepared, and crazy strong, wonderful.'_

A superfast blur rushed on in and knocked Gamora a few steps back. Gamora flipped onto her feet and did not land on the ground.

Artemis bent down next to Galatea and tried to take off the device.

"Okay, I'm not a tech person, but….."

"If you get one thing wrong, you could blow us all up," Whitney said. "Keep an eye on her, I've got this."

"Well, if you're sure," Artemis said.

A barrage of arrows fired at her enemy. Gamora dodged most of the arrows and caught one. Artemis raised an eyebrow and Gamora made the universe sign for just bring it.

'_Oh you better believe I'm going to bring it.'_

Whitney analyzed the device. The moment she started playing with it, the device started to whine.

"If you blow us up, I will kill you," Galatea said.

Whitney frowned. She proceeded to work over the device.

"Don't worry, I think I got it, at least I got it almost."

A hissing signified the device detached from Galatea. Whitney disarmed the device in time to see Artemis fly over to them.

All three girls landed down onto the ground with a pile and they turned around, in time to see her flying out.

"Hey, no fair, she has a jet pack, I want a jet pack!" Whitney yelled.

'_You're not getting a jet pack,' _Iris said . _'And you know the reason why.'_

Gamora refused to go down without any fight. Whitney shook her head and she got to her feet. She had vanished in a blip in the air, or maybe she had some kind of cloaking technology. Or perhaps she warped the fabric of reality around her to camouflage herself. The mind boggled how many different ways she could go.

The only thing for certain was the group could not see them now.

* * *

><p>Carol and Harry left their meeting with the Guardians, feeling a bit agitated. She shook her head and she sighed. Harry placed his hand on hers and she smiled.<p>

"I'm reminded why I'm glad I left the Guardians," Carol said. "You know, if you ever got the ring, you would be the greatest Green Lantern ever."

"And also the biggest headache the Guardians of Oa ever had the displeasure of dealing with," Harry said. Harry chuckled. "You know, Lois is a bad enough problem as is."

'_Yes I am,' _Lois thought. A few seconds passed before Lois got it. _'Hey, wait a minute!'_

'_Oh come on, you know it's true,' _Carol thought. _'And I'm glad you are for the record, because someone needs to keep the Guardians on their toes. They're going to get sucked into some other never ending war of the light, which seems to happen about every six months. I'm not sure if we're running out of colors by now, or not?'_

'_Oh, I'm sure someone will find a color, make a ring out of it,' _Lois said. _'The Gollum looking bastard with the orange ring was the worst, wasn't he?'_

'_He was pretty bad, although there were some real winners in the never ending war of the light,' _Harry thought.

He lifted his hand. Harry stopped and frowned. His hand lowered in an instant.

"You were going to pinch the bridge of your nose, weren't you?" Carol asked.

"I'm trying to break some of my bad habits," said.

"You tend to do when you're frustrated about something," Carol said. "Even if you can handle something, you can get frustrated because of some of the people around you, making….."

"People tend to make boneheaded decisions," Harry said.

The entire Thanos mess personified boneheaded decisions. Harry knew he couldn't count on the Guardians completely after some of their blunders. Fortunately, the Green Lantern Corps weren't the only game in town. There were others who were around.

Carol leaned back against the wall. She smiled and reached over to grab Harry's hand.

"You know, Thanos might be one of the more deadly threats the Justice League ever fought. I mean, back to back Zod invasions, might have been the worst."

Harry recalled the entire mess with the back to back Zod. He groaned at the memories.

"The battle taxed the League, but I forced Zod to fall before me in pieces both times," Harry said. "If Faora was here, she would agree my victory was a glorious moment, where I finally ascended to my true potential."

"But, I can't help but think everything is leading up to Thanos," Carol said.

"A lot of times, we build up something as bigger than big in our heads, but it pales to what really is going to happen," Harry said. He ran his hands through the top of his hair. He retracted his hand when he realized what he was doing. "Sorry, there's a lot of bad frustrating habits I've noticed I've had."

"Well, there are more constructive things you can do if you're frustrated," Carol said. "I'm feeling a lot of tension, maybe we could work it out, together?"

"Maybe," Harry said.

Time lingered in the distance when Harry and Carol stared into each other's eyes. Their lips pressed together in an extremely passionate kiss. Harry worked his tongue deep into her mouth and she responded by working back against him. Their tongues dueled for domination with each other.

Harry slid his hands down onto her rear and cupped it. She grinded against his crotch in response and she felt her large breasts push up against his chest.

Carol stepped back and smiled when she ran her fingers down his chest. She slowly eased her way down and made her way towards him. She unbuckled his belt and pulled his pants down, to reveal his large manhood standing out for her.

"Mmm, I'll take that," Carol said.

She sunk down to her knees and prepared to give him the pleasure Harry deserved.

'_We've got an urgent problem,' _Kara thought.

Carol almost fished Harry out of his pants.

'_Really, now of all times?' _Carol asked.

Harry channeled his magic into himself and softened. He sighed and gave Carol an apologetic look.

'_Not your fault.'_

'_Yeah, I know, my timing stinks,' _Kara said. _'Blame Thanos.'_

'_Oh, talk about a statement I never want to hear,' _Carol groaned.

Carol's nipples still poked through her top, but her buzz had mostly been killed from Thanos.

'_A prison ship crashed on Earth, the team liberated the Princess of Tamaran,' _Kara thought. _'You know, the place where we were going to go on vacation before General Makes Other Men Kneel Before Him ruined our plans?'_

'_Yes, I'm aware, a lot of gorgeous women are there,' _Harry answered. _'But if it's a prison ship, there are a lot of other dangerous people on there.'_

'_The League is already on it, I've been drafted to be your contact on the outside, Whitney and Artemis are in Smallville, they ran into Gamora,' _Kara thought.

'_Right, Thanos's adopted daughter,' _Harry thought. He remembered Gamora showed herself to be as beautiful as she proved to be dangerous. _'Keep me posted.'_

Leave it to Thanos to kill the fucking mood.

* * *

><p>Lois Lane waited for it to happen. She arrived an inn on an Asteroid, where she would be meeting her sister, Lucy. The two sisters spent little time together these days, but Lois had her Green Lantern responsibilities and Lucy had her Star Sapphire responsibilities. Sometimes the leaders clashed with each other, but the various members of the Corps just rolled their eyes at what they deemed to be childish behavior by adults who really should have known better to be honest.<p>

She dressed in civilian clothes, which looked like of odd if you stacked them up against the Earth garb. Lois leaned back and she frowned. She could see this bar was full of all kinds of seedy activity.

Her sister's questionable judgment struck again. She turned around at the sound of a rather large biker type dropping down to the ground.

"Alright bitch, don't come crawling back, because the Main Man has women lining all the way around the block for him."

Lois turned and saw Lucy shaking her head.

"So, you've met Lobo, didn't you?" Lois asked.

Lucy blinked.

"Yes, I'm thinking about turning him into a lawn ornament, the way he was trying to make a pass at me."

"Talk about driving down the curb appeal," Lois said. She frowned and looked on forward. She saw a woman make her way into the back of the club.

"What is it, Lois?" Lucy asked.

"Trouble….Green Lantern type stuff," Lois said. She got to her feet instantly.

Lucy huffed, Lois described her sister as a nutshell. Always being discreet and likely doing something which could get herself into trouble. Well, Lucy wasn't going to stand by and let Lois get into trouble on her own. If there was an adventure to be had, Lucy wanted to get in trouble with her.

She thought it was unfair when Lois got into trouble and she didn't. Lucy liked to be involved.

A newcomer entered the bar which caught Lois's attention. She resembled Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran, but there was something about her walk and demeanor which looked off.

'_Harry, we've got a situation,' _Lois thought.

'_Oh, you don't say,' _Harry thought. _'Sorry, Lois, a prison ship crashed on Earth, Thanos transported people back to….well whatever he wants to do with prisoners. And one of them is Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran."_

"_So, The Princess is not walking into the back room of the seediest night club in the universe?' _Lois asked.

The situation deviated from weird to downright insane in a hurry.

'_Might be her sister….which makes a lot of sense given the trouble she's been in,' _Harry thought. '_Komand'r'_

Lois racked her brain and shook her head.

'_Lines up pretty nicely, given she's been on several intergalactic watch lists and she got disowned from the Royal Family after some of her crimes. So what do you want me to do?'_

'_I want you to keep a close eye on her,' _Harry said. _'Be careful, be discreet, and means you as well Lucy.'_

Lucy's eyes widened and Lois turned around, giving her sister the dirtiest of dirty glares. The two Lane sisters stared each other down, but nodded. They had a task to do.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on August 7<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	87. The Deadliest Woman Part One

**Chapter Eighty-Seven: The Deadliest Woman Part One.**

* * *

><p>The most recent chaotic event which hit the world caused a lot of people to recoil in horror. Many of them only began to guess of the ramifications of this event and when people didn't know the ramifications of something, they were prone to rampant and irrational levels of speculation in their attempt to fill the gaps and put together all of the pieces of the situation.<p>

The police scrambled around in an attempt to get some kind of order.

"This is Cat Grant of the Daily Planet News Network on the scene. From what I have been able to figure out, an alien prison ship had an engine explosion on its way to Earth, causing several pieces of the ship to break on its way down. The pieces of the ship crashed on Earth in a fiery bit of wreckage. We have not been able to deduce the exact damage, although the authorities are telling people to stay off of the streets and stay in their homes. They are not under any circumstances to engage any strange beings."

Cat could see the smoking wreckage. She jumped over an overturned car and her camera man followed her. The television viewers at home got a better look at the carnage.

"I'll be here in the scene," Cat said. "It goes without saying since this was a prison ship which went down, many of the occupants may not be the friendly visitors we have come to expect on Earth. Members of the Justice League have been spotted on the scene. We encourage any civilian on the street to give them a wide path and have them do what they need to do."

Cat brushed a lock of hair out of her hair.

"There are many questions which hopefully will be answered soon, and I will bring you the latest, when the latest breaks," Cat said. She tried to maintain professional even though she ended up smack dab in the middle of a chaotic scene in Downtown metropolis. One of the pieces of the alien ship crashed down through the Daily Planet parking garage. "Until I have the latest, this is Cat Grant, from downtown Metropolis, signing off."

Cat clutched the microphone when the camera turned off.

"And we are off," her cameraman said. "We should find another location to report at Cat."

"I didn't get into the news business, because it was safe," Cat said.

"Look, I know you're trying to be the next Lois Lane or Vicki Vale, but putting yourself into this danger will not….."

Cat cleared her throat. She would not like the comparisons to other people who came before her, thank you very much. The reporter wanted to forge her own path in life.

She could see something stirring from the wreckage. Hideous looking hunch backed alien wrapped in chains rose out of the wreckage with three yes and razor sharp claws. The alien looked like someone who should be in a prison.

The hunchback alien recoiled for a moment. The creature growled at the surroundings around him. He saw these ugly, flesh toned beings going towards him, looking at him. He growled.

"Get out of my way!" he yelled.

He wanted to go home. Thanos imprisoned him on this ship for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Five years of his life passed, with the alien tortured, tormented, for a case of mistaken identity. He wanted to return home to his daughter and the rest of his people.

His third eye glowed and he lifted a car off of the ground, through telekinesis and hurled it at the civilians.

At the last second, a dark haired female caught the car before it crushed any civilians. The hunchbacked man looked up and he scowled when he saw her.

"Okay, you need to calm down," the dark haired female said.

The cape fluttered in the wind. The red shield with the "S" stood out in the city.

"CALM!" he said.

The loudness of his voice shattered every single window in downtown Metropolis.

Cat watched, really wishing the cameras were rolling now. She clutched her hands to the side of her face and dug her nails in deep to her cheeks, biting down hard on her lip all of the way.

"The lady said calm down, maybe you should listen."

A winged warrior woman with flowing red hair made her way in. The woman slammed the large mace down onto the head of the creature with a loud clang!

The alien levitated the broken glass and flung it up into the air. The crowd scattered, but thankfully an energy dome appeared over there.

A dark haired woman dressed in a stage magician's uniform wearing fishnets appeared on the scene. She blocked the broken glass from slicing them to ribbons.

Zatanna, Hawkgirl, and Superwoman all turned towards him. He glared back at them, eyes flashing in a dangerous manner.

"Just want to go home!" he yelled.

The visitor stepped forward and felt the chain wrapped around his ankle drag a large part of the cell.

"Yes, we'll figure out a way to get you home," Superwoman said. "But you can't attack innocent people."

He clenched his fists and looked at them. "

You attacked me! I'm not going to another prison!"

Wonder Woman snuck behind him and snagged him with her magic lasso. It wrapped around his waist and she gave it a tug. She punched his lights out. The alien madman crashed to the ground with a thud, knocked out in one punch by the Amazon Warrior.

Hawkgirl raised her eyebrow, when Wonder Woman landed on the ground.

"Do you have the containment unit ready?"

"Yes," Zatanna said. She showed them the circular purple ring. "Some of these guys are going to be mighty sore later."

"Well, if they were imprisoned unfairly, then we'll send them on their way," Shayera said. "And if they were put in there for a good reason, well….they're going to be in there for a long time."

The three eyed hunchbacked alien dragged himself to his knees. He arched his neck up in time see a purple ring press onto his forehead. It caused him to dematerialize. A scream of anguish followed when the alien sucked through the purple energy ring.

Zatanna snapped the ring onto a key chain which had several more on it, several more prisoners who had been detained. It went without saying they had a long way to go.

* * *

><p>Lois crept her way through the back of the bar. The reporter thought this wasn't one of the places she would be caught dead visiting, in a million years. But, then again, the danger might have been part of the appeal.<p>

Lucy trailed her a few feet away. Lois's relief increased at the fact her sister learned about the term discretion for once in her life. Lois reached behind her and gripped Lucy's hand gently.

They spotted Blackfire in the back of the bar, and she made her way towards a dirty looking box. The alien opened it and she shifted through what appeared to be rags of some sort. She shifted through the rags in the box.

"What's she looking for?" Lucy asked.

A stern look delivered by Lois caused Lucy to fall back into line.

"Good, no one took it," Blackfire said. "Now, I've got to get out of here before they discover both the prisoner and the gem are both fakes."

Blackfire turned around and Lois's eyes widened. Lucy turned towards her sister, seeing her discomfort.

'_What's wrong?' _Lucy asked. Lois didn't say anything straight away. Lucy nudged Lois hard to get her attention. _'Well?'_

'_Blackfire has an Infinity Gem,' _Lois thought. _'It would explain a lot actually, why she's being so secretive.'_

Blackfire stopped and turned around. Lois and Lucy stood there and didn't know how she could see them from this vantage point. But, she saw them, she saw them most certainly.

She lifted up the gem in her hand and blasted the platform where they stood on. Lucy landed on the ground with a solid thump.

"You can't prove I did anything wrong!" Blackfire yelled.

She looked at Lois, and Lois turned towards her, waving her hand in response.

"No, I can't prove you've done anything wrong," Lois said. She turned her hand and waved it at Blackfire as if to tell her to just bring it.

Blackfire smiled. She relished the opportunity for a fight, at least she would under normal circumstances. Now, she was going to have to make this quick. Thanos would be pissed when he found out he was duped and the entire Green Lantern Corps being on her ass was not her ideal afternoon. The princess stepped up her actions.

Lois utilized her ring and blasted an energy shackle towards Blackfire, trying to tie her up. She avoided the attack. The Green Lantern ring formed a giant fist towards her, and Blackfire returned fire. The attack knocked Lois back.

Blackfire looked over the Infinity Gem. Her lips cracked into a smile.

"Not bad, I might have to keep you!" Blackfire said.

Blackfire intended to sell it on the black market, but she thought it might be easier to get the hang of the Infinity Gem.

While Blackfire looked at her precious gem, Lois fired a blast, entangling her legs with several green wires. She tugged it and caused Blackfire to fall hard onto the ground with a thud. Lois propelled herself up high into the air and smashed the glowing wrecking ball into Blackfire.

Blackfire felt herself breathing heavily.

Lucy got to her feet, shaking her head. She did not want to miss out of all of the fun . Lois fought an alien fugitive and as usual hogged all of the spotlight.

She frowned and rushed forward. Blackfire maneuvered Lucy into Lois's path and the two Lane sisters clonked their heads together. Blackfire snickered at the two of them scrambling to rise to their feet.

"Oh, and I thought my sister and I had some communication problems," Blackfire said.

The deranged princess lifted up the Infinity Gem and attempted to blast both of grabbed Lucy and pulled her out of the way. Lucy scowled when she felt Lois drag her by the arm.

"I could have helped myself!"

Lois shook her head at her Star Sapphire counterpart.

"No, trust me, Lucy, you couldn't do, trust me, you couldn't!"

Lucy felt her breathing escalate and if she wasn't in such a precarious situation, she might have blistered Lois in response. In the meantime, she settled for being all huffy and puffy at her sister.

"Oh, sibling rivalries," Blackfire said. She mocked them with a coo. "Fun as this is, I better finish you off, or…."

Someone nailed her in the back of the head and caused her to land on the ground. The Infinity Gem slipped out of Blackfire's hands and went flying.

"No!" Blackfire yelled.

She watched as this Green Lantern grabbed the gem in a Catcher's Mit and secured it.

Blackfire turned around and came face to face with Captain Marvel. She stepped back, realizing the odds were a lot less comfortable than when she entered this room. She rushed towards Captain Marvel, but the woman blocked the attack.

Captain Marvel slid behind her and twisted her arm behind her back, forcing her down to the ground.

The two women launched into the air and started to exchange vicious punches. The sound of their fists connecting with one and another resembled thunder. Lois and Lucy watched the battle with their hands clutched in awe.

Blackfire lost the battle, but put a hell of a fight. She got to her feet and looked up at Captain Marvel. She wiped the blood from her lip and the woman looked at her.

"So, what do you think about surrendering?"

"No, I won't!" Blackfire yelled.

The princess wiped the blood from her lips and smiled. Lucy sent a bolt of pink light at her adversary. It went between her legs and caused her to shriek in pleasure. The bolt caused her to drop down on the ground and Lois contained her in a straight jacket construct.

"You know, despite our differences, we do make a great team," Lois said. "And…an interesting way of using your powers, isn't it?"

"Yep," Lucy said. "So, what are we going to do with her?"

"I think we should bring her back, maybe give her to Harry as a birthday present," Lois said.

Carol looked at Lois, raising her eyebrow in surprise.

"But, Harry's birthday isn't for another six months."

"I shop ahead."

Carol couldn't argue with Lois's line of logic. Lois placed her hand on Carol's shoulder.

"Even though you left the Corps, I'm glad you're still able to have my back."

* * *

><p>The team trained well. In fact, they were trained so well they were some of the greatest fighters in the world. The team held their own against some of the most dangerous enemies in the world.<p>

The dangerous enemy they fought showed herself to be among the most dangerous in the world.

Laura flew to the ground. She felt the wind knocked out of her. She wasn't sure how the hell things turned this way. Especially considering three of their number had super powers and had the potential to move mountains. Okay, she was the only pure Kryptonian technically speaking out of the group, but even part Kryptonians like Alex and Connie should be able to more than hold their own.

Gamora threw down with Alex. The part-Kryptonian breathed as she tried to fight out. Alex tried to jab her in the stomach, but Gamora blocked her fist and whipped her hand back.

"Earth sends me children to fight me!" Gamora said. She shook her head. "I hoped for a challenge! I should have expected disappointed! "

Alex's face contorted into anger. She jumped high into the air and tried to take her down. Gamora blocked her hand and whipped her back down onto the ground. She crashed down onto the ground.

Artemis fired three arrows at her. Gamora deflected all of them. She rolled forward and drilled Artemis in the stomach. The archer slumped over. Gamora cracked her in the chest with another kick.

"What are you going to do without special abilities," Gamora said.

Gamora stomped down on Artemis's face. Artemis grimaced when she found herself pushed down to the ground. The breath escaped her chest when she forced her down. This was not going her way at all.

"I'm going to set you up…for someone who does have powers."

Gamora looked at her like she was insane. A blur came in out of the side of her eye. She caught it in a full nelson at the right moment.

Whitney gasped when she tried to vibrate out of Gamora's grip. She did so. Whitney bounced up and put her into position to get knocked out.

Alex, not to be defeated just yet, and fired a blast of red light. The magical blast rebounded off of Gamora. The armor she wore repelled magic, thus making magic extremely useless.

'_Need to find a weak spot.'_

She wondered how resistant the armor would be against a sudden blast of heat. Alex squinted her eyes and followed it up with a blast of heat vision. The last minute, Gamora rolled out of the way.

Gamora speared Alex and sent her down to the ground. She landed hard against the ground, blood splashing from her mouth.

She pulled herself up and looked over her shoulder. She saw the battered members of the team. One of them, the non-powered woman, had led the Princess off. She could find them now the team's pathetic efforts had fallen at her feet.

"There's no one here to challenge me," Gamora said. Boredom escalated in her. "And I thought you were supposed to be Earth's mightiest heroes."

A huge flying fist caught her off guard the moment she turned around. There was a solid crack when Gamora flew backwards, landing on the ground. She skidded on the ground to a stop.

She looked up and saw a dark haired woman dressed in battle armor, hovering above her. Her lips curled up into a smile.

"So, the daughter of Zod makes her presence known. Finally, a challenge."

"My brother sends his regards he isn't here to humble you personally, he's busy helping clean up the mess your prison ship caused," Faora said.

Gamora rose to her feet and she rushed towards Faora. The two of them engaged in battle with each other. The green skinned space warrior tried to fire a series of kicks, but Faora blocked each shot.

She spun around and took Gamora's legs out from underneath her. Faora straddled Gamora and pinned her down to the ground.

"Do you yield?"

"Hardly," Gamora said. She grabbed Faora and headbutted her in the chest.

Faora staggered back and the wind knocked out of her.

Gamora resumed battle with Faora and fired back a series of punches. The two of them fired punches and kicks at each other, neither of them giving the other any quarter.

Alex shook her head before she mentally returned to the fight. She felt like her shoulder got separated and her ribs got bruised. Connie and Laura appeared at her shoulders. The two watched the fight in awe.

"So, should we get involved?" Laura asked.

They watched when Faora nailed Gamora in the side of the neck. If she had hit a different spot, she would have killed her instantly. Instead, she hit a spot prompting numbness to go through her legs.

"No, I think it wouldn't be wise to get in their way," Artemis said.

Gamora's rage bubbled over. She needed to fight the daughter of Zod. She must beat her, but even if the upgrades she had, Gamora failed to beat Faora. She vowed to fight to her last breath.

"You're impressive, you'll be a good addition," Faora said. She smiled.

Gamora's eyes flashed with fury, and she tried to nail her again. Faora blocked her arm and twisted it around. The Daughter of Zod took down Gamora once more. She needed to wrap this up really soon.

She backed up and used her super breath to send Gamora flying. She launched into the air and crashed down onto the ground.

"No!" Gamora howled. She struggled to her feet, but she collapsed down onto the ground. "NO!"

"Yes," Faora said. She raised a shield with her family crest on her hand and a bright light engulfed Gamora.

Gamora's body froze in place.

* * *

><p>History showed many points where a quest took place for years and years. The question was done to the point of a mindless, or rather single minded, obsession. Every single action lead up to one moment and the upcoming moment would result in his triumph. The person who had envisioned the quest pictured it in their mind constantly time and time again.<p>

Main issue panned out where some quests didn't end planned. Many problems presented themselves, a lot of setbacks, and a lot of people just plain getting in one's way. The vision they had at the end of the quest did not line up with the one they had before they started the quest.

Those thoughts crawled through the mind of Thanos. The Terrible Titan traveled throughout space on his quest to obtain the Infinity Gems and with a successful completion, he would obtain his Infinity Gauntlet. There was, but three gems he needed to get his hands on, to complete the set.

It had been a long journey, but Thanos was the man who actively courted death. Therefore, he felt as if he had to be in this journey for the long haul. There had been numerous snags and problems.

He valued alliances above all else and he had an alliance back on Earth would help him find the Reality Gem, which he believed to be hidden somewhere on Earth.

"Gamora, come in," Thanos said.

He was trying to get in touch with his daughter and the prison ship had gone dark.

Gamora informed Thanos a dangerous prisoner who had stolen the Power Gem had gotten onboard the ship and had been captured. She refused to divulge the location, but Thanos had his ways of making people talk. His cruelty didn't know any conventional bounds. He would have her talking, one way or another.

Pain proved to be an extremely powerful motivator and the threat one's planet would be under immediate destruction worked rather well as well.

He could not get in touch with Gamora. A problem presented itself because of this fact.

"Track Prison Ship Z524," Thanos said.

"Right, my liege," the man said.

Thanos acquired many followers, many resources, but the one thing he wanted more was the Infinity Gauntlet. It would allow him to reshape the universe in his own image, and maybe complete the courtship process he had with death. The plan fell into place with more pieces. Thanos knew better than ever not to trust even the best laid plans, for they often went awry.

"Continue tracking the ship, and let me know of your progress once you have located it," Thanos said. He turned to another man on the ship. "Put me in touch with our associates on Earth, I wish to have a report of their progress."

Thanos sat himself down. He paced up and down the ship for what seemed like days. Of course, there was no seeming like it because it honestly was for days. Thanos thought he would collect the gems by now and assemble his gauntlet.

It didn't help his plans the Time Stone had gone missing underneath his very nose. And someone swiped the Power Stone for him. Those two brazen acts would have to be punished.

"Mr. Luthor is on the line with you," his associate said.

"I'll speak to him at once," Thanos said.

A figure submerged in the shadows, sitting next to several more figures sitting in the shadows showed up.

"Thanos, I was wondering when I would be hearing from you," a calm voice said. There were very few people who would dare speak to Thanos in such a casual tone. There were many would be destroyed for even thinking about it.

A small part of Thanos respected this man's cadence. An extremely small part might be dwindling with each passing second.

"I'm on my way to Earth," Thanos said. "And I trust you have the Reality Stone ready for me."

"Actually no," the man said.

There was a long moment where Thanos didn't say anything. He understood it would not be wise to show his superiority by flying off the handle at what this man was saying. He grew extremely and oddly calm. So calm in fact his tone when he spoke was absolutely chilling.

"You better explain."

"We attempted to liberate the stone from the location, but the Justice League got involved. I'll cut to the chase, the son of Zod now has possession of the Reality Stone."

This news caused Thanos to lean back on his chair, digging his nails into the edge of the arm rest. He took a deep and calming breath.

"Thanos, are you still with me?" he was asked.

"This presents a bit of a setback, but not one I can overcome," Thanos said. "Continue as planned, I will arrive at Earth in a matter of moments."

"Of course," the man in the shadows said.

It was shocking to many, never mind Har-Zod, when he of all people showed up. He had a score to settle with the Son of Zod and his wives after events occurring in the distant past.

Thanos could tell with the man's tone he wanted the power for his own. It was not uncommon for those to crave the infinity stones, even though the power would destroy them.

"Sir, we've detected the prison ship…it appears to have crashed on Earth."

Thanos didn't believe in coincidences. He believed everything came together for a purpose.

The purpose of everything coming together would allow him to achieve his goals. A quest of hundreds of years and through countless galaxy ended on an insignificant planet.

* * *

><p>Kori looked around in awe, so much she wished she had several extra pairs of eyes. She was entering what appeared to be a high tech fortress. She didn't think there was anything like this on Earth. The princess never felt more glad to be wrong.<p>

Regretfully, she dressed in a tight white t-shirt and cut off blue jean shorts were Karen's. She was the best fit for Kori's figure and was some good competition to be in.

The Princess looked around. The white shirt rode up her stomach, to show her tight stomach.

"Oh, this is amazing, I thank you for taking me here."

"You're a guest on Earth, you should have the very best accommodations," Rebecca said.

Rebecca and Alex showed Kori around the newly expanded tower. A few additions allowed them much more room in the tower.

Only Harry would make an obscene amount of bedrooms and be a little short in the end. Alex smirked approvingly at those thoughts.

"I'm sure we're going to find you a room which isn't occupied," Rebecca said. "Until we can figure out how to clear your name and get you back to your home planet."

"Oh, it's no problem, I'd be happy to share one of your beds," Kori said.

Alex broke into a smile and Rebecca barely kept a straight face. The two of them stood up with a smile.

"I have no problem with it either," Alex said with a smile and Kori returned the smile. The other part of Alex's statement caught her off guard though.

It clicked to in Kori's mind what her home would be like when she got there. Her face fell into a frown. The frown didn't become unnoticed by Alex.

"Don't worry, Harry will make sure everything is fine," Alex informed her. "You know, Har-Zod, he'll make sure everything is fine."

"Yes, I know him," Kori said. His prowess was well known throughout the universe. Women of several different planets dreamed of a visit to them and they would gladly kneel before him.

"I'm glad to see I'm well known."

They all turned around and Kori's eyes opened wide. She saw him standing there and the numerous statues of tribute didn't really do him much justice. He was all much more amazing in person. Really, the stories failed to do him a proper amount of justice.

"Oh, you're here, it's an honor," she said. She got down on her knees before him, a smile crossing her face.

Harry chuckled. Her eagerness made him pleased.

"No need to kneel before me."

"Not right now at least," Rebecca said. She shamelessly checked out Kori's ass when she rose to her feet. "Maybe later at least."

Harry smiled and she adjusted herself. She extended her hand towards him. Harry took it and he leaned forward, planting a kiss on her hand. She gave a gasp in pleasure and started to bounce up and down. Her bouncing did wonderful things to her breasts when she bounced and her shirt slid up, nearly giving Harry an eyeful.

"Sorry," Kori said.

"No need to stop," Alex said.

Rebecca swatted her on the rear in response and Alex turned towards her with a playful glare. Becca grinned with an evil smile.

"Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran, I welcome you to Earth," Harry said. "And you can stay for as long as you wish, or at least until we get this matter sorted out."

Kori frowned.

"I'm not sure if we're going to get this matter sorted out any time soon. Thanos is going to come after me, especially considering his daughter was brought down with the prison ship. You do know who Thanos is?"

"Of course, he's nearly as infamous as I am," Harry said. Harry's casual statement caused Kori to start giggling in response. "Good to see you've gotten relaxed."

A door swung open before Kori had an opportunity to change.

"Hey, Harry, I brought you a present!"

Lois and Carol made their way into the tower and escorted Blackfire in. Kori gasped when she saw her sister being lead into the room, in chains.

"Komand'r, you've got her!"

The black sheep of the royal family turned her head away. The princess blushed in surprise. She saw Har-Zod, normally someone she would be excited to see and plotting to get into her bed. Given the circumstances she wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

Kori frowned as Komi passed her.

"And it's not even my birthday, Lois, you can be awesome sometimes," Harry said.

"Well I shop….what do you mean sometimes?" Lois asked.

Her reaction prompted Claire and Chloe to break out into laughter over the bond network.

"Well, you can get into way too much trouble sometimes," Harry informed her.

"Hey, I don't go looking for trouble, trouble usually finds me fine enough," Lois fired back.

Harry could have laughed, at the irony. No one would get why he was laughing, no one would dare ask why he was laughing.

"Oh, and Lucy sends her regards, but you both know the reason why she didn't come straight back," Lois replied. Harry nodded, he knew the reason alright.

Kori made her way over towards Harry. "Har-Zod, I wish to ask a favor of you."

"No need to be so formal, Kori, Harry or Har will be just fine," Harry said.

"At least outside the bedroom," Lois murmured out of the corner of her mouth and Harry gave her a sharp look.

"Could you….could you not try to hurt my sister too badly?" Kori asked. "I mean….she deserves to be punished…..but….she….she's my sister."

Blackfire couldn't believe Kori. After framing her from stealing from Thanos, she still defended her. Kori's generous nature made her look like an even bigger bitch than ever before and Blackfire hated anything which her look like a bitch.

"Don't worry, Kori, I won't hurt her too badly," Harry answered. He gripped her hand firmly and reassuringly, squeezing it. He sent a burst of electricity up her spine. "At least in ways she won't enjoy."

"Huh…OHHHH!" Kori cried. She got it instantly and she smiled.

Blackfire looked at him. Her fate was to be Har-Zod's sex slave. All and all, there were far worse fates. He did bed the Queen of Almerac after all, so his prowess could not be denied. Maxima showed herself to a picky bitch of there ever was one.

"I need to deal with Gamora first though," Harry said. Kara and Karen turned up. "Could you please assist Lois and Carol with locking up Blackfire?"

They nodded in agreement and left Harry with what he needed to do.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on August 9<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	88. The Deadliest Woman Part Two

**Chapter Eighty-Eight: The Deadliest Woman Part Two.**

* * *

><p>Gamora stirred herself to a point of being awake. The woman found herself in the one position she never imagined to be in during her entire life. Her captors trapped in a cell with nowhere to go. She felt powerless, she was powerless. The very thought of how Gamora got here enraged her. She didn't know when she was going to be out, if anyone ever let the woman out.<p>

On top of having a powerless and enraged feeling, Gamora felt something else on the pit of her stomach. Something she would never admit to feeling in a million years, but she felt it with an increasing certainty and an increasing dread. Fear gripped her when she realized he approached. Thanos felt little sympathy with her being present.

Gamora thought for a moment she heard footsteps. The Deadliest Woman rose up to her feet and felt rather mortal indeed. The feeling of morality made her sore. She placed her hand on either side of the cell. It felt cool to the touch.

The daughter of Thanos stepped back and sank back down onto the bench looking out of the cell. Or rather she stared back at herself.

It was funny, when you saw your own reflection, one experienced quite the moment of self-realization. She filled with a fair amount of self-doubt of herself and her abilities.

Despite situation Gamora found herself in, she would not break, she would not beg. Gamore refused to be the kind of person who broke from the battle. As awful as it seemed what happened to her, she would not break.

Thanos continued his travels, and would find her for certain. And she had failed to bring him what he needed. Gamora dreaded his wrath when he came up to her.

The image of the cell flickered, and Har-Zod walked into her line of sight. Gamora figured the two of them would meet. Given his sister imprisoned him, only a matter of time.

"There's no way out, as I'm sure you've figured out by now," he said

Gamora didn't need to be told the obvious, she figured as much already. She knew and her beady little eyes fixed on the man in front of her.

"I hope you're ready," Gamora said.

He raised his eyebrow and looked back at her. Gamora continued to speak, her entire tone as calm and as crisp as she could make it.

"There's nothing in the world can prepare you for what he might do to you and your planet. He's destroyed many planets far stronger than Earth."

"I'm certain you have some insight on what to expect," he said.

Gamora scoffed for a moment. Their eyes met each other.

"After you imprisoned me, you think I'd help you."

She wondered if he had lost his mind. Or expected all women to fall to his feet, but Gamora had more pride than many women assumed.

"It's your choice, but I'm sure we both know Thanos is coming for you," he said. "He's not the type of individual to accept excuses or failure, is he?"

Gamora didn't say a single word. He knew she knew he was right. The image of the cell flickered for a moment, and left Gamora alone with her own reflection and more importantly her own thoughts.

Harry stepped back from her. She really was a dangerous woman, but an interesting one never the less. The most powerful man on Earth met the gaze of the deadliest woman.

Faora waited for her brother the more they arrived. Her amusement didn't fade the moment he turned around to face her.

"She's going to be a tough one to break, isn't she?" Faora asked. "But let's face it, you enjoy the challenge."

Harry chuckled in amusement.

"I can't break her just yet," Harry said. "Plus it's more fun when they go willingly."

Faora raised her eyebrow and decided she would have to grudgingly accept this point. In some instances, she didn't see where her brother was coming from, but this was one of the times where she noticed his sense.

"Do you really think when push comes to shove she'll help us against Thanos?" Faora asked.

Harry stood back and pondered her statement for a long moment. The two of them locked eyes. Neither broke from their position.

"You know, it's a likely possibility. But I'm not sure if we could bank the entire future of the planet on it. I'm not even sure she's up to it. I think she might be terrified of Thanos."

Faora realized what he was doing and approved. The woman's lips spread into a knowing grin.

"So underneath Gamora's tough exterior, there's nothing but a terrified little girl who is pining for approval?"

Harry nodded and the two of them made their way away from the cell.

"And as it turns out we've got another problem," Harry said.

Faora's eyebrow corked and she looked at Harry really seriously.

"Just one problem?"

Harry snickered. Okay, they ran into more than just one problem come to think of it. What about his life had just one problem anyway? He didn't know how to break this.

"Thanos would need some allies on Earth. I don't think it's a coincidence Savage was looking for the mask just happened to have the Reality Stone."

'_Well, everything makes sense, but….you're thinking they are working for him,' _Karen thought. She frowned. _'Does Thanos really need the likes of them to pull off?'_

'_Someone like Thanos, I can see him being a huge fan of delegating,' _Harry said. All of the girls nodded. What Harry did make a fair amount of sense all things considered. _'But, they're nothing but a means justify the end.'_

'_Sounds like they could give him the same consideration,' _Lana thought.

Harry would have to agree. He already had the wheels of what he thought was an excellent plan rolling into motion. All he had to do was deliver a well-placed plan, and he would be pretty good to go.

* * *

><p>Felicity sunk down in a chair. Her eager fingers flew over the keyboard as she monitored everything around her. Mission control for the team had been one thing, and Felicity thought she did a perfectly acceptable job. A long time passed since she did mission control, but it was just like getting back on the bike.<p>

"So, there's one pod you missed, it landed somewhere in Brazil," Felicity said. "I think Captain Marvel, is closest to the pod, but if anyone can back her up, it would be great."

"It shouldn't be too much of a problem, but the assistance is appreciated," Carol said.

"I should be on my way right now," Claire said.

"Little backup on my end would be appreciated," Artemis said.

She sounded like she was in the middle of a hell of a fight against an enemy just refused to go down.

"Right, Ravager and Volcana, do you think you could help her out?" Felicity asked.

"Already a few steps ahead of you," Ravager said. Rose recognized the scenario at once, she had to pull Artemis's ass out of the fire. She really didn't mind it, but she just really found it extremely amusing. "Just hang tight for two seconds."

Felicity wished she had an extra set of eyes. Things appeared to be calming down, at least long enough to allow her to take a breath and relax. She almost forgot what it meant to relax. She was pretty sure the definition had not been lost to her.

"A prison ship breaking up over the planet causes problems? Who knew?"

Felicity looked up and saw Chloe sauntering into the room. She walked over and took herself a cup of coffee. She smiled and poured it to herself. She allowed the fresh goodness was coffee to touch her lips. Chloe tilted her head back so she could stare Felicity down.

"Don't mind me, I'm just taking a break, we're finally finished up in Metropolis," Chloe said. She pondered something. "I don't know what it is, but there's just something about the Metropolis/Smallville area which a lightning rod for weirdness."

"I guess it is," Felicity said. "And with you and Barbara out on the field, and Tess….doing whatever she does, it fell upon me with the responsibility."

"And given you stayed on top of everything, you did a really good job," Chloe said.

"Well, as you know, I always stay on top of everything," Felicity said. She turned around and sure enough, the energy signals were tapering down. If she was not mistaken, and she could very well be mistaken, all of the signs indicated the chaos simmered down.

Chloe hated to be the one to burst Felicity's triumph.

"At least we got all of the prisoners, now we can sort them out later."

The girls both turned around in time to see Harry standing before them.

"Well, you've had a very productive day, haven't you?" Chloe asked.

"I think he has," Felicity said. "I mean, he picked up two souvenirs, didn't he?"

Harry smiled.

"Whitney would approve of your terminology."

"I'm glad," Felicity said. "So, what's been going on?"

"There were a few minor injuries today, but overall, I think overall everyone did well," Harry said. "The team running into a dangerous woman wasn't something I considered ideal though, but it was a valuable learning experience and taught them a lot about what areas they need to brush up on."

"So, what are you going to do with Gamora?" Chloe asked.

"I'm sure she could be valuable to the coming battle ahead," Harry replied.

"Well, she should be another notch on your bedpost," Felicity said. Harry smiled at her. "Which means it's time to update the database."

"The fact you're keeping records of all of Harry's conquests is….well it's impressive," Chloe said. "Especially considering updating the database is a constant job, and Harry adds women faster most women add shoes"

"My bedroom conquests aside," Harry said. He cleared his throat and brought the women back to the attention at hand. "She's going to be in as much danger because of Thanos as anyone else is. So it would be in her best interest to work with us."

"Will she see it along those lines, though?" Felicity asked. "She seems like the stubborn type."

"Which to be fair is Harry's type," Chloe said. "I mean look at Lois."

'_Hey!' _Lois shouted. She huffed and puffed, folding her arms. _'I know you got a point, but still….yeah I know you have a point, but still!'_

The good news was the League filed back and rejoined each other. The prison ship might only be a small sample of what Thanos could bring. Harry prepared for battle.

If Thanos wanted to bring Harry a battle, Harry answered with a war.

* * *

><p>Cass, Mary, Stephanie, and Courtney all sat down at the table. The members of the team had been out on the mission joined them as they entered the room. They saw a tall and orange skinned alien dressed in a tight white shirt and jean shorts walk towards them. The team showed Kori around.<p>

The girls recoiled when they caught sight of Alex's face. Mary let out one statement pretty much showed what they all thought.

"Oh my!"

"Yes, it's really bad, isn't it?" Alex asked. She, Connie, Laura, Rebecca, and Kori stepped on in. "I tried to fight one of the deadliest women in the universe, if not the deadliest….the deadliest in all of the twenty eight galaxies or however many universes there are this week. And needless to say, it didn't end up well for me."

"Well, you used your magic, didn't you?" Stephanie asked. The statement from the heroine got her a coarse set of looks from the rest of the team. The young girl folded her arms and got all huffy. "Well, it was an honest question."

"The newbie's new, go easy on her," Rebecca said.

Stephanie wondered what kind of faux pas she committed by opening her mouth.

"Magic, is not the solution to everything, and it most certainly wasn't the solution here," Alex said. "Most alien races are resistant to Earth bound magic. Some like Kryptonians get affected like humans would, but not all. And many have powerful armor which can repel a lot of attacks. Magic is just a blunt force wrapped in a pretty light after all."

"So by the time you summoned up enough power to blast her to the other side of the universe, you would have been getting your ass curb stomped anyway," Courtney said.

Alex frowned and tapping her hand underneath her chin.

"I'm not sure if I would put it quite like you did but….."

"It's close enough where you agree, isn't it?" Stephanie asked.

"Yes, it's close enough where I would agree," Alex said. The sorceress thought she had been wrecked just a little bit and not in the good way either. Alex figured she should introduce them to the newest member of her party. "This is Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran. Kori, this is Mary Batson, Courtney Whitmore, Stephanie Brown, and Cassandra Cain.

"Oooh, it is a pleasure to meet you all," Kori said.

She bounced up and down in an excited manner. The girls watched Kori's progress and got excited as well by watching her bounce up in down.

'_So hypnotic, so lovely,' _Alex thought to the other girls on the bond.

"A real life alien princess, wow," Mary said. "Well, I mean there are princesses on Earth, but still a real space princess, I can't believe how cool this is!"

"It really is an experience," Stephanie said. "So, how did you come to Earth?"

Kori decided to tell her tale and it was one deceit and betrayal, like many tales were, unfortunately. She looked rather frustrated. Alex looked towards her.

Kori finished the story she told with a deep and long breath.

"And that's what happened."

"Dealing with someone like Thanos must be really awful," Mary said.

Mary didn't mean to sound so melodramatic, but despite her best efforts the heroine came across as melodramatic. Accidental melodrama came out at the worst possible times. She clapped her hands upon her mouth.

"It really is bad," Stephanie agreed. She couldn't even begin to imagine her sister betraying her.

"And now Thanos thinks I have stolen from him and he will come after me, I don't know what to do," Kori said.

"Believe in Harry, really the best thing to do," Rebecca said. She reached up and placed her hand on Kori's shoulder. She had to stand on her tip toes to do it.

Rebecca underlined the motto of the team, to trust in Harry. The motto rarely if ever pushed them wrong.

"Speaking of which, where is Harry?" Stephanie asked.

She looked for her glorious leader to pop out around the corner. If the past taught Stephanie anything, Harry looked to pop out.

"Good question," Courtney said. "Wouldn't he want to give you guys some feedback?

Alex piped up with an answer, speaking directly towards the junior members of the team.

"Oh, he's just going over things with Artemis and Whitney before he comes to speak with us."

Laura struggled to suppress a groan, but failed at doing so.. She didn't know Harry talked to Whitney and Artemis. Connie didn't look too much better off to be honest.

"Our performance reports…never a good thing."

"Hey, we held our own against Gamora," Rebecca said. Her statement caused Alex to give her a look as if to say "seriously?" Rebecca faltered for a moment before recovering in an instant. "Okay, we didn't do as well as we thought. And we did get our asses kicked, but still…..it could have been worse, couldn't it?"

No one wanted to touch the statement with a ninety nine and a half foot pole. Things weren't much worse, but they did not get better.

Cass, who had been quiet up until the moment, decided to speak up.

"Wish I joined you guys on the mission. Might have ended up differently if you had the backup."

"We really wish you would have gone along on our mission as well," Alex said. "Things might have gone a little bit better if we had you to back us up. And as far as backup goes, you're among the top of the heap."

"Yes, I'm aware," Cass said. "I think some training sessions are in order."

"Training, sounds pretty interesting," Kori said. She had some training of the fighting styles of her planet, but it was nothing compared to what her sister had. Kori leaned to the girls, bouncing up and down again for distraction. "Mind if I join."

Cass might have been distracted by Kori's bouncing without the discipline her mother imparted in her.

'_Damn, Harry, you're going to have to put her energy to some good use,' _Cass thought.

"The more, the merrier," Cass said. "We might have to get my mother involved on this."

Rebecca's groan was obvious and she wasn't the only one. The new girls looked rather confused.

"Oh, we're so totally boned, and not in the good way either."

"What is so bad about Cassandra's mother?" Kori asked.

Alex and Rebecca looked at each other.

'_So do you want to tell her?'_

'_You can tell her if you want to tell her,' _Rebecca said.

'_Why does it always have to be me?' _Alex asked.

'_Maybe because you're the one who is better at explaining shit to people,' _Rebecca said.

'_She does have a point,' _Jaime said. _'Must be a Potter-Evans thing where we can politic our way into some really good situations, but there we go.'_

* * *

><p>Artemis perched herself on the bench at the medical bay getting looked over by Caitlin. Whitney stood by her side. Harry topped off the group, joining them.<p>

"I'll be okay, I've had worse," Artemis said.

Caitlin ran her hand up and down her arm and she shivered.

"These type of injuries need intense cold to properly ease," Caitlin said. She smiled when she looked over her. "You could have been far worse off than you were."

"You keep telling me, like I don't know things could have been worst," Artemis said. "Ravager saved my ass."

"I'm glad, I would have been over there but….well you know I had my own problems," Whitney said. She stretched and casually snatched a candy bar to eat. "It's a good thing we have an unlimited League roster, because otherwise….."

"I don't deal with otherwises, I prefer to deal with what actually happened, in the here and in the now," Harry said.

"Right," Whitney said. "Um, point well taken, I think."

Harry raised his eyebrow and she swallowed. "And by I guess, I mean I know, for one hundred percent."

Artemis chuckled and Caitlin allowed herself a cool smile. Other than the smile, she retained a professional demeanor.

"So, the Team were in over their heads," Artemis said. "In hindsight, them going up against Gamora might have not been the best idea in the world."

'_Might not have been?' _Alex chimed in.

"It wasn't the best idea in the world," Harry said. He chose his next couple of words. "But given the circumstances, I think we didn't have any options. And it took no less than Faora to take her down."

"I'm surprised you didn't throw your really big gun at her," Artemis said. Harry looked at her. "Or are you saving one for Thanos?"

Harry's non-answer told what information he intended to give them. The archer sighed and allowed Caitlin to continue to patch her up.

"So what's the damage."

"Okay, Artemis, you're good to go in my books," Caitlin said.

"Good, I'm glad," Artemis said.

"Just have plenty of rest, and you'll be fine in the morning," Caitlin said. "And no fighting large tentacle monsters which spit white hot ink."

"Talk about the most important order," Whitney said.

"I intend not to unless absolutely necessary," Artemis said.

Harry turned and led the two team leaders over. Laura babysat Kori and the other girls, while keeping an ear onto the meeting involving and the team leaders.

"The team picked up a couple of heavy hitters recently, Starfire and Captain Marvel," Harry said.

"Isn't it going to be a tad bit confusing with two Captain Marvels?" Whitney asked. Harry and Artemis glared at her in response. "I'm just saying, you know."

"I know what you're saying," Harry said. "But, they have the raw power. The skill on the other hand….well I need both of you to help me evaluate everything later."

"Standard newbie tests, okay, no sweat," Artemis said. "But, what are you going to tell the team?"

"I'm just going to give them a briefing, and going to tell them what senior members of the League they're going to be assigned with when Thanos stars his invasion," Harry said.

"Are you sure they're ready for this?" Artemis asked.

"I know they're ready for this, the League members have all filled in as guest trainers as needed, so it's not like they're unfamiliar with them, although the new recruits are," Harry said. "The new recruits are with me."

"Right, if I know you, you want a hands-on approach in training them," Artemis said. She touched her hand to her hip. "So, what are you going to do with Gamora?"

"I've had a talk with her and explained some truths to her," Harry said. He allowed the girls to contemplate his words. "I'm going to make her wait for a while, let her stew in her own juice."

Whitney stuffed her fist in her mouth in a vain effort to break up her laughter. Harry looked at her. Her laughing became even more prominent. Caitlin groaned in response.

"Sorry, you just said juices, and my mind….well it went to a really naughty place."

'_I'll say it, I'm sure she'll have plenty of juices to stew in when Harry is done with her,' _Kara piped in cheerfully. Whitney gave her a long glare through the bond. _'Oh, dear, not helping is it?'_

Whitney folded her arms and stuck out her lip in a fierce pout. To say Karen wasn't helping would be the understatement to end them all.

Harry exited the room and went to approach the team. He took one look at Alex's face and frowned.

"Alex, why haven't you reported to medical?"

"Har, I'm fine," Alex said.

The stubborn young woman didn't want to be embarrassed in front of her friends, said friends were giggling.

'_Speaking of the Potter-Evans qualities,'_ Jaime thought.

"Alexandra Audrey Potter, report to Caitlin at once to get your injuries looked at!" Harry yelled.

"Oh, full name ultimatum, someone is in trouble!" Courtney said.

Alex rolled her eyes. Rebecca touched her hand on her girlfriend's shoulder.

"I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so. I really did tell you so."

Alex had no choice, but to obey. She walked off with a scowl messing up her place.

"So, Gamora is secured, as is Blackfire, and I need to tell you what members of the League you're with….."

"Wait, we're actually with the League on this and not running crowd control?" Rebecca asked. Connie glared at her, and Rebecca fell into line. "Sorry, I'll shut up now."

* * *

><p>Harry arrived in his office. Sara Lance waited for him, sitting on his desk with her legs crossed. She dressed in a leather jacket, a tight white shirt, a black choker, fingerless black gloves, and super tight leather pants, along with high heeled boots.<p>

"Hi, Sara, it's been too long," Harry replied.

Sara smiled when she saw him and practically pounced him. She pushed him into the wall, and kissed him fiercely on the lips. Her tongue pushed into his mouth and they wrestled for domination.

"You have no idea how I was looking forward to seeing you again," Sara said. She calmly walked her fingers up Harry's chest, and yanked him across the office. "There hasn't been much relief where I have been."

"Well, you've done an admirable job," Harry told her. Sara raised her eyebrow and flashed him a smile. "And you've done really great."

"Well, there are some factions of the League don't think your ascension was absolute," Sara said. She pushed him back onto the desk and straddled him. She ran her hand through his hair and started to plant kisses down his jawline.

Harry placed his hand on her tight ass, and squeezed it. She smiled at his actions.

"There are people out there who just won't let go of the past," Harry said. "They haven't figured out Ra's chose his own matter of death and hand-picked successor."

"His body never was recovered, was it?" she asked . She slowly unbuttoned his shirt and paused. "It doesn't matter if it was, but….it won't stop some idiot from trying to bring him back."

Sara got up on top of him and she slid her leather jacket. She revealed her toned arms and she leaned back. Her shirt rode up to show a nice look at her toned abs.

"All those months I've been under ground….I think the light of the end of the tunnel was more than worth it," Sara said. She lifted up his fingers and slowly sucked on them, her eyes meeting his. "Wouldn't you?"

"Yes," Harry said.

Sara's tongue trailed down his fingers to suckle on them.

A knock on the door interrupted them. Harry groaned. Sara shook her head, and smiled.

"It seems like we have a guest Harry. Wouldn't it be rude if we didn't invite her in?"

It would be rude, Harry agreed with his wife one hundred percent.

"Come in."

The door opened and one Dinah Laurel Lance entered the office. She dressed in a casual black tank top and a black skirt, although she had fishnets recovering her lovely legs and she wore a pair of high heeled boots.

"Kara told me you needed to see me," Dinah said. She stopped and spotted her sister straddling Harry. It didn't register in her mind until Dinah got a full view of Sara. "Um, hi Sara."

"Laurel," Sara said. She turned around and smiled when she pulled herself away from Harry. "You're looking really good, have you been working out?"

"Yes, I…well I've been busy with the Justice League," Dinah said. She could see her sister eating her up with her eyes and her tongue trailed over her soft lips.

She really must have been somewhere she didn't get a chance to get any relief.

"I can tell, and I'm sure Harry's worked you pretty hard," Sara said.

She crossed the room and peered in Dinah's beautiful blue eyes.

Dinah heated up underneath the collar a tiny bit. Her sister seemed to be doing nicely in getting underneath her skin.

"So, how was your mission?" Dinah asked. She wanted to regain control of herself and her hormones.

"Dreadfully dull, but unfortunately essential," Sara said. She pushed a lock of hair out of her hair. "The Light is going to be set up for a dreadful fall. All we need to do is have our operatives on the inside….well they need to do what they've done."

Sara stepped closer towards Dinah and wrapped her up in a hug.

"Sara, what are you doing?" Dinah asked.

"I'm just so happy to see two of my favorite people in the world for the first time in months," Sara said. "Two of the three people which I love beyond anyone else."

Dinah could feel Sara's hands brush through her hair.

"Come on, Dinah, don't be shy," Sara said. She leaned forward and breathed in her sister's ear. "Remember the wild night we had when Harry brought me back from the dead? I'm sure you do, I can feel you getting wet thinking about it."

Dinah realized where Sara's hand rested. Her younger sister, while shorter than her, overpowered her in a matter of minutes.

'_Interesting you sent Dinah in right now,' _Harry said.

'_Yeah, quite the coincidence I sent Dinah, isn't it?' _Kara asked.

Thea, who had just got back, and rejoined the rest of the team, piped on in. _'Coincidence my ass!'_

'_Oh, I'd coincidence your ass alright,' _Kara said. _'Quite the ass, too!'_

Thea looked on with a smile and Sara Lance and Dinah Laurel Lance were engaged in not so sisterly reunion was about ready to get steamy real quick.

Sara placed her finger on her lip and trailed something on it. She walked over.

"And naturally, we don't want to have Harry feel left out. Talk about being wrong."

* * *

><p>After Harry put both Canaries through the pace, a pair of wide eyes watched the festivities, unable to turn themselves away.<p>

* * *

><p>A limo pulled up outside of an impressive facility. A large and imposing black man exited from it. . He stepped forward, and his bodyguard followed him. He was the usual individual who resembled a secret service reject.<p>

"Stay here," he said to his bodyguard. Said bodyguard nodded his head and stepped back as it was requested.

The large black man made his way over. He dressed in a pure white suit contrasting to his dark skin. He came face to face with the one and only Vandal Savage.

"Mr. Fisk, welcome."

Wilson Fisk nodded.

"It's an honor to work with you, Mr. Savage."

"Yes, your operations have caught the attention of myself and my partners, and you would be a good person to fill in a role in the Light which has been recently vacated," Savage said. "And given you have been allied with us in the past, it is just as well."

Given Spider-Girl interfered in some of his operations, Fisk had a score to settle with the woman and he could use some back up.

"Well, this is best for business then, if our two sides join forces," Fisk said. He extended a hand towards Savage, who took it.

Both men looked imposing in different ways and were the type of individuals you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alleyway.

Another limo pulled up and this one pulled up in style. Fisk looked at Savage with a questioning expression. The long-lived man curled his lips into a knowing smile.

"I believe another one of our associates has shown up," Savage said. "And she's early, as usual."

The door opened and a fairly attractive blonde woman exited the limo. She dressed in a pure white business suit. She had two female bodyguards with her. One of them had short blonde hair, and a pair of glasses on her nose, and the other had slightly longer black hair. Both of them looked like the type who will protect their interest.

"The fabled White Queen?" Fisk asked.

"At your service….Mr. Fisk, isn't it?" the White Queen asked. The posh refined tone she had indicated her status. "It's been a long day of business meetings….but paperwork is a dreadful coincidence in running the world."

"It is, my dear," Savage said.

He stepped forward and offered to open the door.

"No need to do this Mr. Savage, I have employees to do hold the door for me," the White Queen said. She snapped her fingers and one of her employees walked forward and swung the door open. "I heard Thanos is on his way, and we don't have the stone."

"Yes, we do have a problem" Savage said. "But, should the League and Thanos take each other out, we will be able to pick up the pieces."

"Only the fittest will survive," the White Queen said.

Vandal Savage lived by the Survival of the Fittest mantra with during his entire life. He lived up to his name in many instances.

Katrina smiled. Her borrowed identity was in play and everything was going according to her plan. Galatea and Divine played their roles nicely.

The Light prepared to dim. The White Queen and her allies sat front and center.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on August 11<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	89. Best Laid Plans

**Chapter Eighty-Nine: The Best Laid Plans.**

* * *

><p>In her line of work, Gamora figured there was always a solid chance she would be captured. The most galling thing was how she got captured or where she got captured. One of the last things she expected was to be in a prison on Earth and yet here she was. She curled her lip up in a frown. The woman thought about her options and either way, said options looked to be bad.<p>

She would give credit where credit to Har-Zod and his people. The security in the cell she was kept in had been very good. There were no obvious flaws she could exploit which would allow for any kind of escape. It didn't ease her burden or pain for sure. But it made her feel better of being held captive.

Good security worked no matter what. Gamora studied the cell for another moment, for lack of better something to do.

One day, she would have her day and she would find her way out of here. Much time had passed, she had been fed several times. The meals tasted good, but the quality of the meals made Gamora trust things less.

'_No one did things this nicely without a catch.'_

Earth food was a bit rich in some respects, but Gamora took what she had.

Footsteps echoed in the hallway. Gamora casually leaned against the cell and waited for the figure to come into full view. The figure was the one and only Har-Zod. The woman's lack of surprise shined through.

The one thing she found herself surprised about was he came to visit her as opposed to preparing for the inevitable.

"So, you're here, aren't you?" she asked. "Thanos has not arrived yet."

"How could you ever guess?" Harry asked her.

Gamora's lips curled into a wide grin.

"The fact you're still standing might have something to do with Thanos not arriving.," Gamora said. She leaned in to lock eyes with Harry. "So, why are you here?"

"My offer still stands," Harry said.

Gamora's eyebrow arched when she looked at him. The most dangerous woman in the galaxy considered the officer. She entered the interesting position with having nothing left to lose, but very little to gang.

'_Being under his thumb or going back to Thanos where he will kill me for my failure. I can't show any weakness.'_

"Your offer still stands?" Gamora asked. The positives and the negatives weighed and Gamora found a balance on both sides. "You think after all we've been through, I'll help you. Especially after all of Thanos has done for me. And what he might be able to do to me."

Harry refused to answer, and stared forward at Gamora.

"All he could do to me if I do anything he perceives to be a betrayal, or worse, failure. "

"You've already betrayed him," Harry reminded her. Gamora's eyes shifted towards him and it looked like she was wondering where he was coming from. "The moment you failed, your fate's been sealed. Tell me, what do you have left to lose. Surely, you have nothing left to gain with his loyalty."

Gamora looked towards him. "

You seem to think you have the measure of Thanos."

"I know enough to know how much havoc he could cause, and I know everyone will be in peril if he gets his hands on the rest of the Infinity Stones," Harry said.

It was Gamora's turn to state what she thought was a fairly obvious point.

"One would think you would be certain of your ability to hold the Infinity Stones. You are Har-Zod, your prowess is known throughout the universe. Surely the Infinity Stones are well in your capacity"

Did Harry detect a note of sarcasm in her voice? Hard to tell at times, really.

'_Perhaps you should show her your prowess and show it isn't just hype,' _Kara said.

'_Of course you'd suggest it,' _Whitney said. _'Not I blame you, I mean take a look at her.'_

It was Faora's turn to jump on in through the bond link.

'_When the time is right, Kara, and not a second before. We don't want to be premature with this.'_

'_And we know Harry is anything, but premature,' _Lois said. Everyone through the bond followed through with groans. _'Well, if I didn't say anything, than someone else might have said something. Figured I'd save everyone the trouble.'_

'_Point well taken,' _Chloe said.

Harry turned his attention away from the bond chatter and turned his attention fully to Gamora. Gamora's arms folded underneath her chest. Eyes locked onto each other for a couple of seconds.

"Do you honestly think you have a chance against Thanos?" Gamora asked. She paused and decided to drop the other part of what she wanted to say. "Even with my help, do you honestly believe you have a shot against Thanos? Can you conceive a situation where you can beat him?"

Harry noticed her resolve cracking a tiny bit.

"I think you underestimate the League and what my girls are capable of. And I know you know you have less than nothing to lose from getting involved. Thanos is going to kill you anyway."

"Yes, again you state your argument," Gamora said. She stared him dead on in the eye. Much to her surprise, and pride, Harry didn't blink. "I expected as much. You think you can coax me into joining up with you. Perhaps add me as another conquest to your growing list?"

Harry smiled. She was going to be a tough one to crack. Harry stepped towards her. He was on the other side of the invisible barrier separating the two of them. Harry stood as close as he could without passing the barrier.

"I know, I can see it, even though your demeanor says otherwise," Harry said. "You want to know if the stories are true. If they're fact or if they're fiction?"

Gamora remained mute in the situation. . She refused to acknowledge he had even the slightest bit of a point. He turned around and walked off, leaving her alone with her own thoughts.

She considered her options. Joining up with him wasn't the worst idea in the world, but at the same time there was something holding her back. Thanos would destroy her. She wasn't afraid of the man, she honestly wasn't.

* * *

><p>The rest of the world might be recovering from the incident occurred, but from chaos, bred opportunity. No more obvious opportunities for chaos bubbled from Gotham City. A group of heavily muscled thugs, dressed in black garb made their way to the back of a truck. The truck flipped over the side of the road.<p>

"The city's just ripe for the looting boys," one of the goons said.

The thug thought today would be a glorious day and he couldn't wait to reap the many glorious benefits of a day like today.

One of the other goons raised his eyebrow.

"I don't know, what if one of the do gooders show up and smack our hands away."

"The do gooders…they're not worried about a few boys trying to get some goods off of the back of a truck," the leader of the gang commented. "Especially considering some alien prison ship fell from the sky and there's some big purple guy who is about ready to destroy the Earth."

The thugs all nodded, but one looked a bit nervous.

"Yes, can I help you, princess?"

"If the Purple guy destroys the Earth, wouldn't he put us out of work?" one of the goons asked. The man's voice shook when he spoke. His fellow goon tapped him lightly on the shoulder and made him turn around.

"Relax, you're thinking about this too much, and thinking isn't your strong suit," the goon said. "The heroes are going to save the day like they always do, you know what I mean?"

"Yeah, yeah, we know what you mean," the other goon said. He held a crowbar up and pried open the back of the trunk. "Do you even know what's back here?"

"Damned if I know, but it must be something worthwhile if it's being held in a truck this swanky," the leader of the gang said. "But for all I know, the other person already stole it, so we're not really doing anything wrong."

The truck was finally opened. Several boxes rested in the back of truck, with goods inside.

"Face it, boys, we just hit the jackpot," the lead goon said. He snapped his fingers hard.

At his signal, the rest of the gang climbed into the back of the truck to check out the merchandise. They looked at one of the crates. Inside one of the crates rested what appeared to be a high tech piece of military weaponry.

"Oh yes, come to Papa!" one of them said. He lifted up the piece of military weaponry in his hand and cradled it like one might a newborn baby.

"Do you even know how to work the stupid the thing?" one of the goons asked him.

"Ah, did you take a page out of your wife's book?" another goon asked. "Heard she talks the same amount of trash about you."

The goon moved his way towards him, but two of his buddies held him back and prevented him from jumping onto him.

Another one of the goons chuckled and commented in a fairly light tone.

"A lot of people picked up something from his wife, from what I've heard."

The goon in question grumbled, sadly those were the rumors he heard as well. The leader of the gang cleared his throat, stopping the gossip chain in its tracks.

"Just get the shit off of the truck and get it onto your van," the leader of the gang said. "We'll just sort it all out when we get back to the hideout."

The gang members stood up. The goons unloaded the goods, all of them moving towards the back of the truck.

"So, what happened to Batman?" the goon asked.

"What do you miss him?" another one of the goons asked. "Because, I can tell you I don't miss him putting his fist into my mouth and putting my teeth down my throat every other week. No thank you, I'd rather get in bed with Eddie's wife."

"Oh, you're a real comedian, aren't you, Jimmy?" the goon known as Eddie said.

The goon envisioned blowing away the punk with the goons. Talk about a glorious little vision dancing in his head.

"Well, you see, they saw Batman disappeared, but I don't buy it," the goon said. "I mean, have you thought of a different possibility?"

The goon realized he had the entire gang in the palm of his hands, so he decided to press forward with his alternate explanation.

"Well, Batwoman came on the scene," the goon said. "So, I was thinking, maybe Batman decided he identified with being a woman and he decided to get the work done and become one."

"You know it's a good enough thought as any, Batman turned into Batwoman, because he was a woman trapped in a man's body. It would explain why he stalks the night dressed like a giant bat!"

"Now, you're just being an idiot!" the goon said. They loaded the last of the goods from the truck into the back of the van. "Batman getting a sex change, for fuck's sake."

The goons all jumped with a start.

"What the hell?"

A dark brooding figure lingered on the edge of the building. One of the goons looked up, and he disappeared into the shadow before reappearing.

He dropped down the building. They saw him dressed in a dark black suit with latex nipples practically paining on. The goons stared at the Bat nipples of doom, and one of them snickered. One of the goons burst out into laughter.

At least until the goon received a face full of gas and started to choke. The thug started to laugh, when he hunched over, his face twisting into a grin before landing on the ground with a thud.

The man in the Batman suit stepped out of the shadows. One could see his jaw and it was pale and white, with a permanent grin etched upon his face.

"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" one of the goons asked.

"I'm Batman," the pale man said.

One of the thugs recognized the trademark grin flickering underneath his mask.

"No, you're not Batman, you're the fucking Joker!" one of the goons said. He realized something. "Oh, shit, so much worse!."

The goons were taken out in quick order and beaten rather savagely with the brass knuckles this imposter Batman wore. His firsts whirled in short order, nailing his adversary hard. A loud crack resounded with fist connecting with flesh and bone. The goon dropped to the ground, blood dripping from his mouth.

All of the goons laid on the ground, a broken and beaten mess.

A perky looking blonde dressed in a Robin suit, with extremely tight green booty shorts fit over her stepped from the shadows. She looked around and saw everything around her. She raised her hand and slapped it to her palm.

"Holy, rigor mortis Mistuh J….um I mean Batman!"

"Indeed old chum," Joker-Batman said.

He stooped down to leave his calling card for the police before slipping off into the night. .

* * *

><p>Kori came to the conclusion she needed to visit herself to get closure. After a good night's sleep, she wanted to visit her sister.<p>

"Komi?"

Her older sister looked up towards her. Komi looked not to surprised Kori looked at her from the other side of the cell.

"Hello, little sister," Blackfire said to her. "I believe I owe you an apology for what I've done, but…..I don't think you would quite believe it, would you?"

Kori didn't say a single word. She sat down in front of the chair, her legs crossed. The Princess stared intently at her sister, almost as if she was trying to figure out where she stood.

Blackfire gave a long sigh. She hated swallowing her pride. It was one of the more disgusting things to taste on the tip of her tongue. Her sister's gaze lingered on her for a moment.

"For the record, I didn't know I stole an Infinity Stone," Komi said.

"You might have told me one of the few truthful things you ever told me," Kori said. "But you knew the item was of great value to Thanos, so you set me up to be arrested in your place. Our parents thought they could save you by sending you away, didn't they?"

"Our parents….never approved of me, I was a reject to them," Komi said.

"You know it isn't true!" Kori cried.

Her sister shook her head. Sweet naïve Kori, didn't understand what went on around her.

"Kori, you have an idealistic relationship with them. They like you, and they've allowed you to see their light side. But trust me, there is always a dark side to everyone, they just haven't allowed you to see it yet."

Kori's frown grew deeper. She would have liked to think her sister told the truth, but she recalled her sister's past deceptions.

'_Hard to take someone like Komi at face value.'_

"Why do you hurt me with these lies?" Kori asked.

"I don't expect your forgiveness,' Komi said. "And I know this time I've messed up so bad you might never look me in the eye with trust or love again."

"You didn't answer my question," Kori said.

"Because, you're perfect, because…you're the ideal princess and I'm just the spare," Komi said. "I'm a one in a million genetic defect. I was hoping if I could get you out of the way, then the attention would be on me. It wasn't anything personal against you, really."

"My parents would have never forgiven you," Kori said.

"I had nothing to lose with them," Komi said. "You don't even know why I was sent away in the first place. One of my attempts to get their attention resulted in one of our father's concubines perishing."

Kori couldn't stifle her gasp.

"No, you didn't!"

"I have no reason to lie about what I've done, I had to live with the guilt," Komi said. "I never meant for her to die."

"No, you meant for me to die, didn't you?" Kori asked.

"I was younger, stupid, less refined….I knew how stupid it was, but I did it anyway," Komi answered. "The only reason I came back was because…..well I thought it was a rare jewel I could fleece on the market and gain enough money to live a comfortable life away from the disgrace."

"But, it got Thanos after you, didn't it?" Kori asked calmly.

"Yes….sitting here in this cell has reminded me of how much I've lost," Komi said. "I can never return home, you know."

"No, you can't," Kori informed her. She couldn't help, but feel a tiny bit sorry for her sister. "You know no matter what, I'm here for you."

"After all I've done, you still want to give me the benefit of the doubt," Komi said. "You don't realize how much I hate you for this? How I hate you're a far better person than I can ever hope to be at my best. You're far better at your worse than you are at my best. Kori, I really hate how perfect you are!"

Kori shook her head. Talk about summing up a point nicely. She spun around in time to notice the sound of footsteps.

"Oh, Harry must be done talking to Gamora," Kori said. She frowned. "I haven't had a chance to thank him for saving me. Don't you think I'm being rude. a little bit rude?"

Blackfire threw her hands down in frustration, with a bit of a longing look sneaking into her gaze.

"Yes, it's unlike you to be rude."

Kori picked up at the look.

"If you would like, I would convince him to take care of you. I'm sure you would enjoy him. You talked about him all of the time and dreamed about what it would be like to have him take you."

Blackfire was about ready to protest, but she turned rather wet between her thighs at the thought of what he could do to her.

Kori turned around and saw the one and only Harry Potter, Har-Zod, standing before her. Her nipples hardened at the way he looked at her, like a future conquest.

"How are you?" Harry asked.

"I'm fine," Kori said. She smiled, wrapping her arms tightly around him. "But you know, I didn't get a chance to properly thank you, and I really wanted to."

Her body pressed against him and she ran her fingers through his hair. With such an attractive alien goddess ready to service him, why would Harry say no? Only an idiot would deny a situation like Kori offered.

He grabbed her by the ass, and kissed her fiercely. Kori returned the kiss, shoving her tongue into his mouth. She grinded up and down his body, with her nipples poking from the other side of her shirt.

She broke the kiss, leaving a trial of salvia between both of their mouths.

"Shall I kneel before you now?"

Harry smiled and he looked the beautiful alien princess straight in the eye.

"I would be disappointed if you didn't."

She descended to her knees before Har-Zod.

* * *

><p>Mary Batson watched with widened eyes, Harry putting two extremely attractive alien princesses through the paces. Her fingers dipped between her legs and she gasped when she started to rub her center. She was drooling in pretty much every sense of the world.<p>

Her mind was going completely wild.

"Hey, Mary, are you down here?" Stephanie called.

"Yeah, in a minute," Mary breathed. "I'm just….going to take a shower."

"Mind if I join you?"

Given the place where Mary's mind went, Stephanie's words didn't cause her to blush at all. Okay, maybe it did a little bit. She shook her head.

"Um, sure, I guess."

* * *

><p>Mary left the shower room and she wrapped a towel around her waist. Stephanie followed her, slipping on her top and a pair of hip hugging tight leather pants and a purple tank top to match.<p>

Courtney, Rebecca, and Alex were waiting in the training room. Actually, Rebecca and Alex engaged in a sparring session. Courtney cooled down after what appeared to be an intense session.

"I'll meet you in there in a second," Stephanie said. "I can't believe you're still going at it after all of this time."

Mary nodded. She still couldn't believe what she saw and she couldn't believe how excited she was about it.

She slipped on a fresh set of panties and she slipped a nice plaid skirt over it. A bra followed and a nice black blouse. She allowed her hair to dry and entered the sparring room.

"I think I've got you," Rebecca said.

The former Circus acrobat pushed Alex down on the ground and pinned her down.

"You think so, don't you?" Alex asked. She reversed Rebecca's position and pinned her down onto the ground. Alex looked down at Rebecca with triumph dancing in her eyes. "Who has who, I wonder?"

Rebecca groaned when Alex pinned her down on the ground. She hated when Alex ended up top, mostly because the other girl decided to rub it in. Not in a good way either.

Courtney shook her head and turned to Mary and Stephanie who joined them.

"Rebecca keeps trying. She's going to have to get pretty early to get the better of Alex, though."

The blonde could see Mary who nodded like a bobble head. She seemed distracted, like she traveled a million miles off in space.

Stephanie nudged Mary, and bounced up and down, before turning back to Courtney.

"Yeah, I thought Rebecca was pretty good, but nothing compared to Alex. She's just amazing."

"Well, she's earned her spot as team leader, and not because she's….." Courtney said. She snapped her fingers and she looked at Stephanie with a frown. "What is she in relation to Harry again?"

Stephanie shrugged in response.

"I think cousin…or something along those lines. She had to go through the same process the other team members did."

"Oh so wrong," Courtney said. She grinned, unable to keep a straight face. "Which makes it so hot, doesn't it Mary?"

"Um, yeah, I guess," Mary said.

"Are you feeling alright?" Stephanie asked.

Mary nodded a bit too vigorously not to raise a red flag in Stephanie's head.

Alex and Rebecca called time. Rebecca finally became sick and tired of getting put down to the ground repeatedly by Alex. She rose to her feet and she caught one look at Mary. She turned towards Alex and then back to Mary.

"So, you walked in on Harry during a private moment, didn't you?" Rebecca asked.

A scandalized look passed over the face of sweet, innocent, Mary Batson. Who wasn't as sweet and innocent as everything appeared at first.

"I don't…I don't know what you're talking about," Mary said.

"I think you do," Alex said. The youngest Potter rested her hands on the back of Mary's neck. "You saw Harry's really big cock violate some girl and she was screaming for more. It went on for hours and hours."

"It was an accident," Mary said.

The sweet girl wanted to bury herself alive.

"But, you couldn't look away, could you?" Rebecca asked. "At first, you were shocked, and then you were aroused. You got rather aroused and you didn't turn away, no matter how much you wanted to."

Mary thought Rebecca and Alex hit the nail on the head, no matter how dirty the two girls described it. She lifted her finger, but shook her head.

"It was amazing," Mary said. Her mouth grew surprisingly dry. She smacked her lips together and tried to moisten them.

"Yes, it always is," Stephanie agreed. She nodded eagerly when she thought about it. "You and I….we haven't been properly inducted."

"Oh, you two little girls don't know what you're getting yourself into," Courtney said.

Rebecca and Alex turned to Courtney with wicked grins.

"Oh right, you already sampled Harry's magical staff," Rebecca said.

"Really, you're making a magical staff joke?" Courtney asked. But, it was amazing, beyond amazing in fact, better than amazing, completely wonderful. ."

"But, some people are sore for days," Rebecca said. She placed her hand on Mary's shoulder and rolled a lock of Mary's hair around her finger. "But, no matter how sore you get, how raw you get, you always want more."

"And Harry will give you more," Alex said. She pressed herself on Mary's other side. She and Rebecca trapped her in their midst. "And even when you can't handle it, you always want more."

Kara showed up at the door and cleared her throat. The girls looked up like they were children who had their hands caught in the cookie jar.

"Team meeting in five minutes….everyone the League and the team needs to attend," Kara said.

"Is Thanos going to be here soon?" Alex asked.

"You'll find out about it in a few moments," Kara said.

Kara reached the realization Thanos's arrival crept on them. He was just doing a good job in making them sweat, making them feel nervous. Thanos drew out the torment, like a true mastermind would.

* * *

><p>The entire League and the members of the team were there in full force. Diana, Helena, Karen, and Harry, as the senior members of the League, sat at the edge of the table. Helena turned towards Harry.<p>

"So, I think everyone is presented and accounted for?"

"Yes, I'm pretty sure the gang's all here," Harry said. He cleared his throat. "Once again, I would like to thank you for the work you've accomplished, clearing up the prisoners from the prison ship. Thanks to your help, all of the prisons have been secured."

Lois picked up where Harry left off.

"Yes, and they're being sent to the Guardians and they're sorting them out. Some of them were imprisoned for very good reason and others weren't. Regardless, the Green Lantern Corps are figuring out the situation as we speak."

Karen frowned.

"Can we count on the Green Lantern Corps for help against Thanos though?"

Lois sighed.

"Some of the members we can count on. The Guardians are unwilling to fight a war with Thanos, given their latest war of the light…."

Many people around the table groaned with Kara saying what they all thought.

"Oh seriously, another one!"

"No, kidding, what color are they on this time?" Shayera asked.

Lois shrugged. She didn't know. She was just glad she wasn't involved. "I've convinced a few members of the Green Lantern corps to talk where they can, but….not all of them are willing to commit."

"They may fear Thanos," Carol said. She had to admit Thanos did get his reputation for good reason. "He might have an army with him, but he's pretty formidable enough on his own without the army."

"He's after something more dangerous than any army, the Infinity Stones," Harry said. "I don't have to tell you what would happen when he gets his hands on those, do I?"

The members of the League all shook their heads. It obviously went without saying what would happen if Thanos completed his Infinity Gauntlet.

'_Harry, you've got a call,' _Felicity piped on in through the bond. _'You might want to take this….it's urgent.'_

Harry turned towards the females in the League and the team. He looked towards Karen.

"Do you think you could go over the finalized assignments for when Zero Hour approaches?"

Karen nodded in agreement.

"I can cover for you. But you owe me."

"I always make it up to you."

Both of them shared a knowing grin before Harry made his way down the steps and into teleported from the Watchtower into the main office building.

"Sorry for pulling you away from preparing for this week's alien invasion," Felicity said. She was working the front desk today at RAO given the usual person who did it had called in sick. "But it seemed really urgent, like you need to answer the phone now."

"Thanks, Felicity," Harry said. He placed the phone on his ear. "What can I do for you?"

"Harry, it's Pamela," Pamela said. "Harley fell off of the wagon again and we might have to stage an intervention."

Harry groaned, talk about the one thing he didn't want to hear as the world prepared for Thanos inviading.

"Well only one reason why you'd say Harley fell of the wagon."

"Obvious, isn't it?" Pamela asked.

'_Barbara are you in Gotham City?' _Harry asked.

'_Yes, following up on the rumors of this fake Batman mess,' _Barbara said. _'So, you're going to meet me there?'_

'_Yes, I'll meet you ASAP,' _Harry said.

Harry turned around and noticed Helena joined him.

"Karen and Diana can take care of things with the League."

No need to ask Helena why she popped up.

* * *

><p>Another group of thugs sat around a table, drinking beer, playing poker, and shooting the shit.<p>

"Batman's back in town….and he's killing people," one of the men said. He downed the beer he was drinking. "It's beginning to seem like Gotham City isn't the safe haven we all thought it was."

The other goons looked at their fellow goon like he fell off the stupid tree and nailed every single branch on the way down.

"Beginning to seem Gotham City's getting more fucked up, isn't it?" one of the goon asked. "You in, or you out?"

"I'm in," the man said. "But, seriously, there's been a lot of weird rumors about the Batman, and…..he's not been himself."

"Yeah, I heard he was brainwashed and now he returned to Gotham City and started offing a bunch of people," one of the goons said. "I don't know, there's a lot of weird shit going on these days."

A knock on the door brought the goons out of their card game. One of them turned around.

"Well why don't you get the door, it must be the pizza delivery man?"

The goon got up to his feet and walked towards the door. He opened the door. The pizza delivery man stood on the other end of the door. The delivery man decked out in white makeup with a crazed permanent grin on his face.

"Ah shit, it's the Joker!" one of the goons said.

The man in makeup stepped forward and pulled a giant fish out of his hoslster. He smacked the goon in the face with him.

"Shit, he's crazy!" one of the goons said. The Joker jumped onto the table and struck a pose.

"Yeah, crazy like a fox!" the Joker said. His voice sounded different with a different accent. "What's the matter, haven't you heard a killer clown before?"

"He's not the Joker!" one of the goons said.

He got stabbed instantly and dropped onto the table.

"I know you are, but what am I?" he asked. He cackled like a completely insane madman, shaking his head.

'_Oh we're going to leave a mark for sure!' _one of the voices in Deadpool's head said.

'_Nice to spoil who I am, jerkwad,' _another one of the voices said.

'_Hey, we got to spell it out, because some people might be a tad bit slow to catch on,' _another voice said.

Jokerpool dperformed a crane stance and kicked one of the goons in the chest hard. He landed down onto the ground. He took out the goons with a rapid fire fury. Punches and kicks whirled in every direction. They all dropped to the ground.

He threw confetti in the air and laughed. He started coughing madly, doubled over. "Oh, damn, I shouldn't have smoked all of those Cubans before I got over here…..Harley….HARLEY!"

A deep baritone voice spoke.

"Coming, Doctor Jay."

"It's Mistuh Jay, get it right!" Jokerpool yelled. He shook his head, in time to see a large, hairy man dressed in a jester's outfit, waddle in. He tried to lift up a giant mallet, but he fell over and landed on his backside. "Oh, speaking of leaving a mark."

'_Where did you find this joker anyway?' _one of the voices inquired.

'_He won an online contest, he's a member of my fanclub,' _Deadpool told him. He sighed. _'It's really disturbing how easily I was able to convince him to cosplay as a woman.'_

"Well, I really hope our nefarious dealings gets…um Batman's attention," Jokerpool said. He started his laugh, only to start coughing, hunched over. "Oh, I'll get the hang of this eventually….and once more with feeling!"

Jokerpool gave a mad round of laughter which escalated louder and more crazed. Even the man dressed as Harley was intimidated.

"So, do I still get dinner?"

"Way to ruin the moment, neckbeard!"

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on August 14<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	90. Interrupting

**Chapter Ninety: Interrupting Your Regularly Scheduled Program.**

* * *

><p>Deep under of the darkest, most dreary parts of Gotham City, laid the lair of one of Gotham's greatest protectors. The man who had declared himself to be Batman, who obviously was not Batman at this present time, but he had deluded himself and some other people he was the Dark Knight.<p>

The depraved adjusted his utility belt and walked forward into a cave. Charred trophies stolen from several criminals rested on the decapitated head of a blown up dummy was one of the many toys he had a chance to obtain. The dark jester kept walking forward, to look around.

"This entire city is a cesspool of crime and debauchery," he narrated. "Every single….moment I turn around, someone has to clean it up. But why not me? Why not someone who has a really bad day? Why not…..?"

"Pudding, are you going to finish your soup, it's getting really cold?" a voice asked from the other end of the cave.

"In a world where there is so much crime, my soup is getting really cold," he said. "The criminal element is ruthless and efficient, therefore, I must maintain my vigilance. Criminals are like a really bad STD on the crotch of Gotham City. There is no treatment whichwould keep them away for long."

He switched on the radio. The paled face avenger leaned in to keep a closer listen on the radio.

"Another group of gang members have been found incapacitated thanks to this rogue Batman. The Gotham City Police Department are urging all caution when dealing with this version of the Dark Knight. He is armed and extremely dangerous, so you should not approach him under any means."

The would be Dark Knight shook his head. He cleared his throat, coughing in response.

"No, you're wrong, Mr. Ryder. It's only the scum who ruins Gotham City's fair streets who should be concerned. It's only the scum who ruins Gotham City and puts people in danger who should be worried. It's only the scum who should not approach me. I am Vengeance, I am the Night, I am Batman!"

"Do you want me to put your soup in a thermos?" a voice said. "Because, unless you're done playing Batman, it's getting really cold."

Joker-Bat turned around and gave his protégé one of those looks. The look looked like it could burn through solid steel.

"I am Batman."

"Right, right, right, right, of course you are!" Harley-Robin said. She responded in a rather half hearted-manner, slapping her fist into the side of her hand. "Holy lapse of memory, Batman!"

"Indeed, old chum, and all is forgiven, all is forgotten," Joker-Batman said. The computer blinked to life. Joker-Batman scrambled to the computer to take a closer look at the chaos unfolding. What he saw caused his heart to stop. "Great scot, the Joker is back in town and terrorizing Gotham City!"

"But Mistuh….Batman, how can the Joker be terrorizing Gotham City?" Harley-Robin asked. "Oh holy splitting headache, Batman!"

"It's obvious the fiendish clown has decided to incorporate his own genius brand of terror on Gotham City," Joker-Batman said. "It is obvious he has learned of my return back to this town, and he thought…..well he thought he could bamboozle us and confound us with his unique brand of criminal trickery."

"Jeez, Batman, you're right," Harley-Robin said.

"Indeed, old chum," Joker-Batman. "We take down the jeering jester before he causes issues to the sanctuary of our fair Metropolis."

He prepared to go towards the bootleg Batmobile. A loud explosion caused the Joker's head to jerk off to one side.

The entrance to the cave opened and there was a loud and boisterous voice which yelled, "DING DONG!"

Jokerpool entered the cave, with "Harley" who was about the size of a Harley, lugging a large bazooka, stepped into great prominence. He gagged after stumbling into the cave, and nearly fell over with the oversized rocket in his hand.

"You're a rather difficult man to find, Batsy!" Jokerpool said. "But, you know, there's only room for one of us in Gotham City!"

"You fiend, how dare you break into another man's cave?" Bat-Joker said. "It's just not done."

"Well, you're going see why you can't dance with the devil in the pale moon light," Jokerpool commented. He coughed. "Harley, your cue!"

"What?" Harley-Robin asked.

Jokerpool resisted the urge to create an epic union between his palm and face.

"No, not you, you're Robin, he's Harley," Jokerpool explained. He wanted to create an epic meeting involving the side of his palm with the edge of his face.

'_I think we already said it before.'_

'_Making sure to hammer it up for people a bit slow on the uptake.'_

'_She's a bit slow on the uptake isn't she?' _one of the voices in Jokerpool's head said.

"Oh yeah, right," Harley-Robin said. She shook her head. "Man, you let yourself go….I mean, holy Diabetes, Batman!"

Joker-Batman stood up straight, puffing his chest out. His anger raised at his domain being threatened.

"You will not come into your cave with your harlot and threaten me!" Bat-Joker bellowed. He lifted into his belt and pulled out a canister. "Here, have a dose of the Bat Gas on me!"

"Is The Bat Gas what you call it after you have a truckload of burritos?" Jokerpool asked. He threw a razor sharp playing card at the Joker in response.

Harley-Robin stared down the Harley Cosplayer.

"Alright, Mister Jed, way to show him, Pudding."

"That's Mistuh Jay you glorified pretender!" Harley-Robin said. "I mean….you're going down, old chum!"

Harley-Robin launched herself into the air into the air and nailed him with a martial arts kick. Her foot bounced off his ponderous bulk. The failed attack caused her to crash down to the ground, the wind completely knocked out of her.

Fake Harley crouched over the top of her, arming the bazooka.

"Oww, ouch…ooohh….hey genius, the switch is on the other side of the bazooka."

Jokerpool threw a bomb at Bat-Joker, who responded by firing an exploding, crude, homemade baterang at him. The two of them exploded at each other and caused half of the cave to go up to dust.

Harley's little escapades with the Bazooka was fixing to cause an even more elaborate amount of property damage. She fired against the wall and caused it to cave in.

Robin-Harley shook her head, at least until she got a stun gun to the back by Jokerpool.

"Old chum!" Bat-Joker yelled.

The faux Dark Knight ran over towards her, but Jokerpool winded up a jack in the box and it emitted a gas which knocked Bat-Joker completely unconscious.

"They always go down so hard in the first fight, it's almost like it's planned," Jokerpool said. "Tie them up and get them on the back of the trouble. Got something special planned for them."

"Ah, come on Master Gee, I've got to sit down for a few minutes," Harley said. His huge bottom hit the ground. "Never knew winning a contest is going to be such hard work."

* * *

><p>Pamela Isley, also sometimes known, as Poison Ivy, waited for Harry Potter and anyone he decided to take with him. She was really concerned to be honest and it was agitating her for lack of a better term. She tapped her foot on the ground and allowed herself a heaving sigh and started to rock back and forth.<p>

This was not the first time Harley slipped off the wagon. Sometimes she was fine. In fact, when the Joker was dead, or supposed to be dead, she really turned her life back around. Now the Joker returned and back down the slippery slope Harley traveled.

Pamela thought this time she had really fallen off the wagon and hard. She would do what any friend would do, she needed to stage an intervention, but she wouldn't do it alone.

The door opened and Harry arrived, dressed in his full Arcane attire, followed by Batwoman and Huntress.

"Harry, I'm glad to see you," Pamela said. She threw her arms around him and kissed him furiously. She pulled away from him and bit down on her lip. "I just wish it had been under better circumstances than this."

"Well I'd have to agree with you," Harry said.

Pamela escorted him into a sitting room positioned off to the side of the greenhouse she kept in Gotham City. She also did some work for RAO, one of the branches which popped up in Gotham City.

Pamela settled herself down. It was obvious she tried not to get upset, but failing at doing so.

Harry placed his hand on hers and squeezed it. His gesture gave her the strength she needed to press on.

"So, what happened?" Harry asked. "I thought Harley was doing good….sure she had her moments, but she didn't go down the Mistuh J rabbit hole."

Pamela sighed and she decided she better explain this. She had been able to piece enough together.

"Well, everything was going fine…..even with Batman's disappearance from Gotham City," Pamela said. "Speaking of which, do you have any news about where he might have disappeared to?"

Pamela, quite frankly, had no great love lost for Batman and was not too disappointed about the fact the Dark Knight vanished and disappeared from Gotham City. Still, she was nervous he didn't pop up. He was the type of person you wanted to know where he was at all times, for the sake of your own sanity. Pamela refused to believe for one second believe he died.

There's a good reason why he didn't get out of there.

"Not at this point, we don't," Harry said. "But, we're getting off the subject."

Pamela nodded and steered the conversation.

"The Joker returned to town or perhaps he had been hearing the entire time, licking his wounds, waiting for the right moment to strike."

"Bastard doesn't know when to stay in the morgue," Huntress said.

The truth was he did have a lot of immunity caused him to survive things should put a normal man to the ground. She leaned more towards the supernatural demon clown explanation more than anything.

It did make sense, in its own twisted way.

"He doesn't, and we've got a problem there," Pamela said. She sighed and recollected her thoughts as calmly as she could. "He doesn't really know how to stay in the morgue and he's causing a lot of problems….namely the fact he's dressing up as Batman."

The expressions of the people in the room darkened, and the situation grew a bit more grim.

"So the rumors are true," Batwoman said.

Pamela nodded at the other woman before proceeding.

"The rumors are unfortunately true, and…..this is just another way for him to reinvent himself."

"Yes, and he's going to cause trouble under the cape and cowl," Harry said. Despite the fact he was in the middle of dealing with his own mess, he was glad Pamela contacted him about this. The Joker constituted a rather serious problem they needed to take care of. "But, what's his end game?"

"Gotham City needs a Batman for the Joker to live," Huntress said. "It's not as complex as you think."

"You really have a handle of the Joker, don't you?" Pamela asked.

"The fact there's no Batman really has broken him up inside," Harry said. "Therefore, he's going to become Batman."

Barbara was already in the process of digging up some information, and she frowned. "So….the Joker has been spotted three times…..and he has been photographed at least once….does this face ring a bell?"

Harry took one look at the face of the imposter Joker. Even with the makeup, he noticed the man's demeanor and he groaned. He groaned because this just made a situation from bad to worse.

Also, pretty insane, don't forget pretty insane.

'_You've got to be fucking kidding me, right?' _Rose asked.

She was one of the first people to pick up on the other person who involved himself in the mess. A lot of groans followed when others picked up her thoughts.

'_Of course it would have to be him,' _Kara thought.

'_It would have to be him,' _Lois thought.

Lois shook her head. She encountered him briefly in the past, more than enough of an encounter.

'_So, wait, if Joker's Batman and Deadpool's the Joker….what does it mean for Gotham City?' _Kara asked.

Kara understood she might have asked a completely dumb question, but it had to be asked anyway.

'_You know, you raise a good question,' _Harry thought.

After a moment's thought, Harry turned to Barbara.

"Well, if you must know, it shouldn't be hard to pick up the trail of our imposter Joker," Barbara said. "And hopefully it will lead us to our imposter Batman."

It went without saying the Joker would not be pleased with someone doing an imitation of himself. He was a performance artist after all and a gentleman of high end tastes.

Anyone who stole his act might be in danger.

It also went without saying Deadpool might be the only person insane enough to steal the Joker's act, for reasons which only made sense to him.

* * *

><p>'<em>Meanwhile in an abandoned warehouse, deep on the outskirts of Gotham City,' <em>the voice in Jokerpool's said. _'The far superior Joker has taken the Dynamic Duo of Batman and Robin and has strung them up like week old meat. The situation hasn't improved for the Dynamic Duo since we last left them.'_

"I'm sure you're looking for this," Jokerpool said. He lifted up Bat-Joker's utility belt in his hand. "And I've had my army of rabid henchmen eagerly strip search you earlier, so there will be no surprises earlier."

"This is a violation of everything just!" Bat-Joker said.

"Wait a minute, you had us strip searched!" Harley-Robin yelled.

"Maybe, I did, maybe I didn't, you were unconscious, so I could have done anything I wanted to you," Jokerpool said with a nasty leer.

'_For any social justice warriors who happen to be hovering around, I didn't do anything to them, I'm just fucking with their heads,' _the voice in Deadpool's head said. _'Or did I?'_

'_When did we get PC all of the sudden, I mean, we're motherfucking Deadpool!' _another voice yelled.

'_Aren't we Jokerpool now?' _another voice popped up. He shrugged. _'I guess it's just a matter of personal taste….you do realize the further we get into a character, the further we become a character. Being the Joker could drive us completely and utterly around the bend for insanity.'_

'_With us, you can't really tell, I mean, it's a really short trip,' _the voice in Jokerpool's head said. He turned around and saw his Harley sank like a stone into a beanbag chair. _'You know, one more strong wind might be able to kill the guy.'_

'_Aren't you the least bit sorry one of your fans could die?' _another voice in Jokerpool's head asked.

Jokerpool's shoulders shrugged. _'The guy signed his release form, what are you going to do? He knew what he was getting himself into.'_

Jokerpool decided to turn his full attention to his captive audience. The two of them were strung up over a vat of jelly. Said vat of jelly bubbled underneath the captive duo. It was nasty batch of purple stuff and it looked to be toxin. Or at least the stench coming from it was quite rank.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Joker's house of fun!" Jokerpool cried.

"Oh, please, you need a little more punch in your voice….I mean…you will never get away with this you fiend!" Bat-Joker yelled at the top of his lungs. "Your criminal scheme will be kaput!"

Jokerpool waved his finger and did a merry little jig, before chuckling.

"I've heard this song and dance before, Batcakes," Jokerpool said. "And you're wrong, it won't be over, but you will. Gotham City will be a much better place without you and the Boy Blunder around it."

"Holy miscarriage of Justice, Batman!" Harley-Robin said. "Surely, he isn't going to get away with this fiendish criminal plot?"

"Oh, yes, I'm going to get away with this, just like I got away with what I did with the bus full of nuns," Jokerpool said. "And an attack which was purely in self-defense I assure you, and what I'm about ready to do is for the good of Gotham City."

Jokerpool started to laugh and then got into a wheezing cough.

"Not as easy to do as it looks, is it, you fraud?" Bat-Joker murmured underneath the side of his mouth. "And what scandalous scheme do you have…Joker?"

It sounded like a sharp knife stabbed him when he said the word "Joker" , almost like it pained him to refer to Deadpool as his moniker. Bat-Joker refused to break the illusion completely and fully.

"It's very simple, my friend," Jokerpool said. "And for once, it's not needlessly complicated where you need a diagram to decipher my plan. It is rather fiendishly clever. My fiendish folly will lead to your downfall."

"What's your genius plan?" Bat-Joker demanded.

"Observe," Jokerpool said. "I'm going to slowly and dramatically lower you from up high until down low into my vat of patented Joker Jelly beneath you. Not sure what it will do, but either you will suffer a very fiendish end or you will never get it out of your costumes, ever!"

Jokerpool responded with a loud round of raucous laughter.

"You….you….you devil….you won't get away with this!" Bat-Joker yelled.

"Ewww….what's that smell!" Harley-Robin exclaimed. She wrinkled her news. "It's pretty fucking nasty!"

"Language, old chum," Bat-Joker commented. "But, what is this nasty aroma!"

"Well, you see, the source of my pendant plunder is best left up to the imaginations of the depraved and the perverted," Jokerpool said. "Anyway, it's just simple math. I'm going to lower you down from up there and plunk you into the vat down there. Louie, start the crank."

"Right, boss," Louie said. "So, my daughter….."

"Yeah, her signed pair of used boxer briefs is in the mail," Jokerpool said.

'_My fanbase and their requests,' _Jokerpool said, shaking his head. _'Of course, I never said whose pair of used boxer briefs I'd end up signing.'_

He rubbed his hands together and started to hum. "Da, da, da, da, da, da, na na na, da, na, na, na, na, na na. Da, da, da, da, da, da, na na na, da, na, na, na, na, na na. Da, da, da, da, da, da, na na na, da, na, na, na, na, na na. Da, da, da, da, da, da, na na na, da, na, na, na, na, na na."

'_Behold the cheapest attempt to pad a chapter's word count ever!' _one of the voices in Jokerpool's head. He cleared his throat and shook his head. _'Will Batman and Robin survive the mysterious Joker Jelly? What is in the mysterious substance? Will it cause them to become so sticky they can never get out of their predicament or will they be dissolved into a pile of goo? Tune in after the next scene for the answers to these and other burning questions. Same, Jokerpool time, same Jokerpool channel. But remember, the most retarded is yet to come. Incredible isn't?'_

* * *

><p>It wasn't too hard to track the carnage. Said carnage lead Harry to the front door of Jokerpool's hideout. He arrived at an abandoned factory.<p>

"Really, how more predictable can you get?" Barbara asked, shaking her head.

Donna jumped on in to try and take a stab at it. _'_

_Well maybe it's so predictable, but it's the last thing you expect, so it kind of becomes unpredictable.'_

'_Actually the kind of logic is up Wade's alleyway,' _Rose thought. _'And be ready for anything.'_

Harry frowned. Jokerpool booby trapped the door. Not really surprised at all. He stepped back and created a hard light hologram duplicate of himself.

With the first trap defused, Harry stepped back and motioned for Pamela, Barbara, and Helena to join him in stepping back.

The hard light duplicate opened the door and it opened to hurl a pie at the face of the hard light duplicate.

'_Well the targeting is on par,' _Thea thought. _'And a nasty touch to boot.'_

'_Did he put cockroaches in the pie?' _Lois asked. She wrinkled her nose. _'Talk about….'_

'_Oh god, defiling a perfectly good pie by putting cockroaches in it!' _Whitney yelled. _'I should go up there and kick his ass for defiling the poor pie.'_

'_Okay, Whitney, come down,' _Iris said.

Whitney kept fuming at the fate of the poor pie. Talk about the one of the worst things a super villain did. Granted, Deadpool wasn't technically a super villain, more like a chaotic element was an occasional antagonist, but her point still stood. He took a couple of steps too far.

Harry's duplicate stepped forward and he looked around for more traps. Several spoons launched some eggs into directly at the intruders. The eggs broke up to release a noxious fume which would have knocked out anyone who didn't have gas masks.

'_He must have borrowed this hideout from Egghead,' _Dinah thought. _'Yeah, the large egg decorations would prove it. But he's retired, so I guess it was up for grabs.'_

'_Is he retired, or did someone retire him?' _Sara asked.

Harry slipped past the warehouse, avoiding any other traps. Or there were no other traps to avoid.

"Can we breathe now?"

"Okay, the coast is clear," Harry said.

The moment Helena stepped inside, she could feel a twisting in her stomach and she caught a nasty scent.

"What's…what the hell is…?"

She wasn't the only one who had caught a particular sight of a nasty scenet.

"Whatever it is, I don't think it's someone's new brand of perfume."

Harry cracked open the door and saw Joker and Harley being slowly lowered down into a vat of a bubbling purple substance.

"Joker Jelly," Barbara said.

Harry smelled and his nose crinkled in response.

"Yes, Deadpool's own special mix, apparently," Harry said.

Barbara frowned.

"And what prey tell goes into something like Deadpool's own special mix of Joker jelly?"

Harry gave her a side long look and he frowned.

"Do you really want to know?"

On second thought, Barbara didn't want to know. The implications of what Deadpool brand Joker jelly could be would be enough to disturb a person for the rest of her life. Barbara instantly felt the mental scars manifest in her mind.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Barbara asked. "We're going to have to do something, won't we?"

"Yes, we're going to have to," Harry said.

Helena groaned and she interrupted Harry.

"Please don't say what I think you're going to say. Please for the love of all things holy don't say what you're going to say."

"We're going to have to figure out a plan to save the Joker," Harry said.

Pamela and Helena gave him a pair of glares. Neither believed such a thing could even be considered. Barbara looked more amused than anything by the interplay between the three of them. Her head shook in bemusement, and dismay.

"Yes, he said it," Pamela said.

"Actually, I think we should just let him drop him in the vat, like he is, and call it a day," Harry said. His amendment relaxed them. "I just wanted to see the looks on your face if we suggested we would save the Joker."

"Oh, it wasn't really funny at all," Helena said. She didn't really have much confidence the Joker would even perish. What he was defied all common sense and logic. There was still a large part of her wanted to kill the Joker with her very hands. "We should save Quinn though."

"Yes, thank you," Pamela said.

'_So, what do you think is in the Joker Jelly?' _Kara asked.

'_I thought we weren't going to talk about the Joker Kelly?' _Chloe asked.

'_Knowing Deadpool, he would get disturbingly creative with it,' _Felicity said. She frowned and her imagination went to some really depraved places. _'Actually, thinking about Deadpool's Joker Jelly is the worst thing to think about. I'm really sorry for putting those particular thoughts into all of your heads.'_

'_Knowing Wade, it's highly likely,' _Rose said. It made her want to suit up and kick his ass just out of pure spite, but she'd settle for sitting back and letting Harry do so. He kicked ass with greater style to begin with. _'So do you have a plan?'_

'_Yes, I have a plan,' _Harry said. He pulled out the back pack slumped over his back. _'I'll be back in a minute.'_

* * *

><p>'<em>When we last left our captive heroes, not much had changed,' <em>Jokerpool narrated. _'Batman and Robin are still dangling over the vat of Joker Jelly, where a henchmen has been slowly grinding a crank and they are slowly lowered down. Why isn't there a quick release? Because of drama obviously. We are back and we are going to see how our heroes are going to get out of this one.'_

Joker-Bat and Harley-Robin were being slowly lowered down.

"Gosh, Batman, do you really think it will end this way?" Harley-Robin asked.

"I really hope it ends soon, because I really got to take a piss!" Joker-Bat howled. "Will you hurry it up with killing us already?"

"Do not despair, Batman."

"I mean, it's always darkest for the dawn. Keep your chin up old chum, I've got a way to get us out of here. It's a long shot, and I hope he hasn't disabled it completely."

"Gosh, Batman, what could get us out of this plan?" Harley-Robin asked.

The Joker whistled and a rocket flew out of his utility belt. It impacted the side of the vat, blowing a hole through it and sending Joker Jelly out of it. It splattered in every direction and covered the thugs nearest.

"Ah it's in my hair!" one of the yelled.

The thug tried to remove the Joker Jelly from his hair and he only succeeded in pulling out his hair in clumps. The other thugs were panicking and those who didn't get nailed with the blast of Joker Jelly were laughing at the ones were.

'_Well, who saw coming?' _Jokerpool asked. _'Other than the idiots who neglected to disable all of the devices in the Joker-Bat's utility belt.'_

'_Wasn't the idiot who failed to disable the item in the belt us?' _one of the voices in Deadpool's head chimed in. _'I mean, I'm just saying, there's no real need to bite our heads off.'_

Joker-Bat ripped himself completely loose. He left Harley dangling above the half empty vat of Joker Jelly.

"Okay, it's time for me to rip your face off, you pretender!" Joker-Bat yelled.

"Bring it bitch!" Jokerpool yelled and he raised his hands, making the international sign for just bring it. Dwayne would be proud. He then ducked behind his thugs and yelled. "Get him, death to the blithering Bat! Clip his wings, ooh hoo, hoo!"

The goons rushed forward in an attempt to take down Joker-Bat. One of them tried to nail him, but Joker punched him in the ribs and knocked him down.

"POW!" Jokerpool yelled. He saw Joker-Bat continue to lay the smack down on the goons. He really got into the battle. "Kapow, Zam! Crunch! EXCELSIOR!'

Stan Lee's ears burned somewhere.

The goons fell down to the ground one at a time. Bat-Joker turned towards him and stepped towards him.

"Now, it's your turn, Joker, you might as well….."

A blast of confetti shot from Jokerpool's hand and he was wrapped up completely. Bat-Joker responded by whistling and one of the miniature rockets shot out of the faux utility belt and blew a hole through Deadpool's chest.

'_Well, we're going to be sore in the morning,' _Jokerpool said. _'Let's all cheer for healing factors…..'_

Bat-Joker looked up and he could hear a crack of lightning. He turned his head around and saw him, standing on the ledge.

"Look, it's Batman!" Jokerpool called. He could see him on the ledge. "But, aren't you Batman?"

"I AM BATMAN!" the Joker yelled. He suddenly shook his head. "No, no, no, it's a façade….it's a hoax, I'm not Batman, I'm the motherfucking Joker, and I'm going to rip your face off for besmirching my name."

Joker picked up the bazooka laying next to fake Harley and they blew him away with one shot.

"Finally, a real fight….oh yeah, there's some Batman guy to worry about….hey where did he go?" Jokerpool asked. He wiped off the makeup and pulled off the green wig to reveal him all of his Deadpool glory. "Time for us to end this."

"Gladly, Wilson," Joker said. He pulled out a razor sharp playing card. "So, tell me, have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moon light?"

"Yeah, he does a mean waltz," Deadpool said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a rusty spoon. "This is your end, Joker, I'm going to spoon you to death!"

Deadpool rushed Joker with the spoon of doom and dismay and tried to stab him. The Joker avoided the attack and hurled the razor sharp playing card at him. Deadpool dodged that attack and did a flip, landing firmly on his feet.

The two of them engaged in a brutal fight with each other. Deadpool started jabbing Joker repeatedly with the spoon and causing him to howl in discomfort. The Joker flipped onto his feet, and picked up a handful of Joker jelly.

He hurled at Deadpool, who dodged it. The joker jelly splattered against the wall and Deadpool whistled.

The utility belt fired several more miniature rockets. The Joker dodged them and they blew a window and half of the wall off to the right side of the warehouse towards the docks open.

"So, it must suck if someone whistles and those go off in the proximity of your crotch," Deadpool said.

He decided to fling a bag of marbles at the Joker and he went skidding across the floor.

The Joker screamed when he was hurled through an open window and fell through the waters off to the right side of the warehouse. Several marbles destroyed the dock, exploding it and caving it in. The Joker sank into the ocean to his least inevitable doom.

"Yes, Deadpool wins, absolute victory…"

Harry Potter, dressed as Batman, punched Deadpool in the back of his head and propelled him into the vat of Joker Jelly.

"Oh, such a fate, hoisted upon my own petard!" Deadpool yelled. He tried to get up out of the Joker Jelly, but he started slipping and sliding like a pig in slop. "Owww, I think I got some in my mouth….someone call poison control!"

"So, it's over?" Helena asked when she popped up. Harry turned to face her.

"Yes, for now," Harry said.

"Um, hey, a little help here," Harley said meekly. "I'm kind of stuck up here."

Pamela sighed and she moved over to help Harley down. "Don't say I told you so Harley but….I told you so."

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on August 16<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	91. The Looming Shadow

**Chapter Ninety-One: The Looming Shadow.**

* * *

><p>The calm before the storm began to occur. Adrianna Tomaz continued to rest in a room in the RAO Corporation. Caitlin Snow was looking over her, checking over her vital signs. Helena Sandsmark waited in the most patient manner on the other side of the room, with Diana and Mary both standing next to her. Helena stepped over and waited to get the prognosis, whether or not it was completely bad.<p>

"So tell me how she is? Don't try and sugar coat it, I can take it."

Caitlin leaned forward and put a hand on her shoulder. Helena shivered a little bit due to the gesture.

"Other than the fact she's currently sedated and in of two different minds, she's perfectly healthy."

Helena sighed.

"There really isn't too much we can do now, isn't it?" Helena asked and Caitlin shook her head. "We just have to….well thank you for taking a look at her. I know…..well I know she'll never be the same again, will she?"

"It's not a problem first of all," Caitlin informed her. Helena responded with a soft smile. "And secondly, I'm not sure. We're dealing with the realm of magic, which is a bit outside my forte. All we're going to have to do now is wait, watch, and hope….we'll all know in a few minutes."

"Yeah, sooner or later," Helena said.

Helena hovered over her friend for a moment. Adrianna was always so strong, and so self-sufficient, so naturally to see her like this was very jarring indeed. The temple changed her in ways Helena didn't even know were possible.

'_Then again, what's really possible these ways.'_

Adrianna's heart hammered a beat across her chest and her eyes flashed open suddenly. Caitlin was surprised and Diana and Mary were equally surprised.

Diana walked up behind Caitlin and raised her eyebrow.

"So, you didn't expect her to wake up so soon, did you?"

Caitlin shook her head. "No I didn't but….Miss Tomaz, can you hear me?"

"Adrianna Tomaz….there are parts of her which still exist underneath my subconscious," the woman commented. She sounded rather confused in some respects. Her heartbeat quickened a little bit more. "But I am the goddess Isis and I question the fact you're holding me here, when I have my people to lead."

Helena sighed. Not going to be fun to explain this to a goddess.

"You've taken over Adrianna's body," Helena said.

"I mean her or you no ill will," Adrianna said. She shook her head. "She just happened to come across my chamber in the temple, where I laid dormant for some time. She wasn't the first, but others, hadn't been strong enough to survive the experience. She did, and I won't relinquish the vessel."

"Certainly, there must be another way, other than this," Caitlin said.

Diana decided to get to the point. "What need would you have to possess this woman and at this time? I don't understand?"

"I assumed you as an Amazon princess would understand the maneuverings of the gods better than anyone else," Adrianna said crisply. She blinked. "But, I do not take a human form out of boredom. There's a reason and out of necessity. "

"Surely, you could just take your own form and not anyone else's," Diana said. She paused and she realized. "Unless, your powers had been weakened and it isn't possible for you to take a human form, at this time, so you needed to possess someone else's body."

The goddess shifted the face of her vessel into a smile.

"Princess Diana, you are extremely perceptive," Adrianna said. "I am not in the position like your Greek Goddesses to be able to take the form of another. Rest assure though one day I will be strong enough, but today is not the day."

"Then you'll release her?" Helena asked.

"I cannot, but she has come to accept this arrangement, we are one, extremely powerful together," Adrianna said. Her eyes glowed. "And she is glad of the work you've done and the attempts you've made to try and rescue her. A part of her will be here always."

Helena frowned.

"I don't like the fact you've taken my friend as a vessel."

"I don't like the necessity either," Isis said. "But, it's an arrangement we've learned to adapt and success."

Helena suspected she would have to learn how to accept. She looked to Mary, Caitlin, and Diana.

"And I do wish to speak to my Pharaoh, the one you call Har-Zod, but I can see he is extremely busy with the incoming invasion. The Titan approaches."

Isis yawned. Despite the woman being a goddess, she's had her limits.

"But, I have not gathered all my power to this vessel just yet, and I will need to rest. I thank you for everything and I will summon you, if you need anything further."

Helena sighed.

"Adrianna sends her love to all of you," the goddess said.

Caitlin threw her hands back.

"Well, with all I've done, I've never had the honor of treating a real life goddess….even if she isn't at her full powers and abilities."

"So, there really isn't another way to bring her out of this?" Helena asked.

She sounded extremely hopeful, perhaps almost to the point of foolish optimism.

Caitlin's shoulders shrugged and she frowned. "As I said, I've never had the pleasure of having to treat a goddess, and really I wouldn't know what would have to be done to bring her out of her position. Maybe there's a way, maybe there isn't, I don't know."

"The gods and goddesses are very clingy with giving up their possessions," Mary said.

All eyes turned to Jean, who turned up. Jean approached the sleeping Adrianna and placed her hands on the top of her head, to slowly, but surely delve into her mind. Jean frowned when she pulled back from her, shaking her head.

"It could be done, but the cost would be too high," Jean said. "The Phoenix is extremely powerful, and so is Isis. It would be a battle I will win, but I would have to shatter both of their minds."

Helena slid off her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose in response.

"So, a no go there, isn't it?"

"Yes," Jean said.

All they could do was wait and watch and monitor Isis's condition. Diana slipped off to return to her mission, and Jean waited for the time Harry needed her. Mary did so as well.

Time started to tick down moment by moment. Was time on their side?

'_What a last couple of days this turned out to be?' _Helena thought.

* * *

><p>Rebecca, Cassie, and Alex stood with Lois and Claire. They were all on a team. Cassie started to protest her part of the assignment.<p>

"I don't see why I have to be on crowd control," Cassie said. She threw her arms across her chest. "I thought the point with teaming up with the League was so no one has to be on crowd control."

"Cassie, listen to me," Rebecca said. Cassie's eyes snapped towards the former circus acrobat and her attention rested on Rebecca's. "There are going to be a lot of people who are going to be losing their minds. You would think there wouldn't be a lot of people losing their minds, because of the alien invasion. In fact, you would assume they would think an alien invasion would be a common place thing."

"An alien invasion happens about every other week," Claire said.

"Yeah, one would think they wouldn't freak out, but people could be getting weird sometimes," Lois said. She could see Rebecca's gaze meet hers and Lois just shrugged. "Okay, I'll shut upt now."

"I know what you're just saying," Rebecca said. She nearly lost her train of thought, but she resumed what she was doing, what she was talking about. "The point I'm trying to make is….well there are going to be a lot of people who are going to get in the way. You can keep them from harm, and keep people from harming them easier if you're down amongst the people."

Cassie raised her eyebrow. Impressive Rebecca said all of those words without taking a breath.

"Yeah, don't think of it as a boring assignment, because….well trouble seems to happen some of the time," Claire said. "And they're going to need someone really skilled to fight them and you're good, Cassie."

Cassie's

"You really think so?" Cassie asked.

"We wouldn't have given you this assignment if we didn't think you could handle it," Alex said. She placed her hand on Cassie's shoulder and smiled. "So, think about it, what do you have to say?"

Cassie smiled, shuddering for a moment. So much pressure on her, the demi-goddess didn't know what to do.

"Um, sure, I don't really have any problem with it now, I'll do the best I can, obviously," Cassie said. The demi-goddess felt like she had been given one of the biggest assignments in her entire life.

"We don't ask too much more of you," Alex said. She smiled and patted Cassie on the shoulder. "You'll do well Cassie, you really will. Trust me on this."

Kori stepped in. She bounced in with excitement which distracted the girls.

"You really do have an important job. Thanos is ruthless, he doesn't concern himself with the plight of civilians, and their health. Therefore, you need to keep them away from him, because he will use them as a shield and a means to show their might."

Cassie thought this job was rough, but she honestly had no idea. She frowned, but she was up for it. The team and the League counted on her.

"So, I guess all of our team assignments are in place, all we have to do is wait for the all clear," Claire said.

The entire team hated waiting around for the bad guy to strike. The only thing about this entire mess was for sure was Thanos was going to strike hard, so they were ready, boy were they ready.

"Hang tight for a moment, I'll be right back," Alex said. Rebecca raised an eyebrow. "There's someone I want to talk to."

Rebecca shrugged in response. It was up to Alex naturally what she wanted to do, although Rebecca didn't know how she would be able to have a chat with this particular person.

Alex made her way down the hallway and walked passed the cell block. She pulled out a chair and sat, looking into the cell with Gamora.

"You really cleaned my clock last time," Alex said.

"No, I beat you within an inch of your life," Gamora said. "There were no time pieces involved."

Alex shrugged and shook her head.

"Right, Earth expressions, they get lost in translation. They mean about roughly the same thing, you know."

'Oh, do you?" Gamora asked. She stared at the younger sister of Har-Zod. "What do you want?"

"Have you thought about Harry's offer about joining up with us to fight Thanos?" Alex asked.

Gamora responded an extremely dry chuckle.

"You say you're going to fight Thanos. There is no fighting Thanos, there is only getting decimated by him. Your brother, he has half of the Infinity Stones."

"And by the time this mission is over, he will have all of them."

Gamora turned. Faora crept into her line of sight in the sight of cell. Her lips curled into a knowing smile, and Gamora placed her hands firmly upon the bench she sat on.

"What do you want?" Gamora asked.

She understood Faora's skills outstripped hers by a little bit. It was a close fight, and Gamora wanted a return match.

"Just to let you know time is running out on this offer, and Thanos is coming," Faora said. She stood by Alex's side. "You're good. And I can understand why you're terrified by the specter of Thanos. He has crushed many and you fear his vengeance because of the fact you failed."

"Let me make one thing clear, I fear nothing," Gamora said.

"Well, everyone fears someone, even a hard ass woman like yourself," Faora said. She leaned closer towards the cell. "Let me make one thing perfectly plain. You helping us dispatch of Thanos is the punishment for the crimes you've committed. But, we've created a couple of alternatives on the off chance you weren't willing to play ball."

"Name them," Gamora said.

Faora smiled. The bravado in Gamora's voice amused her.

"Well, I hear the Phantom Zone is nice….absolutely never. Which is fitting for your crimes. You can share a cell with a raging, psychopathic general who enjoys other men kneeling before him. I'm sure the experience would thrill you."

Gamora could denote the sarcasm in her tone.

"Or maybe I could just hand you over to Thanos, but he would not be so accommodating after your failure," Faora said. "I haven't decided, but you could help speed up the decision for me by agreeing to join with Har-Zod."

Faora's words gave Gamora much to think about.

* * *

><p>Felicity was really glad she didn't have to coordinate this mission alone. Talk about an insane amount of pieces to move together for one person. The amount of work done could be mind numbing indeed.<p>

"You did well," Chloe said. Felicity raised her eyebrow. "Well, there's always some room for improvement, you….."

"No one is perfect in this job, and even I have something to learn," Barbara said.

Kitty shook her head.

"Wow, talk about a lot of modesty coming from you, I mean, totally, a lot of modesty, and stuff."

Barbara, Felicity, Kitty, Chloe, and Gwen coordinated the defenses around Earth. Each of the girl was assigned to a station and assigned to their own team. Kitty had been in particular sent here by Alexa and Tess to help out.

Tess normally subbed in on their support network when the other girls was indisposed, but she had other things to do, along with Alexa. Each member of the extended League played their part.

"Well, it was a good run."

Lois turned up and caused Chloe to turn around and frown. She wondered what the hell Lois was talking about. Lois was only too happy to inform her about it.

"After the stunt I pulled, I might as well be kissing the Lantern ring goodbye," she said. The feisty brunette responded with a labored sigh. "I mean, it will be worth it, if it means saving the entire universe, but…..well, I didn't become who was by playing by the rules which were set down by others…..oh and everyone is ready on my squad."

Chloe raised her eyebrow and she shook her head to clear her mind.

"Um, Lois, what did you do?" Chloe asked her.

The brainy girl was a bit perplexed and intended to get to the bottom of this the best she could. She didn't know why Lois was acting the way she was acting. Hell she was acting fairly weird even by the standards of Lois Lane.

"The Guardians pretty much laid down the law and said there was going to be no fighting Thanos," Lois said.

Everyone let out the breaths they held in a hiss. The Guardians acted a bit suspect in the past, but this pushed things.

"And you disagreed, didn't you?" Gwen asked.

"Wouldn't you in my position?" Lois asked. The girls all nodded, they would have wholeheartedly disagreed if they had found themselves in Lois's position. "Anyway, I never take anything lying down, unless it's from Harry."

Lois paused and shook her head. Her frown deepened and she sighed.

"I went around and recruited some of the Green Lanterns…obviously some of them are a bit more loyal to Harry than the Corps," Lois said. "But….if the Guardians bring the heat down, I'm going to have to take the rap. I would hate to lose this ring, but hey, it's been a good run."

Chloe frowned.

"Lois, do you think I could have a word with you, for a moment?"

Lois thought she was going to get a lecture. Regardless of her fear, she nodded and allowed Chloe to lead her outside of the room.

The two of them exited the room, side by side with each other. Chloe turned to Lois.

"So, you're going to bitch me out because of doing this, aren't you?" Lois asked.

"After all of what I've done, I think I'm the last person who should try to bitch you out over doing something reckless," Chloe said. She leaned and placed her hand on her cousin's shoulder. "If I were you, I would have done something a bit more tactful…"

"You're never tactful, Chloe," Lois said. "It runs in the family."

Chloe laughed.

"Guilty as charged Lois, guilty as charged."

"The problem is, don't worry about the Guardians, and what they say," Chloe said. "And the ring doesn't make you a hero. It chose you because you had something inside yourself long before it came along. You have a strong will, almost scarily so. And no matter what, I'm sure you've done the right thing."

"Well if you're sure, Lois said. Chloe smiled and nodded. "Then I'm sure. But, I think if we take care of Thanos and make it so he doesn't hurt anyone ever again, it will be worth it, won't it?"

"More than worth it," Chloe said.

Chloe stepped back a couple of steps, mostly to give Lois some space.

"So, I guess I'll join the rest of my team now," Lois said. "Thank you Chloe, I'll be out there, I'll be ready."

"I know you will, like you always are," Chloe said. "It wouldn't be you if you weren't ready."

Lois nodded. She felt a lot better. Carol still had some friends on the Green Lantern Corps despite her parting of the ways and then Lucy was going to appeal to the Star Sapphires. Given she could invoke the Harry Potter card and promise them a reward, Lois doubted very much the Star Sapphires would really have much problem in joining in. They could be brutal when someone was between them and something they desired, they craved.

'_So, are you in position?' _Chloe asked.

'_Yes,' _Mera said. _'Atlantis is ready.'_

'_The Amazons are ready,' _Hippolyta said.

'_The Almerac Royal Guard is ready,' _Maxima said. Everyone jumped in the air in surprise _'Did you really think I would stand by and allow my King's home planet to be destroyed, after he saved mine from certain destruction?'_

They didn't think she would.

'_And the Kandorian Army is ready to go,' _Faora added. _'Thanos doesn't know what he's up against.'_

'_And the League is ready,' _Karen said. She felt like such an afterthought even if the League had an important part to play. _'So, what happens now?'_

* * *

><p>Vandal Savage walked side by side with Wilson Fisk, the newest member of their little organization. They had run head long into a problem .The White Queen and her bodyguards followed them.<p>

"This is the Ultra Humanite," Savage said. He introduced Fisk to what appeared to be a large Albino Gorilla. "He is one of the charter members of our organization and whilst his appearance may be considered unsettling, he is a dangerous force to be reckoned with."

"Charmed," The Ultra Humanite said.

The two gentlemen shook hands.

"And this is Nyssa Al Ghul….."

"The daughter of the demon and the rightful heir the League of Assassins," the dark haired girl commented in a crisp voice. She smiled. "And you must be Mr. Fisk…..welcome to the Light."

"Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you, my dear," Fisk said. He extended his head with a nod.

A dark figure dressed in a silver costume with a cowl and a blood soaked Bat symbol on his costume stepped forward.

"And this is Wrath, he was the man who was responsible for finally taking down the Detective," Nyssa informed them.

"She means, Batman," Savage verified.

"Do you know his real identity?" Fisk asked.

"Once you are briefed, you will learn so," Savage informed him. Fisk nodded in response. "We just have to wait for our chief executive of the Light to show himself."

"He always has to make his impression," Nyssa said. It was hard to tell whether she was speaking in contempt or she was speaking matter of factly.

"Well, I hope his brilliant mind has deduced a way to deal with the Infinity Gems, and Thanos when he arrives," The White Queen said. She waited for one of her bodyguards to drape a cushion over the chair and she sat down. She placed her hands on her lap. "Because, we all know his patience is at an end."

"I'm sure he will formulate a plan, he always does," The Ultra Humanite said. "I might not agree with the man's taste in the arts, but I cannot deny he isn't without brilliance."

"Yes, he does tend to be resourceful," the White Queen said.

Wrath joined the group last, not acknowledging anyone, a man of few words. In fact, he was a man of no words, as he had barely said a sentence to each of the members of the Light during his time as part of the group. . His credentials spoke for himself, he was the man who took down Batman and lead to his ultimate demise.

"Thank you for coming."

Savage faced front and hoped this speech would be worth it to be here. He frowned. He had lived a long time and had cultivated a fair amount of patience, but patience was not unlimited.

"You know by now Thanos is on his way to Earth and when he finds out we do not have the Infinity Gem he wants, he will roll over the top of us," the voice from the shadows commented. "But naturally, it's only if we allow him to. You do not spend months in a partnership with an individual like this, without learning a few things about his weaknesses and his strengths."

"And I suspect you have some kind of genius plan to bring Thanos down," Nyssa said. She spoke with her usual biting sarcasm.

"Your father and my father were partners, but do not think I offer you the same courtesy because you couldn't hold onto your own League and allowed some pretender to steal it," the voice said. "But, you see, I know all about Harry Potter, Har-Zod, the Dreaded Dragon. Whatever name you want to call him. And I know of his ego, his vanity."

Nyssa bit back the obvious comment he had a lot of experience.

"The day of reckoning between the two of us has been a long time coming," the man said.

A scarred looking bald man stepped out of the shadows. The wounds of war spread over his face. Lex Luthor leaned in to address the Light.

"The question is with all of you, is are you in, or are you out?" Lex asked. "Because, I have no room for those who are less than loyal to the cause."

"What's your plan?" The Humanite asked.

"Thanos and the Dragon destroy each other, and the Light helps sweep up the pieces and mold a brand new world," Lex said. "We sit safely in this facility, protested, while we wait for the collision."

Lex's plan seemed extremely bold, but naturally he wouldn't have spoken it if he wasn't confident about his chances for success.

* * *

><p>Harley Quinn passed out after her little escapade. She found herself waking up on a rather lush bed.<p>

It took her brain a couple of seconds to reboot itself. The part time criminal realized she woke up on an extremely lush bed, restrained by vines. The vines tightened around her wrist firmly. It didn't hurt her, and she realized her ankles were tied as well.

"What the hell just happened."

"Hello, Harley."

Pamela looked at her. Harley took a few seconds to reboot her brain

"Hey, Red," Harley said. "Guess I fell for him again….but he's so….well he's so…"

Harley struggled to find the right words. Pamela leaned down and cupped Harley's face, stroking her hair.

"He does have a way to make people hang on his every word even though he shouldn't," Pamela said. She smiled when she looked down at Harley. "I kept the suit on you…you make the shorts look good."

"So, is she awake?"

Harley struggled to move against the vines at the sound of another voice.

"Yes, she's awake," Pamela said.

Harley couldn't move from her position. The vines held her close, and looked on with frustration. Little did she know her frustration was about to begin. She could see Pamela cross the room out of the corner of her eye and she heard the sounds of two lips pressing against each other. A loud pop followed the two lips separating for a moment and rejoining. The greeting was rather intense and Harley couldn't see it, but she could imagine it. Her imagination ran quickly wild.

Pamela released the person she kissed. Harley pretty much realized there was less than a handful of people she could be kissing.

Okay, considering the amount of girls in the collective…..there could be a lot of possibilities. But Harley managed to see a man approach her and the list of subjects was at one.

"So, guess Pam called in the Calvary, again," Harley said. Her voice sounded weakened and leaned up. "Hi, Harry, how are you doing?"

"Pretty good, Harley," Harry said. He placed his hand down on her thigh. "You know, I thought I told you about how dangerous the Joker was."

"You'd think after he tossed me out of a moving van to lighten the load, I would have learned my lesson," Harley said. "But this time….he thought he was Batman, because there was no Batman. It's almost like he has some subliminal crush on Batman, or at least some kind of weird infatuation, and I would know about having a crush on someone beyond reason. But, anyway, I wanted to make sure he didn't hurt anyone too badly, at least badly enough where it would be a problem. But I guess it didn't work, did it?"

Harley sighed. It seemed like no matter what, the Joker lead her down a darkened road.

"No, it didn't," Harry said.

"So, I guess it was you as Batman," Harley said. "The real Batman didn't show up, where is he? I know you know."

"He's where he wants to be," Harry said.

"Well, things in Gotham City….well there's always shit blowing up and people dying, but…..you know….I think I'm really done with this….I nearly got dunked in a vat of Joker Jelly," Harley said.

"Are you sure you're done?" Pamela asked.

"Yeah, Red, I'm done," Harley said. "Guess Mistuh J is gone again."

Harry and Pamela exchanged a nervous look with each other. They both knew it wouldn't be too easy. Even though there was no way he could survive, he was also the fucking Joker, so of course there was a possibility he survived his encounter.

"You've been a very bad girl, Harl," Pamela said. "And you know the consequences…..for betraying your friends like you did."

"Ah come on, Red, have a heart," Harley said.

Harley thought she'd be raped by naughty plant vines. Normally being raped by naughty plant fines wouldn't be a half bad way to spend a Saturday evening, but there was a perfectly good cock in front of her she could use. So the plant vine tentacle thingy appealed to her less.

"Harry, I want you to choke this bitch to death on your cock and fuck all of her holes," Pamela said. "And don't hold back, make her your personal bitch."

"Ah, you're not wearing the Batman suit," Harley said.

"Why, do you have a fantasy of being fucked by Batman?" Harry asked.

"Nah, the guy seems to have too many Daddy issues," Harley said. "I wanted to get fucked by Harry Fucking Potter, wearing the fucking Batman suit."

"Mind your language and your tongue, Harley," Pamela said. She turned to Harry with a naughty smile. "I think she needs her mouth cleaned out."

Pamela unbuckled Harry's pants and Harley watched with widened eyes as the monster she had to take into her mouth. She was practically drooling and she was doing so in every particular sense of the word.

* * *

><p>There was nothing like a good romp of sex with two sexy supervillainesses before stopping an invasion from a mad Titan. At least in Harry's opinion.<p>

'_Harry, it's ready,' _Tula thought.

'_Mark 2.0, it's better than ever,' _Lori thought. _'It should give you the added punch…..we're waiting for you….and it is too.'_

'_I'll be right down there,' _Harry said.

Harry reckonedhe had a little time to spare for two of his favorite Atlanteans.

* * *

><p>Carol Danvers, now known as Captain Marvel, stood on the edge, awaiting the moment of collision. They were a ways away from Earth and hoped they could end this before Thanos struck the planet. There were a few members of the Green Lantern Corps lining up next to her.<p>

A blonde with pointed Elvin looking ears dressed in a form fitting Lantern outfit showing off her toned legs turned towards Carol.

"So, he's coming, right?"

"Yes, Arisia, he should be coming any moment, " Carol said. She was in communication with grand central. "Are you sure Thanos is coming this way?"

"Yes, we're sure, well what Gamora said," Chloe said. "I know she might not have any reason to help us, but she doesn't have any reason to lie either."

"Well, I don't think she's lying," Carol said. Her eyes flashed to a portal opening up to the side.

A small fleet of ships poured on through the portal. Carol turned to the Green Lantern Corps assigned to the battle.

"Make sure you hit them hard and hit them fast, don't ever yield," Carol said. She channeled the full blast of power into her hands.

Carol shot a huge blast of energy through her hands and smacked into the ship with the fullest of force. It knocked a large hole into the ship and sent it flying backwards at an immense speed.

The Green Lanterns created a battering ram, overlapping it with their ring constructs. It fired at the ship at an immense speed, sailing and cracking into the ship with a huge ka-boom like sound.

The ship was launched back. The Green Lanterns couldn't pat themselves on the back too much. One of the cannons on the ship started to arm.

"Cap it!" Arisia yelled. "Give it all you've got, don't let up for a minute. Put a cap over the engine before it blows."

The Lanterns did as she said and they just barely held the cannon back. The cannon overloaded the ship, causing it to explode.

Pieces of debris flew in every direction. The Lanterns all caught them in a net before they went flying to Earth.

Carol flew through space and looked at the ship. She combed for the wreckage for any survivors or corpses, or really anything.

One thing hit her; no one boarded the ship. It was just a test run to see what their initial defenses would be like.

Another crack signaled the arrival of a large ship making its way through the portal. It detached with several more smaller ships making their way to Earth.

Standing upon the deck of the larger ship was Thanos, who looked towards the Green Lantern Corps with mild disinterest.

"Blow them into the next galaxy."

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on August 18<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	92. To Infinity and Beyond Part One

**Chapter Ninety-Two: To Infinity and Beyond Part One.**

* * *

><p>Harry made his trip down to Atlantis, and he was caught on his way to visit Lori and Tula but no less than the Queen of Atlantis herself, Mera. Mera looked as beautiful and regal as ever, although there was a certain amount of seriousness in her eyes which made her look worn.<p>

"It's obvious, isn't it?" she asked him and Harry responded with a brisk nod. She sighed and nodded her head. "Well, Thanos's arrival is a big event and everyone is ready. I just wonder if it will be enough. Even with all hands on deck, this is Thanos. He is one of the more dangerous individuals in the universe. His horror spreads further than I could ever realize. I won't mince words, we're in for a battle."

Harry reached forward and took her hand into his. It was one comforting gesture which caused the Queen of Atlantis to relax, at least for a couple of moments.

"I'm not going to pretend and tell you what we're going to go up against is a barrel of fun," Harry said.

Mera sighed. She figured about as much.

"No, I thought not," Mera said. "I would hate to see you would insult my intelligence, or more importantly yours in such a fashion."

Harry smiled. Sugar coating this entire mess would make everything pan out worse. Thanos's danger never could be stated enough.

"But, I've seen how the Atlantean army have worked in the past, you're one of the top armies in the world," Harry said.

Mera was glad for the declaration coming from Harry. Ever since the Starro invasion, her people have been doubling their efforts to be the very best they could be. The building blocks for a successful army resulted in some tense moments. These moments built character and strength.

"So, tell me honestly?" Mera asked him. She crossed the distance between the two of them, and her arms wrapped around her king. "Do we have a chance?"

"There's always a chance," Harry said. Mera nodded. "I know our people are a bit nervous, and a bit anxious and rightfully so. Anyone would be given the circumstances we are in."

Mera smiled and Harry reached his hands up to cup her face. His hands felt so strong and firm.

"But, they're not going to be second best, especially with how the Amazons and the Kandorians have stepped things up," Harry said. "One thing I know about the people of Atlantis, they have pride in their abilities and pride in their work."

"You pegged us pretty well," Mera said. Her lips curled into a knowing smile. She was sure many of them would agree. "And we're going to be the very best we could be, regardless of who we're going to fight."

The two of them leaned forward, and she kissed him extremely intensely. His kiss strengthened Mera and ensured she would be prepared for the battle at hand. His tongue found its way deep into her mouth and Mera hungrily pushed his tongue back, working hers back against his.

The two of them pulled back, smiles on their faces.

"I better tend to the army, last minute preparations," Mera said, regretfully pulling away from Harry in the process.

There would be plenty of time for celebration for the victory they would have afterwards and one would better believe there would be a victory afterwards.

"I believe Lori and Tula have a surprise for you."

Mera walked away. Harry enjoyed her ass swaying in the process.

Lori glided over towards him with a smile on her face no sooner did the Queen leave.

"My king!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. She swam towards Harry and wrapped her arms around him, giving him a tight embrace. "It's good to see you, and it's ready. And don't worry, it doesn't have the same defect the last one did. Talk about embarrassing."

Harry smiled when Lori pulled away from him. The last defect demonstrated itself to be fairly embarrassing.

"I'm sure the two of you did your best the first time around," Harry said.

"We did, but it wasn't good enough," Lori said. "But this time it's better."

Her eagerness was contagious. The two gorgeous Atlanteans escorted Harry into the lab area. Tula waited for him, dressed in a nice yellow top which stretched around her breasts and showed her toned stomach. Her shorts showcased her toned legs and tight ass.

She looked up and dropped what she was doing. She rushed over towards Harry and threw her arms around him.

"Oh, it's just in time, my king," Tula said. She gave him an extremely wet and passionate kiss.

A kiss which concluded a couple moments too soon by the time she slipped away from here.

Lori shook her head, but recovered. "Here it is….you're going to need to take off your clothes for this to work."

The two girls shamelessly watched Harry when he stripped out of his clothes. They ogled the eye candy, pretty much eating him up with their eyes.

Tula shook her head and resumed a somewhat professional tone.

"Um, right, the armor works best when wore closest to the skin, because it runs off of your body heat….don't worry, it's not a leech….talk about a design flaw which took us a long time to hammer out, but anyway….just slip it on."

The armor was placed onto Harry's skin, and Lori picked up talking about it. "The good thing is it has many of the same features as your Arcane suit, although you can wear it over the armor as you wish, for as often as you wish."

"It's interfaced into my nervous system," Harry said.

Tula smiled and pulled over a large stone block with a target on it.

"Have a go at it," Tula said.

Harry raised the arm cannon of his suit and aimed it, before he fired. The arm cannon of the suit struck and connected with the target to leave a smoldering mess before him. Harry smiled when he relaxed his arm.

"Not bad," Harry replied. Tula grinned in response. He leaned in closer to them with a teasing twinkle in his eye. "You know, you two girls are a bit too excited from wanton destruction and mayhem."

"The suit's vitals are just fine, but there was just one more minor adjustment I want to make for it," Tula said. "Granted, it's not game breaking, but it's an adjustment which will help, if you catch my drift."

The two girls stripped the armor off of Harry, and ran their hands down his body.

"Oh, it seems like there's another adjustment we need to make," Lori said.

She brushed her fingers down his abs and ran her fingers down, cupping him when she made her way downwards.

"Well, let's make those adjustments then," Tula said, walking over.

Her breasts bounced indicating she lacked a bra.

* * *

><p>Harry smiled, the two Atlantean girls having been put through the paces. Tula looked completely ravished, but she managed to speak up.<p>

"You know, I was mistaken," Tula said in a breathy voice. She was going to be sore, but she didn't care. "The armor doesn't need an adjustment after all."

"Oh, naturally," Harry said.

He smiled and winked at her.

* * *

><p>Harry had his new armor. It would be an added layer of defense against Thanos and whatever he had up his sleeve. He returned to the main conference room at RAO tower.<p>

Karen waited for Harry to show. She decided to lean forward and tell him the news before he even asked. "There's nothing yet, at least nothing of importance right now. We're in position for what happens though."

"Good, best be prepared" Harry said.

Karen led Harry into the next room and showed him the monitoring station. It was actually a direct copy of the monitoring station the League had set up. Chloe, Felicity, Gwen, Barbara, and Kitty currently babysat everything around them, acting as a high tech level of mission support.

"All of these points are possible points where we believe Thanos could enter this universe," Karen explained to him. "All of them are set up through the link with the RAO satellite and all of them will have an alarm where anything out of the ordinary tries to break through."

"Excellent," Harry said. "You've been working hard."

"I know, thank you," Karen said. "We all have been putting in our time. All we have to do now is play the waiting game, and do you know how hard it is to wait around for something to happen?"

"I have an idea," Harry said. He turned Karen around so she could face him. "It's not ideal….then we got the other problem."

Karen nodded. She was well aware of the other problem.

"But, we should focus on Thanos at the moment, because he could destroy everyone on Earth and solve the problem," Harry said. "Our not so secret weapon is ready, isn't she?"

"Yes," Karen agreed. "She's ready for when you give the word."

"I want to see what Thanos has in store first before I do something like too distract," Harry said. Karen nodded. "You know he's going to have a few tricks up his sleeve."

So far, all was good, all was quiet. The quiet put Harry even more on edge.

"So, what about….."

There was a loud blaring sound which interrupted Harry's question before he even had a chance to ask the question he was going to ask.

Karen half expected this signal to go off. Harry completely expected it to happen, but expecting it didn't stop both of them from nearly jumping ten feet in the air. Harry caught Karen around the elbow and guided her down.

"Something hit really hard," Karen said. She shook her head in response and punched up the effected sector.

"And we've got a huge problem….there's a really big ship coming in," Chloe said. "And a bunch of little ships are coming along with it…it's in the area where the Green Lantern Corps are."

"Oh, I have to be right this time," Harry said.

He half grumbled and Karen reached over towards him, taking his hand into hers and squeezing it firmly.

"At least we're prepared," Karen said.

Harry walked over to the console and placed his hand onto it. The energy coming from it increased the sensitivity and the scope of the bond link, even though it drained him a little bit to do so.

'_Carol, are you out there, can you hear me?' _Harry asked.

The sounds of explosion echoing from the bond didn't really make Harry all comfortable.

'_Yeah, we've got a serious problem,' _Carol said. _'There's a really large mothership out there….and we already took out a scouter ship. It's releasing pods….more of them than I think we can fight.'_

'_Just get as many as you think you can manage,' _Harry said. _'And….we're going to have to…'_

'_There's one other thing you should know,' _Carol said. Her words caused Harry a long amount of pause. _'Thanos, he's on the ship…..he's not doing anything, he's just standing there. He's with….I'm guessing his elite guard or something, I don't really know. But they're there and doing things. And we're….we're a bit outgunned here.'_

'_Lois, we have a slight change of plans,' _Harry thought. _'Go help the Green Lanterns, Shayera will be by to help back up your team, Claire.'_

'_Well, can't deny she'd be some good backup,' _ Claire said.

She wasn't going to complain about Shayera, certainly. The woman fought hard no matter what.

'_Well thank you for the compliment,' _Shayera said.

The winged-warrior woman flew over to join the action in Metropolis. All of the action occurred there, so she took it well.

Harry turned around and saw Kara and Kat standing there. The two of them had questions in their minds, but they knew time was of the essence and Harry might not be able to answer all of them in a quick and efficient manner. He walked over towards the next room and pressed his hand against the wall.

"So, Thanos wants Infinity Stones," Harry said. "Well, I'm going to give him more than he could handle. If he wants them, he's going to have to be ready to fight of them. "

Harry figured it was time to see who was worthy of holding one of the more dangerous weapons in the universe. The reality stone laid in prominence in front of him. Harry looked at the other two stones, and smiled.

"You could warp him out of reality, couldn't you?" Kara asked.

"Don't think I haven't considered it," Harry said.

The sorcerer felt like he held fire in his hands. Those stones promised power and resulted in temptation. It had twisted many people and lead them to destruction to catch them all.

"And you know Harry, there's a pretty good reason why he hasn't done just warped him out of reality," Kat said.

"Right," Harry said. He flipped the stone over in his hand. The amazing, but awful power burned in his hand. "Reality is a dangerous thing to mess with and with power stones like this, there is always some kind of flaw."

He turned to Karen.

"Join the rest of the League….all three of you. I'll be with you in a moment, but…..if Thanos is here, I'm going to pay my respects to him."

* * *

><p>Lois left her post from Earth and joined the rest of the Green Lantern Corps. No sooner did she get there, she saw a large device fly through space at her at the speed of the light. It nearly knocked her out for a loop.<p>

Two members of the Green Lantern Corps chased it, in an attempt to reel it in. Their luck was not holding rather strong, even though their will power was working as well as could be expected.

Lois decided to help them out. The runaway ship decided to take her on a ride halfway through space as well.

"On the other side!" Lois yelled. They naturally could speak in space despite it being really implausible. And without the power rings, it was. "I've got an idea, but you're going to have to trust me."

The two Lantern corps members nodded. They slipped on either side of Lois. They formed a shield and caused the orb to strike the shield hard. They bounced it back at a rapid fire rate.

The orb exploded in space with a sinister boom. At least it had been prevented from falling to Earth.

Lois clung onto a piece of wreckage and regretted it almost immediately because of the fact it burned her hands. She blew on her hands and sighed.

"Okay, one down, um…. a lot more to go. A whole lot more to go, actually."

There was a lot more, and a couple of the ships circled their way. Carol was in hot pursuit after one of them. She decided to take care of this the hold fashioned way by driving her way through the ship like the hot knife through bubble.

The pilot was launched from the ship and was caught in a containment bubble.

"Yeah, there's no question about it, I'm going to be feeling this mission in the morning," Carol said. She shook her head and craned her neck back. "So, are we….."

"Yes, we are," Lois confirmed. Her lips twisted into a frown and she looked over her shoulder for a brief instant. "We're just going to have to delay them….."

About a dozen of the orbs shot through space at them. The orbs propelled at them with a searing heat all at once. Despite their best efforts, there was no real delaying the inevitable. The ships shredded through the shield the Green Lanterns were using.

'_Hey, Lois to the League, you're going to get some visitors,' _Lois thought.

She wasn't sure if anyone could hear her, but best to give things the old college try.

'_Okay, I'll pass the message on,' _Harry said. _'You stopped some of them, and really the best we can hope for right now.'_

Lois wished she could stop more, but she couldn't really beat herself up too much . One of the Green Lanterns of Earth braced herself for what was going to happen.

The ball, a rather spiked ball, was in Thanos's court. Another barrage of ships fired through space. Lois braced herself for another invasion fleet she needed to try and cut down.

Only the ships began firing on Lois. She placed her hands up and used the Lantern power ring to shield herself before it became a problem.

"The ships, they're not firing on Earth, they're after us!" Lois yelled.

There was a scream of horror. They were firing what appeared to be some kind of yellow energy.

"Really, the Guardians still didn't remove this stupid defect?" Carol asked.

This was one of the many reasons why she left the Green Lantern corps.

"No," Arisia said.

They were like sitting ducks, because the Lantern rings did not work on yellow and there were yellow energy fields around the ship.

Lois shook her head in disgust. The Guardians decided to piss her off sometimes and wouldn't you know it, this was one of those times where they really pissed her off. And they weren't aware how much they pissed her off.

She braced herself for impact and it was going to be an ugly one.

A pink bolt of energy cut through space and obliterated one of the ships. The passenger flew in space and a giant pink tennis racket caused him to get knocked into a pink cage.

Lucy arrived, a pissed off look on her face. Her rage bubbled, more fitting for a Red Lantern than a pink Star Sapphire.

"No one tries to kill my sister but me!"

"Yeah she's…HEY WAIT A MINUTE!" Lois shouted. She didn't have time to protest Lucy's words too much. Lucy grabbed her around the waist.

Carol Ferris flew in and created a buzzsaw with the sapphire. She drilled it through one of the orbs.

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," Carol told Carol.

A large ugly alien flew out of the ship, it's pilot. Captain Marvel nailed it as hard as she could with a punch. The Star Sapphire frowned.

"Well to be fair, we didn't imitate the stupid yellow vulnerability thing."

"Something the Green Lantern corps will never live down," Arisia said with a sigh. "Would you believe me if I said the vulnerability was a Guardians decision to make sure there's a failsafe if we ever went rogue?"

There was no question about it, they all believed it. Regardless there was another explosion with this fleet of ships were down.

The Star Sapphires taught Thanos and his people an extremely valuable lesson. Love could in fact hurt and how.

"Well, I feel pretty good about myself, maybe I should go and take down Thanos now," Lucy said. She looked rather eager and Lois grabbed her by the shoulder and turned around. "What, too much?"

"Yes, most certainly too much," Lois said. She looked her sister firmly in the eyes.

"We've got trouble," Carol said.

Lois wondered what kind of trouble they could have. The question answered fairly quickly. There was something big which deployed in the middle of space. There was a large click and it appeared in front of them. The center glowed and heated up even more.

Thanos had deployed a giant bomb. The bomb armed and prepared to blow everyone into oblivion.

* * *

><p>Gamora thought she counted down the seconds to be executed. All of the signs entered her hearing. She could hear the alarms. Thanos was coming. Gamora couldn't say she was happy about the arrival of Thanos. There was a small part of her hoped the League would be good enough wipe them out.<p>

Otherwise, their death wouldn't come painlessly. And her death would come easily.

"So, are you ready?"

The cell pushed open and Gamora got up, in surprise. The shackles around her wrists and ankles released and she stepped from the cell. She saw Har-Zod standing there, dressed in an intricate set of battle armor.

"You must be certain or foolish," Gamora said. Harry smiled and waved his hand. It caused her knees to buckle a little bit and forced her to slump against the wall. "And certainty is the more obvious of the two."

"I think you've heard enough stories about me to realize a fool is the one thing I'm not," Harry said. He closed the distance between himself and Gamora and gave her enough room to breathe, but enough room to get a bit anxious and a bit pent up. "You might be the most deadly woman in the galaxies, but you are still a woman, and…..well, I'm sure you've heard the other stories about me."

Gamora nodded. Hearing about his conquests was exceedingly difficult not to hear about due to the fact they were so prolific they were almost obscene. She could feel the area between her legs moisten.

"But, I didn't call you here to discuss my conquests," Harry said. He pulled away from her and gave her plenty of room to be. "It's now your decision time. Are you on our side, or are you on the side of Thanos? Do keep in mind you are nothing to him now."

Gamora spent a lot of time coming to a certain conclusion herself. It was something she pondered constantly the longer she stewed inside the cell. Her frown deepened when she thought about her options.

"But, you're still asking me to do something I might end up regretting," Gamora said. She stepped closer towards him, closing the gap between the two of them. This time she did so on her own accord. "I'm not sure what you did with me."

"They're called pheromones, they're used to attract mates," Harry said. "And you've been pent up for a long time, it why you're so….well you're in an interesting position."

"And what do you mean?" Gamora asked.

"It means you have a choice to make, and your time is running out."

Faora turned up. Harry turned towards her and smiled.

"Way to spoil the party, sis."

"Hey, it's really what I do," Faora said. She closed the distance between the two of them and kissed him. "I did warn her earlier about the potential consequences, and she knows what's going to happen if she doesn't….comply."

"You make it sound so sorrid," Harry said. He turned to Gamora. "So this is it. What's it going to be?"

Gamora frowned. She had thought about it long and hard what she was going to do. Only one option entered her mind. One choice, the right choice presented itself in front of Gamora.

"I'll join you."

'_So, she's on board,' _Karen thought. She grinned, she had to smile now and again given the situation she was going to have to deal with. _'And I guess she was just playing hard to get.'_

'_Happens a lot to a lot of women who really want it,' _Helena said.

'_Well, Har can bend anyone to his will if he wants to,' _Kori said.

Kori was just getting used to the bond traffic. The benefits stunned her. It was like having friends in her head any time she turned around, she was pretty amazing.

'_To be fair, it wasn't as hard as you thought it might be,' _Harry answered. _'So, we've got to…'_

'_Hey, Lois to the League, you're going to get some visitors,' _Lois said.

She sounded a bit scratchy and absolutely irritated as well.

Harry got the message, because he still held the crystal in his hand which could amplify the signal. It was not as draining as it had been before, but it was still pretty mind numbing.

'_Okay, Lois, I'll pass the word along,' _Harry said. _'The Green Lanterns tried their best to hold back the Fleet of Thanos ships…..'_

'_I see one right now,' _Hippolyta said. _'And I'm pretty sure everyone else is going to see them as well. The Amazons are ready to fight whatever is on board.'_

'_The ship might seem like the real threat, but if Thanos sent those on through, you're dealing with some rather dangerous alien invaders,' _Harry said. _'I don't need to tell you to keep your eye on the ball.'_

Gamora stepped behind him and she spotted one image on the view screen.

"He only keeps the best and the most dangerous from the planets he has destroyed, because those are the resources he takes from the spoils of war," Gamora said.

"And you should know, shouldn't you?" Harry asked.

"I….I can't recall where I came from," Gamora said. She shook her head. A moment of weakness annoyed her to no end. "He had raised me as his daughter for as long as I can remember."

"The fact explains your loyalty to him, even beyond reason," Faora said.

Faora understood being loyal to a sociopath bent on galactic domination better than Gamora would ever know.

'_We're all ready,' _Karen thought.

Harry was ready as well. He waited as Zero Hour approached. One way or another, he was going to take Thanos out.

The time of reckoning approached him.

* * *

><p>Thea and Artemis joined Iris and Whitney on the ground. Dinah backed them up and they made an extremely formidable fivesome.<p>

"Well, this is like old times again," Felicity said.

"Just don't get tripped up by nostalgia," Artemis said.

She hoped the new and improved arrows she and Whitney worked on would be strong enough. She doubted the standard fare would work on the type of goons they were going to fight again.

"So," Whitney said. She decided to breach this subject carefully and almost contently. "What about this bomb?"

"Oh, boy, the bomb….well hopefully you won't have to deal directly with it," Felicity said. "The best Chloe could tell, it has the potential to wipe out an area about the size of Texas. Give or take a little bit more or a little bit less."

"Damn," Thea whispered.

Thea noticed people looking up in the sky. . She did so as well and it looked like something was eclipsing the sun.

"We're going to have to deal with our own problem now," Iris said. She ran off to get a quick look. "A really big problem….the size of the cannon on the ship….it looks like it could wipe out all of Central City."

Thea turned to Artemis. "So, do you think you can make the shot?'

Artemis snorted in response. She did know who she was talking to, right?

"Of course, I can make the shot. Just watch my backside."

"Gladly," Thea said. She turned around. So far, she only encountered some anxious population.

"So, you do realize the moment you shoot the energy core out out, anything on the ship is going to be coming down and trying to vaporize us with the hands on approach, don't you?" Whitney asked. Artemis turned towards her and nodded. "Okay, as long as you're well aware of the problems coming with taking the ship out, I guess you can….oh boy."

Artemis aimed her arrow towards the bottom part of the ship. There was an energy shield she had to bypass, but the EMP arrow she had should do the trick. It was all about skill and precision, something Artemis had in abundance.

She fired and struck the ship. A smile crossed her face as it hit hard. It caused sparks to fly everywhere. The connecting arrow caused the energy on the ship shut down suddenly. The ship started to fly like a gigantic ball of flaming death towards the middle of Central City.

Iris and Whitney zipped around, getting the crowd out of harm's way, before the ship could crash onto the ground.

The ship planted with a nasty collision on the ground. Time appeared to stand still and the dust settled from the ship.

Green Arrow and Red Arrow stood shoulder to shoulder. A group of aliens, armed with large energy cannons exited the ship. Whitney stopped and skidded. Her mouth opened up and she frowned. "See….what did I tell you?"

"You were right, you want a medal?" Artemis asked.

The archer fired an arrow and nailed one of them right in the chest plate. It caused a pulse to erupt through his body and his armor to short circuit, frying him.

"Not bad, but take a look at this," Thea said.

She aimed a razor sharp arrow at one of them and it caused another pulse of energy to fry it.

"The bomb is not heading to Central City, as we thought," Felicity said.

"Good," Dinah said. She squashed against the wall, before going low to back her enemy off. "Because, we've got our share of….."

She had to abort the communication rather quickly to avoid being smacked hard. Dinah ducked her head and did a forward roll out of the way. She narrowly avoided being smashed to bits when she slipped out of the way.

The near death experience caused her breath to quicken and she avoided being smashed again. She decided to let them have it with an intense Canary Cry.

* * *

><p>Thanos prepared to rip about Earth piece by piece, to acquire his precious Infinity Gems. He had the bomb locked on Earth and he was determined to blow one of their major cities off the map. It would show he was not playing around.<p>

"Sir, you have a message from Earth."

His aide walked forward, looking nervous when he dragged his feet behind. Thanos turned around and spoke in a rumbling tone of voice.

"Put whoever it is on."

He could hear the soft voice of one Lex Luthor.

"So, this invasion….well we can't help but be a little bit concerned you're going a little bit too far."

"As long as you play your role, I will allow you to pick up the pieces of Earth and do with them whatever you wish," Thanos said. He detested contradiction especially coming from the Light and especially from humans. "You know if I don't get my hands on the gems….both of them."

He was under the assumption two of the gems were on Earth. The third, the one stolen by the Tamarian, was unaccounted for. It didn't matter, because Thanos was sensational without them. With them, he was unstoppable.

The Titan prepared to crush all who defied him.

"Arm the bomb and lock on," Thanos said, after he cancelled the communication with the Light. "Send them down….and crush all who dare defy me."

He was going to unearth the gems. The bomb counted down from the moment of impact. No one could stop it.

A flare of energy erupted through space. It connected with the bomb and then it made its way through the deck of Thanos's ship. It launched him up into the air and caused him to land on the ground with a sickening thud.

He could not understand what had happened. His bomb had been reduced to nothing but a charred cinder. Thanos pulled himself up to a standing position, and he peered out. There was only one statement passed through his lips.

"Who dares?" he bellowed.

"You dare attack my adopted homeworld," a red haired woman said. Her green eyes glowed with power and she wore elegant white robes with a gold Phoenix on the back of them. "For your cruelty, I'll rip you apart and scatter you like the stones you seek."

Thanos came face to face with the Phoenix and she was not happy.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on August 21<strong>**st****, 2015.**


	93. To Infinity and Beyond Part Two

**Chapter Ninety Three: To Infinity and Beyond Part Two.**

* * *

><p>Alex and Rebecca walked forward. From what they could hear, the bomb was about ready to go off in the center of Metropolis. It might have been one of many impact points where Thanos intended to attack.<p>

"Everyone, just get back!" Cassie yelled. She wondered why they would put her in such a position like this. Especially considering the fact she was a precious few seconds away from losing her patience and was not a good place for her to be. "You don't want to be around when….."

A bright flash of light stopped her declaration cold. Cassie took a heaving breath when she saw them turn up in all of their glory. An army of grotesque aliens stalked them. They had glowing blue skin and were completely nasty.

"Good, a target to hit," Shayera said.

The winged warrior woman worried this part of the mission was going to be boring. She flew out and swung her mace as hard as it could. The large piece of iron slammed across the chest of her adversary and knocked him back.

Claire joined for the attack. She pursed her lips and caused her super breath to knock them backwards. They were sent flying to the ground. She stepped back and flew at them at the speed of light one more time.

They were knocked down, like nine pins. Rebecca and Alex looked up and saw one of them jump down into the middle of the city. The alien advanced on them, firing a series of pot shots at them. Rebecca arched her neck back, ducking all of his shots. The blasts sailed over the top of her head and connected with the side of a building.

Alex was glad Rebecca set up the creature and put it in position. She raised her hand and blasted him with one of those controlled blasts of magic firing from her hand. The creature rose in the air before crashing all the way down.

A woman screamed in terror, but Cassie yanked her out of harm's way. She buried her fist into the gut of her enemy and slammed the point of elbow down onto the creature's neck. She slammed her foot into its chest and caused it to double over in agony.

"And here I thought crowd control would be boring," Cassie said.

The young demi-goddess used the lasso she had as a gift from Diana and pulled the creature down. She smashed its ugly face into the pavement.

"See, I told you so," Alex said.

"You did."

Alex maneuvered and sent a jagged light to shoot from her hand. It nailed the creature point on and doubled it over.

The creature roared in agony. She looked up and saw Laura join them. There were more of them pouring out of the ship. The heavy duty fire power could not join them soon enough.

Laura lifted up the ship and swung it like a baseball bat, knocking the creature back. The creature howled in misery when it hit the ground with a solid thump. The vicious attack knocked the wind out of the creature.

"We've got a serious problem," Chloe said. She chimed in, playing mission support for the group in Metropolis. "You know the really big thing Thanos deployed."

"Yeah, kind of hard not to notice it, given it's blocking out the sun," Alex said. She levitated the pieces of debris and slammed them at the creature. "What about it?"

"Well, it's going to deploy a really big bomb and it's going to slam into Metropolis," Chloe said.

"Wonderful," Claire said. She managed to extract some people from a bus and get them away from Metropolis. "More good news."

"How big of a bomb are we talking about?" Alex asked. She assisted Rebecca against another swarm of them.

Rebecca buried her electrified brass knuckled covered hand into the rib cage of one of them. The creature doubled over in absolute pain and some form of distress as well. It's breathing became fairly labored. She nailed it again with the point of the brass knuckles into its chest.

"Oh, a big enough bomb to wipe out a good chuck of Metropolis," Chloe said.

"How good of a chunk?" Alex asked.

Cassie and Laura teamed up and they proved to be a fairly formidable force. They took down the aliens like they were absolutely nothing. The creatures folded when they dropped down to the ground at a rapid fire rate.

"Enough to wipe out the entire city," Chloe said.

Her words caused Alex to respond by whistling and she sighed.

Suddenly, it disarmed, and a pulse fired off. It caused the bomb and everything else in the general area of Metropolis to get disarmed.

Alex paused and she waited for the other shoe to drop. No consequences came from what they did.

'_Okay, holding my breath, and then nothing.'_

"Okay, what happened?" Alex asked. She didn't know what to make of this and she thought more problems would come from this.

The long pause followed.

"Just a second, checking something."

Chloe's words only pacified Alex for a few seconds. What did they check?

"I've got some good news and I've got some bad news," Chloe said. "The good news is the bomb has been disabled. You're all clear there."

"Yes, funnily enough, I noticed as much," Alex said. "But, dare I ask; what's the bad news?"

Chloe drew in her breath and it was almost like she was taking a long drink of coffee to let it sink all in.

"The bad news is Thanos's ship just went off the radar. We're pretty much like sitting ducks out here, until we can find it."

Alex gave a heaving sigh in response. She didn't want to say it was bad news, but was in fact bad news.

Thanos lingering near them, stalking them like sitting ducks was the bad news.

* * *

><p>Harry joined Karen, Diana, Helena, and Jaime. They headed off to the Moon where the combined Green Lantern and Star Sapphire Corps were meeting them. Lois and Lucy were in the forefront and both of them looked to be jockeying for position. The two of them walked forward and tried to get Harry's attention solely on them.<p>

Harry cleared his throat and both of the Lane sisters stood up straight and looked at him. He was a bit amused, but his amusement only held a certain amount of time.

"So?" Harry asked.

Lois and Lucy looked up at the larger than life young man. Both sisters tripped over themselves in an attempt to ask him.

"Well, we were pretty close to getting creamed by…..well by whatever the monstrosity is up there," Lois said.

She pointed to the large vessel looming in the distance.

"Thanos doesn't exactly play fair or take defeat all too well," Lucy said. The younger Lane sister could her share of eyes on her for her statement. Lucy threw her hands into the air. "I know I'm stating the obvious."

Harry decided to get to the point.

"So it worked?"

"What worked?" Lois asked.

"We had to deploy her, the secret weapon," Diana confirmed. The girls both nodded in knowing. "Of course, as great as her powers are, she's not foolproof, but she should get Thanos off balance."

"At least long enough for me to get into his ship and take him out," Harry responded. caused all of the girls to look at Harry like he had lost what passed for his sanity. "And I figured sending in my big gun would throw off whatever plans Thanos might have."

"Well, it mostly certainly saved our asses," Lois said.

Members of both sides of the Corps agreed whole-heartedly with Lois's points. They could feel a nerve racking feeling go through their bodies.

"But, our weapon is just a temporary fix," Harry informed them. Lois corked her eyebrow. "But don't worry, I've got another plan."

Almost on cue, Faora showed up and she was lead with Gamora. A couple of the members of both Corps backed up. Gamora was the type of woman who was well known through the universe.

"I see I still leave an impression where I go," Gamora said.

"You can all relax," Faora said

This statement coming from the daughter of Zod didn't cause them to relax.

Harry looked at Faora and pretty much told her without words she didn't help at all. Faora shrugged and made a gesture as if she said the floor was all Harry's.

He took it and looked over the various members of the extended Green Lantern and Star Sapphire Corps.

"Gamora has decided to join us against Thanos. I trust you think she would be a valuable alley."

"If you're sure about this…" Lois said.

Lucy picked up where her sister left off.

"Then we're sure about this."

Harry was glad of their certainty because he was going to need all hands on deck for a situation like this. He looked them over.

"I have to admit, this isn't going to be easy," Harry said. "We're dealing with someone who has access to some of the most dangerous artifacts in the universe."

"But you do as well," Karen said.

Harry nodded in agreement. Karen raised a good point, with the own assets he had. He had the Reality Gem and the Power Stone in the palm of his hand right now. Those two gems were potent, but the full set was even more so.

"We're going to have to meet Thanos and beat him at his own game," Harry said.

"So, should we join Jean on the ship?" Faora asked.

"Yes, you, Gamora, and I will go and take Thanos," Harry said. "The rest of you should go and disrupt his forces."

"I have a good idea how to do this," Helena said. Karen raised her eyebrow and spoke in an awed tone.

"Are you sure about…is it a good idea?"

Harry allowed them to hash the plan out when he joined Gamora and Faora on their way to get to the ship.

The time was running down and Harry knew they reached a breaking point of tension. He could barely lock onto anyone within the bond, given all of the interference Thanos was running. He wasn't sure how Thanos was quite pulling one off, but he would have to find out some time soon.

* * *

><p>Lex Luthor was incensed. He had been through many problems as of late, but these problems were something he could solve, at least for the most part. When he showed up and joined the Light, he expected things to go his way.<p>

Unfortunately, he neglected to remember one of the primary directives of business. There was a pretty good chance things wouldn't go his way.

"Thanos betrayed us," Lex said. "You realize right. Oh Thanos said he was going to hand us the pieces of the world to pick up. But he never had any intention of giving us the world. No, helping out our cause was the furthest thing from his mind. I hope all of you realized Thanos's game by now."

All of the members of the Light nodded grimly in agreement.

"Which is why we make a failsafe plan," Savage said.

"Yes, if there's one thing the Light is, it has an ability to adapt," The Ultra Humanite said. "We might have had our plans ruined in the past, but we're still standing. Members have changed, some have perished, but the Light lives on forever. It's one thing which cannot be extinguished."

"I can see your confidence and I agree," Fisk replied. "We shouldn't worry about the problems we're having with….."

"I think this is a perfect time to worry about those problems."

If Lex looked tense, one would be on the right track. He was having all kinds of flashbacks. The last time he lost control, it wasn't pit. He wouldn't have made a deal with an alien like they did, but he was well outvoted by other members of the Light.

The only reason why Lex grudgingly agreed the vote is he could change things later. The brilliant bald man could put the whole world in his hands. Lex could put the entire planet in his hands. And it would be a beautiful thing for him to hold.

Lex made his way over and switched on one of the monitors. There was chaos going on throughout the world. The Armies of the world mobilized, but they were out gunned.

"And again, the Justice League have to get involved to save the day," Lex said. He spoke with the utmost of contempt. "Do you realize how badly them saving the world again makes everything look?"

"I thought your intention was to have the League and Thanos wipe each other out," The White Queen replied. Lex turned and frowned at her. "Perhaps 's, I was mistaken."

Lex didn't like his intentions being argued about. He only nodded swiftly, without saying another word.

"I think there's something off about the Light right now," Lex said. "There is a traitor in our midst."

The Ultra Humanite gasped.

"Now Lex, you make quite the accusation."

Lex slammed his fists down onto the table and looked on with a frustrated look. "Accusation, maybe, but it would explain so much. It does seem odd Harry Potter keeps getting one or two steps ahead of us at every turn. It is almost like someone who is feeding him information."

He looked around at the Light. He distrusted all of them for many reasons, other than Wrath, who he personally brought in after taking down Batman.

"As far as I'm concerned, all of you are suspects," Lex said.

Nyssa spoke up, standing to face Luthor. "And what proof can you give usyou haven't been betraying the Light in some way? It's suspicious this son of Lionel Luthor just shows up out of the blue, returning from Europe, to claim his rightful place. And it seems like you know who the Dragon is."

Vandal Savage held up one hand and looked to calm the group the best he could under the circumstances.

"All of us, we're being paranoid."

Savage's words didn't appease Lex. It made the entire situation worse.

"Oh no, I'm not being paranoid," Lex responded. He sounded like someone who had his back up against the wall and not in a good way either. "I'm seeing everything clearly now….."

"Any one of us could have had subordinates who might have found out something and passed it along," Nyssa said.

"Can I take your theory as a confession?" Lex asked.

"Harry Potter took my rightful place," Nyssa said.

"I don't believe you," Lex said.

"I'd take a step back, Mr. Luthor," Savage said in a warning voice. "This infighting isn't for the best. This is what Har-Zod would have wanted."

"You seem to have an insight into what he wants," Lex replied. He looked around towards everyone.

"Enough," The White Queen said. "Bickering like school children will not solve this at all. We must pull together if we're going to survive this onslaught."

"Don't you dare….."

Wrath spoke up. "She's correct."

Lex turned towards him, he conceded. He slunk down onto the chair and looked on with a frown. He conceded Wrath had a point, but he most certainly didn't like the point. Lex agreed, at least for now.

"So, what should be the next move?" Nyssa asked.

* * *

><p>Harry thought getting on this ship would be the easiest part. Or rather getting to the ship.<p>

The fact he didn't run into any kind of trouble so far caused him to be put on edge more than he would if he had just run into a boat load of trouble. Harry frowned and craned his neck when he looked over where he was.

'_Okay we just finished the easy part,' _Harry thought to himself. _'Now it's time for the hard part, or rather the frustrating part.'_

Lara and Alura were both standing by, ready to help him breach the security. Gamora would be useful, but she ran into a rather obvious problem.

"Thanos altered the security," Gamora said.

"It's almost as if he expected this," Faora said.

"He would, he's Thanos, he suspected eventually," Gamora said.

Most of Thanos's forces invaded Earth, but he had a few surprises.

Harry thought he would have to improvise. Harry didn't fear improvising. He tapped on the door of the ship. The ship creaked when he started to drum his fingers on the ship.

"I think if we find the entrance port, we might have a chance," Lara said.

"Right," Harry said.

He was going to use his powers of deduction and deduce the entrance port was around here somewhere.

In fact, it was going, almost as a beacon to allow him inside. He swiped the power crystal.

"Good luck," Harry said to Helena, Karen, and Diana when they slipped inside.

Karen frowned and looked at him.

"If only luck would help us now," Karen said. She gave a frustrated sigh. "But it won't, but I think we all know how far luck would give us"

Karen swooped forward and captured Harry's lips with a nice kiss. The buxom beauty wished she could linger even longer, but they had a job to do, and it had to be done immediately. The two groups settled.

An explosion resounded from off to the side.

"I'm guessing the explosion is our cue we're getting a little too close for comfort, isn't it?" Faora asked. Harry turned towards her and raised an eyebrow. "I thought so…..let's go find Thanos and pay our respects."

Inside the ship, the trio of Karen, Helena, and Diana made their way inside. The three of them walked close together. There was still a slight buzzing in their heads made bond traffic a bitch and a half, but they were managing just fine. They did have a concern, which Diana was the first one to bring up.

"Is it just me, or do you find it unsettling there are no attacks here?" Diana asked. She could see Karen looking at her. "I know, I must not tempt fate, but I was just asking the question

"No," Karen replied. She gave a long sigh. "You're not the…..only one."

She stepped back and saw several of the same aliens had been beaming down on Metropolis. Only they froze in place.

"Looks like something pretty much took all of the fight out of them," Helena said. She stepped over and doors were cracked open. Actually the doors were melted off where they were.

"So what do you think?" Karen asked. "Has our friend left as a trail?"

"It's obvious," Diana said. She moved over and spun the chair around. The navigator looked horrified.

"Please….Thanos would kill me if something happens," the navigator said. He was a quivering wreck. There was a small part of the girls who felt sorry for him, but an even larger part which didn't. "So much horror…forced me to see it all….the terror….the nightmares…oh….the nightmares of it all!"

He was reduced into a babbling, stuttering wreck, shaking like a leaf in a tree. His hands quivered and things looked extremely bad where he was. Diana pulled him out of the chair and he collapsed onto the ground, rocking back and forth.

"Okay, the ship shouldn't be a problem," Karen said. "Let me just recall the invaders."

"How long will it take?" Diana asked.

She pulled a device into one of the ports and bit down on her lip. She quickly did the necessary calculations in her head. "Oh, about seven minutes, give or take."

"Well, we'll keep an eye out for you, then," Helena said. Diana gave Helena one of the looks she normally gave people at times like this. "Although I believe the Phoenix has taken care of things well enough herself."

"Yes, she has," Karen said. There was a certain amount of pride beaming in her voice. "Let's see if we can ease up the invasion of Earth."

* * *

><p>Thanos stepped back and the pure primal power of the Phoenix Force bared onto him. His subordinates already tried to strike her, but they had been struck down in the worst way. Her eyes glowed and she was more powerful than ever before.<p>

He stepped back and the Phoenix advanced on him. The power she had was intense and she was about ready to strike.

Thanos reached behind him and pulled out a glowing blue gem. The Phoenix recoiled when she saw it. The mind gem was in the palm of his hand, which he had collected along with the time gem and the soul gem. The space gem, the power gem, and the reality gem were out of his control.

"You might be primal, you might be powerful, but no force on Earth can overcome the Infinity Stones!" Thanos yelled.

The Phoenix gave a high pitched cry and she cracked the ship where Thanos stood on. It caused the Titan to lose his balance for a moment and fall down onto a floating asteroid.

He landed hard with a thump. The Mind Gem was potent and it was causing her attacks to be less focused, which was exactly what he was hoping for regarding the Phoenix.

"Feel my power!" Thanos bellowed at the top of his lungs. He held the Mind Gem in his hand and he channeled his will. He placed it on the gauntlet on his wrist to be able to direct the power better.

Jean's eyes screwed shut. Her body was really shaking underneath the pain Thanos forced her to experience. It was extremely hard for her to hold on control, but she had to try. She had to try to get into position.

"NO!" Jean yelled. She tried to fight out of the grip Thanos placed on her.

The grip increased around Jean the more she struggled against it.

Harry arrived and he saw Jean forced to kneel before Thanos. She fought it with every fiber of her being. Faora and Gamora stood behind him and they were both in awe. Space looked like it unraveled.

"Just succumb!" Thanos yelled. He slid the soul gem onto the gauntlet. "The power of the Phoenix Force is a nice bonus for the power of the stones."

White hot daggers flung through the air and struck Thanos. He didn't even flinch. He would just deal with this enemy later.

He turned his power onto the Phoenix.

Jean screamed when she felt the power explode through her very being. She could hear people screaming, begging for her to let off. She shook her head wildly and her heart kept speeding up.

Reality was breaking around her and it was worse than the incident where Black Manta opened the gate. Jean could feel like she was inside the midst of a multi-colored tunnel.

"Attack!" Thanos yelled. He directed Jean up to her feet like a puppet and she turned her attention towards Harry.

"Jean, you're going to have to fight this," Harry said. He braced himself for impact.

Reality was becoming further unhinged and it seemed like Harry's relatively short trip to Thanos was getting extremely longer. He closed his eyes and pushed himself through the void. His body was burning up an immense rate.

He slammed both of his hands onto Thanos's head. It resounded with a huge crack and knocked him back.

Jean fell down onto the asteroid, breathing heavily. Sweat dropped down her body and it looked like she had a marathon. The Phoenix Force caused a ringing in her head.

"Not pleasant," Jean said. Harry offered her a hand. "I'm fine."

Harry could see the mind gem had some nasty side effects on the Phoenix Force. He turned around and saw Thanos standing there.

"You can't stop me," Thanos said. "Your mind is strong and trying to absorb your soul would destroy me. But no matter…..time is still mastered by me."

"But what is time, other than space and reality," Harry said. He pulled the two gems and fixed them to a makeshift gauntlet of his own, along with the power gem.

"You can't control the power," Thanos said. "I was destined to wield the Infinity Gauntlet."

"We'll see," Harry said. He used the power gem to cause Thanos to fly backwards against universe. A warp opened up and Harry followed him through.

The two of them were in the middle of what looked to be some kind of wasteland in space. Harry didn't know where he was.

He knew something else, reality was fixing to become undone and he and Thanos were about ready to battle for the Infinity Gems.

"There can only be one," Harry said.

"Agreed," Thanos said.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on August 23<strong>**rd****, 2015. **


	94. To Infinity and Beyond Part Three

**Chapter Ninety-Four: To Infinity and Beyond Part Three.**

* * *

><p>Despite the fact reality unwound around the two warriors, Harry and Thanos were fixing to throw things down for a big fight. The large titan was knocked momentarily off balance. The position Thanos landed in allowed Harry to go in and slam his fist down into the chest of the enemy.<p>

"We're going to do this, we're going to do this right," Harry said. "I'm going to rip you apart piece by piece. By the time I'm done….."

Thanos fired back and sent Harry flying. There were a lot more warps which slowly started to open up around them. Harry couldn't focus on reality becoming undone around him, at least not now. He had to focus on the person he battled at this second. Thanos was an extremely dangerous man and Harry needed to take him down right now.

"You're a fool if you thought you could defeat me," Thanos said. He channeled all of the power through his body. Thanos rushed him, but Harry dodged it.

"You won't be the first person who would call me a fool," Harry said. He stung him with a rapid fire series of punches. "And perhaps you're going to be the one will prove me right. But not yet."

The rock underneath them crumbled. Harry decided to use the crumbling surroundings to his advantage. He jumped up and crashed his fist down onto the top of the head of Thanos. Thanos staggered and Harry dropped him down onto the ground. The wind had been knocked out of him with an intense attack. Harry slammed his fist into his enemy's chest with another heavy blow.

Thanos fired back. He was damned if he was going to get taken down. He fired a huge punch to Harry's chest and doubled him over.

"Power is something you are struggling to comprehend," Thanos said.

Harry tried to use his heat vision to burn the ground from underneath him. Reality had been so messed up. To the point where he couldn't utilize particular ability.

He could feel a growing tightness within his chest. Thanos lifted the gauntlet and activated the mind stone.

Harry struggled when his knees started to buckle. He refused to go down. The power of the mind stone combined with Thanos's strong will was immense. Blood dripped from his nose when Harry's own strong will fought it.

"You're only delaying the inevitable," Thanos said. He held firmly onto Harry, forcing his way into his mind.

Harry could sense Thanos was determined to break his mind. Unfortunately, for Thanos it was not easy. Harry found battles like this to be barely ever easy. Another shift of reality put Harry back into the driver seat. He activated the power stone and knocked Thanos back.

Thanos lifted up off of the ground and landed several asteroids beneath him with a solid smash. The blood splattered from his mouth.

Harry jumped down towards him. His hand made a slashing motion and a large glowing red knife appeared in his hand. He rushed Thanos.

Thanos activated the space stone and disappeared.

There were eight of Thanos who appeared around Harry.

"Nice parlor trick, but I can beat you without the Infinity Stone," Harry said. He closed his eyes and activated his powers.

A group of Harry duplicates popped up. The army of Harrys squared off against the unholy Thanos army. The hard light holograms rushed the Thanos duplicates and there was an intense fight.

Reality caused anything, but the prime copies of both to become extremely unstable. Harry noticed all but one flickered. He rushed Thanos and slammed the power knife into his chest.

Thanos gave a blood curdling scream. He couldn't believe is enemy drew blood.

"It won't end this way. I won't allow it!"

"It doesn't matter what you won't allow. I don't care!"

Thanos blasted Harry in the chest and caused him to plant into the ground.

The rocks in space started to shift and they started to slam down onto Harry. Harry blocked some of them, but not all of him. He pulled himself up to his feet, his arm hanging limply off to one side.

Harry struggled to a standing position and faced off against the Terrible Titan. Three of them were in a circle and they shot out electrical cables, wrapping around Harry's lips and torso.

His willpower overrode them and he pushed them into each other. The two duplicates slammed into each other.

"Did you hit me best you got?" Harry asked.

He lifted up the power stone, but it wasn't working as well as he intended for it to.

Thanos slammed his hands onto the back of Harry's neck. He turned him around and ripped the gauntlet from his hand. He slid the other three stones onto the gauntlet to complete it.

"Yes, it's mine now!" Thanos yelled. He sent Harry flying backwards with the full power of the gauntlet. "And now, you're going to experience what happens when you stand up to Thanos."

Harry barely held his eyes open and Thanos delivered the Coup De Grace to him. The life faded out of his body and Harry Potter knew no more.

Thanos raised his arms into the air in triumph. He had brought down Har-Zod. Reality was his to control now and the Infinity Gauntlet was finally complete.

His body set on fire into green flames and faded off into the distance. Thanos was surprised, curious, and rather disappointed. He hoped to stuff his body and mount it as a trophy, but no matter.

Thanos dropped to the ground with a howl of agony. The injuries got to him more than he could ever think.

He raised his hand and realized something. The Infinity Gems were gone, along with the gauntlet. Thanos gave a wounded howl. He would need to repair his injuries and reclaim what had been lost. It didn't make any sense the gems vanished into the night.

* * *

><p>Karen, Helena, Faora, Diana, and Gamora walked around Thanos's ship. It was completely secured, and there were no minions were able to fight back against them. They were all in a frozen state.<p>

"Well, this is one of the easiest missions I've ever been on," Karen said. She leaned against the side of the ship and seemed rather lazy. "So, is it is just me, or are you expecting the other shoe to drop too?"

"It isn't just you," Faora said.

Her voice had a tone like she was slightly grumbling, maybe because she was. She rested against the side of the wall and frowned. She thought the tide was going to turn around.

"We got the ship out of the deal," Helena remarked.

Gamora remained quiet. She didn't even know where Thanos was and if she was honest, was an unsettling thing. Someone would rather know where Thanos is and have him about ready to kill you, then not know where he is and be alarmed about the possibility he would kill her. At least, Gamora came to the logical conclusion. She could be wrong.

She frowned deeply.

"You know he'll be back."

"I'm pretty sure Harry would have taken care of him by now," Diana said.

An immense light show flashed outside of their windows. The light show increased with intensity and insanity. All of the women looked around and could see what was going on.

"Please tell me this is not what I think it is," Karen said.

The groan barely could be kept out of her voice. An internal groan filled her body.

"If you mean you think reality coming undone, then I'm afraid I've got some bad news," Faora said. "You're completing right, everything is becoming unraveled."

"What do we do now?" Diana asked.

"Wait," Gamora said simply. There was really nothing else they could do at this point.

All of the girls turned towards her, deep frowns coming onto their faces. Faora shrugged and was the one to speak up.

"She's right. We have to wait. Har will figure this out…..I think one or many of the Infinity Stones were used….perhaps on the Phoenix."

The combination of the Phoenix Force and the Infinity stones was not good news for everyone. The extremely powerful light show occurring outside the window distracted everyone.

Karen closed her eyes and she could see a nice little battle form in her head. She flashed her eyes open a moment. It was too intense for her to hold on.

The rest of Thanos's fleet laid dormant outside. The evidence before them gave more credence to the fact the Phoenix attacked them. Faora frowned and she tried to activate the communication set.

"Hello? Can anyone hear me?"

There was no answer to her, other than some dead static which came through the headset. She frowned when she tried to play with the ear piece.

After a couple of moments of it not working, Faora decided to switch to the bond link.

'_Can anyone hear me?'_

'_No one but us,' _Diana thought. She frowned.

The Amazon Princess couldn't hear the presence of anyone, but the women in her general vicinity. Even Lucy and Lois, who were out in space, she couldn't hear them. This was extremely unsettling.

'_Would it be cliché to say I don't like the looks of this?' _Karen asked.

'_Cliché? Maybe,' _Faora said. She closed her eyes. _'But it's accurate, is it something you can believe?'_

'_Oh, nice, all we got to do is…..ARGH!' _

The blood curdling scream coming from the back of Karen's head caused a mild whiplash effect. She felt a crushing feeling go in on the back of her head. It was like something tried to stab its way through the base of her brain instantly.

She wasn't the only one who felt this intense sensation. The other bonded girls felt it.

Gamora could see these four extremely strong women fall to their knees. The primal horror spreading over their face caused her to twitch.

She looked over her shoulder, half expecting Thanos to be there, gloating over his victory. There was no Thanos. The lack of the Terrible Titan caused her to become even more confused.

The girls ceased screaming. The horror was done, or at least it seemed way. The girls slowly rose to their feet, with Diana being the first one to speak.

"Harry's dead," Diana said.

All of the girls remained in numb shock thanks to this horrific news.

"No, it's almost like he is dead, but he isn't at the same time," Karen said.

She looked out of the corner of her eye, daringly. More ripples coursed over reality.

* * *

><p>Harry's eyes flashed open. Mist surrounded him and the air around him was frigid. He rose to his feet and took a deep breath. He could feel himself return to some level of warmth. There was only one obvious explanation where he was.<p>

Jean dropped down beside him. She looked around the area around them, and turned towards Harry with a frown.

"You're dead, aren't you?"

"So are you," Harry said. Jean looked oddly not fazed by this particular situation. "So, this isn't your first time, is it?"

Jean shook her head in negative.

"I take it isn't yours either."

Harry said with a snort and offered his arm to Jean.

"No, it isn't. Why don't you lead the way?"

Jean nodded and grabbed Harry's arm. The two of them walked forward into the mist and looked around. There was nothing but an endless void for miles and miles around them. The whispers of several detached voices spoke. The word's structure didn't exist, at least in the form of any structure which made any kind of sense.

Harry looked over his shoulder and could see something at the end of the pathway. Jean caught sight of the person as well. Both of them knew by now the folly of trying to chase down something in the void of Death.

It turned out there was no need for them to chase down this person. She appeared from the shadows and became fully formed. Her red hair stood out vividly and she had green eyes. She looked to be a young girl around eight or nine years old. She gave the two of them a bright smile when she approached them, carefully closing the gap between them.

"This way, come on," she said. "You're here….but you shouldn't be. Everything needs to be fixed….everything is broken."

"What do you mean everything is broken? Jean asked.

The vessel of the Phoenix Force frowned. She didn't like vagueness and she could tell by the look in Harry's eyes he didn't either.

The girl persisted stubbornly.

"This way, this way, don't worry, all will be fine, this way."

The girl kept repeating her statement like some kind of mantra and they really had no choice, but to follow her.

Harry was glad to see she escorted them down what was a pretty straightforward path. Normally when he was on these mission quests, the paths can be rather rough. The fact it was so easy actually put Harry on more guard than he could have been.

He stole a quick look towards Jean. It both relaxed and unsettled him to think she was pretty much thinking along the same lines he was. He reached over and gripped her hand gently, taking it into his.

"Don't worry, whatever we face, it will be together," Harry informed her.

"Admirable sentiments, and I agree, but you have faced so much, my champions."

Harry turned around and saw a robed figure. The woman in question had been blessed a gorgeous figure underneath her robe, with midnight dark hair, pale skin, and inviting dark eyes. She smiled as the two champions came into greater prominence.

"Deedee, it's good to see you again," Harry said. He swept her into a one armed hug.

"Not many people would willingly embrace Death," Jean said. She realized the extremely bad pun she invited and looked instantly apologetic for what she said. "And even less of them would be on a first name basis with them."

"Jean, welcome, the Phoenix Force makes you a wonderful, but frustrating person to deal with," Death said. She waved her hand. "But your time here grows short. You're going to return and you're going to take down Thanos before it's too late."

"I like your confidence."

"Only because it's you, I have this confidence," Deedee said. "Thanos has actively courted Death, but he fails to realize I'm already spoken for. He thought he could destroy you, but he merely delayed his own defeat."

"Each time I come back a little bit different," Harry said.

"This time when you come back, you're going to destroy Thanos," Death said. "And you're going to cause him a humiliating defeat my depriving him of the chance of the very thing he desires the most."

Harry was beginning to see the light clearly now. The pale skinned figure swooped on in and pressed her moist lips against Harry's. The two of them exchanged a slightly passionate kiss.

"Farewell, and…..well I hope the next time you see it, it will be under better circumstances," Death said. "And you as well, Jean….it's time for you to return home."

Harry and Jean could feel themselves fade from the afterlife. There was some pull dragged them off. They looked at the young girl, who smiled and she disappeared as well.

Harry wondered about the significance, but he could guess.

* * *

><p>Karen didn't think she would ever recover from what happened. She could see the looks on the faces of their other bond mates, and she could see the same thing. Helena and Faora were better at playing the stoic game than other people, but it was obvious they were all rattled in their own ways.<p>

"I don't get how he could be dead, but at the same time, he couldn't be dead."

Karen's detached mutterings. caused Faora to look towards her. "Well, there's one thing we can confirm. The bond is not up and running."

"Which means the other girls must be freaking out," Helena said. "I thought we were all bonded….so if Harry fell….the bond would remain intact?"

"Which is our working theory," Karen said. She didn't know whether or not she ever wished to test her theory. "I guess there's something else going on here, we don't know."

"Well we better find out soon," Faora said. She groaned. She tried to focus on something, anything. The only thing she could focus on was her own thoughts.

Faora recalled something and it made her laugh. All of the times she wanted to be left alone with her own thoughts and her own thoughts worked with her. And it was one of the most depressing things in the world.

"He's not dead," Faora said.

Gamora hated to be the one to speak up.

"Are you just grasping at straws?"

Faora turned towards Gamora. She gave her the kind of gaze could burn through solid metal and it was alarming to say the least. "He's not dead, I know for a fact. He's just….in between."

Gamora had a feeling she was missing something was common knowledge amongst the Alpha council of the bond. "Perhaps you should know what Thanos is all about. He actively courts Death as much as he courts the Infinity Stones."

Karen ignored the dull headache still penetrating her mind. She decided to inform Gamora of a very interesting truth. "Well, Harry has beaten him to Death."

"Yes, most certainly," Faora agreed. She suddenly was gifted with a divine bit of inspiration. In fact, she was honestly shocked she hadn't figured out this point just yet. "This ship, it's gifted with the ability to track the stones, isn't it?"

Gamora was caught off guard by Faora's words. She only could nod.

"Naturally, but it's imprecise….."

Faora found her way at the ships computer and started to calibrate things.

"Imprecise as it may be, it will give us a general location. We can beat Thanos to the stones, if he hasn't been destroyed."

They weren't going to assume Thanos was dead without a body to back up their theories. The ground had too much experience with people dying and bodies not cropping up.

Their headaches were going away and now it was time to see what they could do about taking out Thanos. Time was running out.

* * *

><p>Thanos patched himself up and prepared for his next move. The Terrible Titan made his way closer to what he thought his birthright was. He approached the stones and he gave an intense bellow of triumph when he neared them.<p>

"At last!" Thanos bellowed at the top of his lungs.

The gauntlet was lying on a rock. It was almost like it waited for him. The final test to see if he was worth and one could not make a mistake about it. Thanos was worthy of claiming this particular prize.

Something flashed in front of him and nailed him in the jaw with a punch jacked his jaw. The Terrible Titan was lifted off of the ground and he was sent down with a crashing thud. All of the bones were rocked.

Thanos pulled himself up and saw a figure shining in a bright light. He looked and saw Harry Potter standing before him. His very presence caused Thanos to stand there, his jaw hanging open, and sheer surprise coming from him.

"How?" Thanos asked. "I destroyed you!"

"Did you?" Harry asked. "Reality becoming undone destroyed me, but I've fixed things. There's only one problem though, you're still here."

"I'll have the Infinity Stones and send you to a place where you won't come back from," Thanos said. He stepped back and faced off against his enemy. "So, are you man enough to stand up to me?"

"Yes," Harry said. An energy blade appeared in his hand and he slashed Thanos across the face to draw first blood. "The question I have is; are you strong enough to defeat me?"

Thanos howled in agony and he rushed Harry. Harry dodged the attack and went behind him. He started peppering Thanos's kidneys with a series of rapid fire punches. The Terrible Titan spun around and tried to take Harry's head off.

Harry caught him off of the rebound with a running knee strike. Thanos landed on the ground and made his way to the Infinity Gauntlet.

A wall of fire appeared, blocking him. Thanos looked up and saw the Phoenix hovering above him. She looked through the curtain of flaming red hair and she gave him a smirk.

"I don't think so, Thanos."

Harry rushed Thanos and rocked him with a huge punch to the back of the head. It caused him to fly head over heels and smash him down to the ground.

Thanos rolled over his feet and fired a blast at Harry. Harry dodged the attacks and swiped down, disabling the arm canon. He nailed him with a series of rapid fire blows and it caused the protection around him to crack.

Harry hoisted him off of the ground and hurled him to the next asteroid!

Thanos smashed down onto it and he could see a whirling fist nail him. It caused Thanos to crack down and the asteroid he stood on to shatter into millions of microscopic dust particles.

Harry returned fire and sent Thanos flying once again. He landed back first onto the ground. His body was broken.

Thanos felt something rip into him and Harry pulled him up.

He fought back and nailed Harry with a punch. He dropped down to the ground suddenly, and felt like thousands of white hot knives pierced his skin.

Harry dropped him to his back with a sickening kick. The sound of the sole of Harry's boot smacking against Thanos's nose was quite deafening indeed. He fell down and Harry jumped up, levitating a large chunk of rock over his head.

"Do it!" Thanos yelled.

"This is what you want, isn't it?" Harry asked. He caused the rock to land off to the side of him. "Well, I've got a different idea in mind. You've been after Death so much you've developed an almost stalker like obsession towards her. Well I've got news for you. Death is much too good for the likes of you."

Thanos could have cursed. He found himself paralyzed and unable to move.

"I have to thank you for killing me, it's made me stronger than ever," Harry said. He picked up the gauntlet and he placed it on. "Oh, this is a nice prize, but not the one I'm going to defeat you with."

He waved his hand and bright light began to dematerialize Thanos's body. Thanos's body burned as Harry dragged him off into the void between life and death.

He disappeared into the night, never to be seen again. Harry smiled when he set himself down on the rock. Jean sat down next to him and smiled.

"So, are you okay?" Jean asked him.

Harry grinned when he turned towards her. He gripped her hand into his with a wide smile on his face.

"Never felt better."

There was a dull rumbling roar and Thanos's ship popped up. Harry smiled viewing the ship for a couple of moments, before turning back towards Jean. "Right on schedule. Would wonders never cease to amaze?"

* * *

><p>Karen spoke what they all were thinking. "We thought youdied."<p>

"I did die," Harry informed her. Karen threw her hands into the air with exasperation. Harry was far from finished. "But, I got better."

"Yes, so I see," Karen said.

Faora was glad. She had faith this entire time, but at the same time, she was glad. She sat down in front of Harry and gave him a good looking over.

"You look better than ever."

"Well, I guess Death does the body good," Harry said.

Everyone laughed, but Gamora frowned and broke the moment of jubilation.

"Thanos, what became of him?"

"I sent him away," Harry said.

It was simple and concise, but obviously need more explanation.

Gamora was astonished because of what Harry told her.

"You mean you gave him what he wanted?"

Harry responded a dry chuckle.

"No, I didn't give him what he wanted. He's currently trapped in a dimension where he's not quite alive, but will never die. He just is."

Gamora thought the punishment was fitting in many respects.

"We've got a full League meeting obviously, when we return," Harry said. "And a brand new alien ship to play with."

"Just park it right next to the War World, I guess," Faora said.

They were back in range for Earth and bond traffic. Harry could hear one message.

'_The Light is preparing to make their move.'_

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on August 25<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	95. Let There Be Light Part One

**Chapter Ninety-Five: Let There Be Light Part One.**

* * *

><p>Rebecca winced when a rather prominent injury of hers was patched up. Over all, things could have been much worse, but they most certainly were not better. The fact of the matter was she was patched up and hanging out with the rest of the team.<p>

And she really felt the battle.

"What a day!" Alex exclaimed, throwing her hands up into the air and stretching.

A soreness spread through her through the body. Her healing energy was coursing through her body, in an attempt to fix her injuries.

"Boy tell me about it," Laura said.

Connie shook her head. The clone really wished she could tell Laura about it, but she missed a lot of the assignment. She was on the team who tackled Smallville and for once in her life, things were relatively normal. She couldn't believe everything which happened, but at the same time, she could believe it. She moved around to talk to the various team members.

"But, what happened was scary for a moment, wasn't it?" Stephanie asked. "You know, when everything went all dark and cold. I thought …"

"And then, everything on Earth felt like it was gone after Harry vanished and we all got headaches," Rebecca responded. She nodded her head swiftly, brushing the lock out hair out in front of it. "And then Harry…..well we all knew what happened there."

All of the girls seemed rather shell shocked. Except for Alex, she seemed a bit non-bothered by this entire mess. She lifted her shoulders in a slight shrug and she turned towards them, giving them a nice little smile.

"I don't know what you're all on about, we all knew Harry was going to come out of the battle fine," Alex said. The girls all looked at her and she responded with a shrug. "It's what we Potter's do. We're survivors, even though we shouldn't be. You should know how our minds work."

"Yeah, I guess it does," Laura said. She missed the support of the various girls. It was only less than an hour, about forty minutes all together, but it seemed like an eternity when they were trying to pull themselves back together. She could feel it all slowly coming back to her bit by bit.

Whitney zipped on in and was checking something out.

"So, I guess the alien invasion is done," Laura suggested.

"Well, it would big surprise if it is, and it's done quicker than normal, too," Cassie said. She was bouncing up and down, looking like she had a bit too much energy.

"You know, if we have too much energy, we can wear off," Cass said. "We still have training….and I'll speak with my mother about helping out."

Rebecca and Alex exchanged a glance with each other and they both came to the same conclusion Cass was going to try and kill them. Then again, she always seemed to want to prove Lady Shiva was the most able trainer out of all of them.

'_So, it's a good thing we're back in business, isn't it?' _Rebecca asked.

'_Yeah, a very good thing,' _Alex responded. She frowned. _'Are you sure ….'_

'_If you're sure, I'm sure, but….I'm not even sure what we're talking about this time,' _Rebecca thought.

'_I guess you got more rattled than we thought you did,' _Alex said.

Caitlin, who had been quietly looking over Rebecca and enjoying the banter, but she frowned for a long moment. "You're going to need a lot of rest, because you have a slight concussion."

"You know, I didn't really register with the ringing in my head," Rebecca said. "And you know, I thought the headaches were because of the bond link shutting down."

"Yeah, Harry dying, I know it might seem pretty exciting, but his death just standard fare a lot of the time," Whitney said. "It wasn't the first time he's died, even by his own admission. Every time he dies, he comes back stronger than ever."

"And in a slightly different form," Alex added.

"I'm resisting an urge to make a Doctor joke right about now," Rebecca said. "But, I guess I'll rest up and let Caitlin make sure there's nothing else wrong."

"Good choice," Caitlin replied.

* * *

><p>Gamora found herself at a crossroads of sort. Thanos was defeated. All things considered, he was the life she knew. Some life, she had to admit. The fact of the matter was she had a reputation and now without Thanos, there were going to be some heavy people gunning from her.<p>

Let them try though, a large part of her thought. She would be ready for them, one way or another.

She was currently sitting freely in one of the main offices of the RAO building. The fact she could go at any time and chose not to really spoke with her mindset.

There was one thing clearly and constantly on her mind. It was the one thing which was clearly and constantly on the mind of many women out there in the world. Har-Zod haunted the thoughts of all of the women. She had heard the stories about him. It was hard not to.

Yet, despite hearing many of the stories, hearing the stories and seeing the man up close and personal were two different things all together. She would not be getting him out of her head any time soon.

The doors slid open and the man himself was there.

"So, what becomes of me now?" Gamora asked him. She was ready to fight if necessary, even though it was highly unlikely she would make out of this building in time.

"It depends," Harry said. "You lived your entire life as the daughter of Thanos. The ball is in your court now. What do you want to do with your life?"

Har-Zod's question caused Gamora to raise her eyebrow. She never had been offered an opportunity like this in her life.

"If you wish to leave, just know there is an entire universe out there with people who would like to make a name for themselves by defeating the Deadliest Woman out there."

Gamora frowned and she gave him a challenging gaze. "Don't tell me you lack confidence in me, after all you've seen me done."

"Trust me, I don't lack confidence in you," Harry said. He crossed the gap with her and looked into her eyes. "Far from it in fact."

Gamora could see him right up in her face. They were so close to each other, the close proximity caused her heart to start beating.

The dose of pheromones he gave her was fresh in her memory. He looked like a hungry lion, casually toying with his prey. She wondered what he was going to do next. The ball was most certainly in his court.

He retracted his gaze from her and stepped back. He sat in the chair and she sat on his desk, being the most convenient use of a seat.

Harry dropped a loaded question. "So, what do you want to do?"

Har-Zod always asked the questions which seemed to be of the loaded variety. Gamora contemplated several options over in her mind.

"I'm not certain what I want to do," Gamora admitted to him. "After all of this time, I have more options of what I'm going to do, and…..I don't know what I'm going to do."

Harry decided to offer her a proposal.

"I'm not sure if you want to stay on Earth, but an alliance with the League might be a good idea," Harry told her. Gamora blinked and looked at him. "There are a lot of heroes based in space."

"I'm not a hero, though," Gamora said.

"Well, you have the ability to do well," Harry said.

Gamora considered this point over in her mind constantly. It was true she had the ability to do good, but she didn't know how much good she could do given the situation.

"You're an extremely tough person to say no to," Gamora replied. "But, I'm sure I'm not the first person to tell you."

"Maybe," Harry said. He crossed the distance of the room and Gamora got to her feet. "Maybe, you could tell me how hard I am to say no to."

Harry swept her into his arms and he leaned forward, giving her an extremely hard kiss. Gamora returned the kiss with him. He pushed her back against the desk.

"So, are you going to say no to this?"

"Fuck me, before I go insane," Gamora growled. She pulled him into another intense kiss, and Harry broke away. He ran his hands down her body and it caused her to shiver, when he eased his way further down on her.

* * *

><p>The entire League joined up with each other and they were there in full force. Everyone who was anyone was there, the Team, the League, pretty much everyone. It was a chaotic, messy scene waiting to happen.<p>

"So, I guess I'm going to have to ask the obvious question," Lois said. She was out in space when it happened and she felt the gripping headache which followed Harry's temporary death. "What happened with Thanos?"

Harry cleared his throat and all of the eyes were on him. "Thanos killed me, as you all well know. Well, he took both Jean and I out."

"Just another Thursday, to be honest," Jean said. She felt a lot more refreshed after this latest death to be honest.

The group all shook her heads. They weren't sure whether or not they would have taken death so casually, but Harry and Jean both reached death so often they took it well at this point.

"Thanos lost control of the Infinity Gauntlet, and we had a short duel over it," Harry replied. "I won the duel. He begged me to kill him."

"So, wait, you granted him, his wish?" Dinah asked.

"No, I didn't," Harry said.

"So, did you put him into the Phantom Zone?" Lois asked. She shuddered. "Yeah, Thanos and Zod being roommates, there's a really bad sitcom waiting to happe

"It would be better than a lot of the shit passes which for television these days," Kara said. Claire cleared her throat and Kara smiled at her cousin. "But, we're getting off of the subject, aren't we?"

"Yes, we are," Harry commented. "I didn't kill Thanos; I didn't put him in the Phantom Zone. I sent him on."

"You're going to have to clarify," Claire said.

"It's Harry, of course he wouldn't give us a straight out answer," Rose said. She folded her arms together.

"Ah, I'm sure he's going to tell us soon," Gwen said. There was a part of her who looked less than certain. "At least I think he is."

"I am," Harry replied to her. "He was sent to some kind of limbo in between the worlds. He isn't alive and he won't be coming back any time soon. But he will never die; therefore he won't get his reward."

"So, why didn't you kill him?" Sara asked. She was confused.

"He wants Death," Harry said.

"I see," Sara said. If anyone knew about the arrangement of Harry and Death better than anyone else, it would be her.

"And you know how territorial Harry could get about his women," Kara replied. got a lot of responses. "So, what did you do to the Ship?"

"It's in the same place I put War World," Harry said.

There was a lot of agreement with the girls. Harry was the only one who casually discussed about how the fact he owned a War World; it was just like someone owning a brand new car as far as Harry was concerned.

"Well, I'm pretty sure you know best," Jaime said. "So, the Infinity Stones….."

"Where they need to be right now," Harry said.

"You mean you scattered them through the universe?" Lois asked.

"Yes, spread the word, Lois….you too Lucy," Harry said. The younger Lane sister had been surprisingly quiet all this time. "I took the stones, broke them up, and scattered them through various points throughout the universe."

"Ahhh," Lois said.

"I see," Lucy said.

Claire shook her head. She wondered how many idiots would follow Harry's false rabbit hole. There were a lot of power hungry idiots in the universe, so she was confident they would be going after them.

She decided to bring up another valid point, or at least what she thought was a valid point. "So, what about Thanos's partners?"

"The Light is about to make its move," Harry said.

Helena spoke up, breaking her self-imposed silence. "And we know who is now leading the Light. It's funny how these things go full circle."

Karen nodded in agreement. She would have to agree with Helena. It was amazing how everything came back around.

This time though, there was a second chance to correct some past mistakes and they were going to go forward.

"Things are about to get interesting," Harry said. The group all looked at each other and wondered whether or not things would get interesting in a good way or not. All they had to do was wait and see for what the next move would be.

* * *

><p>Lex Luthor sat in his office. The alien invasion had died down and the League had triumphed. They were currently in a state where they would be licking their wounds. And while his enemies licked their wounds, Lex plotted and he planned. Lex would do nothing less. He pondered his situation.<p>

Wilson Fisk turned up along with Lex.

"Mr. Savage has sent me for you, Mr. Luthor, the Light are preparing to have a meeting," Fisk said. He spoke in his calm tone of voice. Lex raised his eyebrow when he faced him.

"Are we going to actually accomplish something this time?" Lex asked. "We have just been talking about how everything has been going according to plan."

Fisk turned around and didn't answer him right away. He led Lex down the hallway towards the meeting room. He wondered if the Light was the cohesive unit they would have thought.

Luthor and Fisk entered the room. Savage stood in front of them, along with the rest of the Light. Luthor took a seat beside Wrath and Fisk took a seat on the edge of the aisle. The White Queen looked icy as ever and Nyssa looked like she was not pleased with what Savage was about to say.

"First of all, let me all thank you for your patience," Savage replied. "I think it goes without saying when you've lived as long as I have, you have learned a little bit about patience."

It was obvious there were some members of the Light who needed a refresher course about patience. Savage decided to press further while the iron is hot.

"Now, we must take the next step," Savage told them. "The League is at their most vulnerable state. We may never get another opportunity as perfect again. Therefore, it is vital for us to strike while the iron is hot."

"So, now's the time we take down the League," The White Queen commented.

"If we pool all of our resources together, we can take down the League," Savage said.

"Arcane is mine," Lex said. "Along with Power Girl and Huntress."

The man's possessive nature caused Savage to look at Lex. Lex stared back and there looked to be an intense battle of wills going on between these two strong men.

"The Light was formed as a cohesive effort to help guide the world and make sure they remained on the straight and narrow," Savage said. "Personal vendettas were not something the Light was formed because. Your father understood his place in this organization"

Lex got to his feet and walked forward. Savage exited from behind the podium and walked towards him. Both of them went face to face with each other.

"Let me make one thing plain, I'm not my father, I'm superior to him," Lex said.

The Ultra Humanite got to his feet and stared them both down. "Now, gentlemen, it's no need to fight like this."

"There is a need to fight, given the future of the Light is up in the air," Lex said. "Make no mistake about it; you can dress up our intentions in any way you wish if it helps you sleep at night. But the Light will need to thrive and for it to thrive, it will need to take down the League."

Savage took a step back.

"This passive approach isn't doing anything, and it's just putting us under the watchful eye of….him," Lex said. He spat out one simple word like it was pure poison. "You might have a long life ahead of you and if this fails, you'll just recover and try again in a couple of centuries. Not all of us have the luxury of a long life. We should have struck much sooner, and not left a trail of bread crumbs down to Harry Fucking Potter's front door."

Ultra Humanite appeared scandalized by Lex's verbiaThe Light was bickering with each other again.

Nyssa rolled her eyes and caught the eye of the White Queen. They could not believe what they signed up for.

"You know, bickering like a bunch of children will not solve anything," Nyssa piped up. "We're already building on a foundation of quicksand."

"Yes, because you took control of your father's group," Lex said. Nyssa drew a blade and moved over towards Lex.

"I've had more than enough from you," Nyssa said. She closed the gap and pointed the blade at Lex's throat.

Wrath stepped in front of Nyssa and a glowing red blade withdrew from his wrist band. The two of them stared down at each other.

"We should go with Mr. Luthor's plan," Wrath said.

"Thank you, Wrath," Luthor said. He could see Nyssa looking like she wanted to impale him on the edge of her sword still. She withdrew a breath and backed off. "You can calm yourself, I'm done."

Nyssa blinked and nodded. She stepped back and was about as calm as she would ever get. She sat back down beside the White Queen.

"What is your grand plan, Mr. Luthor," Savage spoke. He was giving him enough room, and perhaps enough rope, to see what he could do.

* * *

><p>Katrina Kent half wished the Light had just ripped each other apart when they were in there. She left the Light meeting, with Tea and Divine standing next to her.<p>

"You know, Harry might not have to do anything," Divine said. "The Light is just going to rip themselves apart because of their sheer stupidity."

"While I agree it's amusing to see a bunch of idiots rip themselves apart," Katrina said and Galatea laughed.

"It's not just amusing, it's kind of hilarious as well," Galatea responded. Katrina shrugged her shoulders. "Just throwing it out there."

"I know you are," Katrina said. She tapped her finger to her watch and leaned back. "Harry should be arriving right now."

"Timing is perfect as always."

The girls halfway jumped into the air and saw Harry standing there. He smiled at the girls when they gave him the evil eye. "You know, I gave you warning, and you still jumped."

Katrina threw herself at Harry and kissed him fiercely. Galatea and Divine responded and hugged them from either side. Harry found himself trapped underneath a pile of Karas and he was perfectly okay with the situation.

"So, how are you doing?" Katrina asked. "Sorry, we didn't attend the all-League meeting earlier, because we were kind of tied up with the Light."

Divine detached herself from the group and Galatea did as well. They all sat down on a group of padded benches. "Not as sorry as we would have been if the all-League meeting had turned into all League orgy."

"Not this time, too much business to discuss," Harry said. "Although, there was a more private meeting between myself and Gamora, Karen and Faora crashed."

"Well talk about quite the conquest," Galatea said. Galatea had to say she approved of the situation to be honest. And was a bit disappointed she didn't join in. Despite the important role Galatea played, bitterness settled in.

"So, how did the Light meeting go?" Harry asked.

Katrina looked on with a smile. "Well, Nyssa nearly ran Lex through with a sword."

'_I have to say I'm disappointed it was only nearly,' _Sara replied. She shook her head.

Harry didn't say anything, but he had to smile to be honest. might have compromised his plans if Lex got killed, at least right now. He still wondered how the man survived their last encounter, but there was a Crisis or two since their previous encounters, so things got shifted around. Just enough where it would inconvenience a huge part of Harry's life. He was more than used to it by now.

"We did find out one interesting thing," Katrina said. "Even though the management of the Light is a few seconds away from taking each other out, they still have a vast army at their disposal. They could pose a problem for the League."

She passed Harry something.

"Everything I could find out is on the disc," Katrina said. "Some of it is highly encrypted and I doubt it's anywhere close to complete."

Harry thought she might be right. If he knew Lex, and he had a good idea he did by this point, he wouldn't have put all of his cards on an easily accessed computer.

"Good work, Katrina," Harry said. He swept her into a hug and kissed her on the lips hard. He pulled back from her.

Tea placed her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrow. "We helped, you know."

Harry smiled and he gave Tea her proper acknowledgement. He kissed her fiercely as well. She slipped her tongue into his mouth and he pulled away.

Not to be outdone, Divine got some rather sweet lip action as well.

"And the Light might have a small army under my control, but so do I."

* * *

><p>Caitlin decided to check up on their patient. Adrianna was currently sleeping and she checked the breakdown of her latest physical.<p>

"So, how is she?" Mary asked. Caitlin turned around and she could see the young girl bite down on her lip.

"She's physically fine, but she's in two minds," Caitlin said. She knew all about having a split personality. Her powers had caused a brief moment of psychosis, where mild mannered Caitlin Snow was overwhelmed by the dangerous Killer Frost. A name she hated, but thankfully Harry was able to sort her out.

She had her moments.

"So, all we can do is see how this plays out," Harry said. Mary turned around and she looked at him. "The League is being deployed? Caitlin, do you think you could back up Chloe and Felicity on mission support? Everyone else is out on the field."

"Sure, it's been a long time, but I think I can do it," Caitlin said. She stepped forward and decided to steal a quick kiss from Harry.

"I should be with the rest of the team," Mary said.

"Oh, no, you're not late," Harry answered. "So, how are you doing?"

"Fine," Mary said. She looked into his green eyes and got trapped into them. He had the type of eyes a girl could get lost in.

'_Harry,' _Alexa said. _'Do you think I could speak with you for just a second?'_

"Mary, I've got to go, I'll see you later," Harry said. He smiled when he looked at her.

"Okay," Mary said. She impulsively kissed him on the cheek.

"I will see you later," Harry informed her. He passed Rebecca and Alex.

"Don't worry, we'll make sure Mary is briefed with the rest of the team," Alex said. "And I'm sure she'll be inducted into the team proper later."

"Just make sure you'll be in position, when Whitney and Artemis is ready," Harry told her.

Alex and Rebecca could see Harry was extremely serious and it was them for them to get serious as well. They crossed the room.

"Earth to Mary?" Rebecca asked. She stood up and looked surprised. "Are you ready?"

"Yes, I'm ready," Mary said. She was astonished at her own daring.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on August 28<strong>**th****,2015. **


	96. Let There Be Light Part Two

**Chapter Ninety-Six: Let There Be Light Part Two.**

* * *

><p>Harry joined up with Tess and Alexa. When these two ladies said there was some urgent information to tell him, normally the information they needed to tell him was pretty urgent. Regardless, the two of them joined up with him, and they headed to the main conference room of LuthorCorp.<p>

Alexa decided to cut straight to the point, knowing what Harry wanted . "I know this is the worst time to call you away, but we found out a couple of important things you need to know."

"Is this about Lex?" Harry asked. He had a theory he would have liked to confirm.

If true, it would be a huge problem.

"Yes," Alexa said. She was frowning extremely deeply and decided to get straight to the point she wanted to make to make. "He's always been a point of frustration for me, you know."

Harry had not heard Alexa talk about Lex ever. He was under the assumption for a long time Lex simply did not exist in this world. In fact, Harry had a really bad feeling one of the many Crisis events tended to take place on an Infinite Number of Earths was the cause of Lex having shown up.

Perhaps Harry thought things through too much, but Lex popping up at this time looked to be a bit too convenient.

"It's all very peculiar," Alexa continued. "He returned from Europe about three years ago, claiming to be my long lost twin brother. It was a good thing LuthorCorp was for all intents and purposes folded into the RAO Corporation. Of course, he didn't seem to care about Luthorcorp ."

Tess picked up the explanation in a somber tone. "He seemed more interested in his own corporation. And he did start up LexCorp in Europe, before moving it over to the United States. And the documentation was pretty full proof."

Harry thought as much. No one questioned Lex, because he had the proof to back up. No one could question Lionel on the account of him being dead. And he could always claim Alexa was too young to remember.

Lex covered his tracks like the typical magnificent bastard. Harry would take his hat off, had he been wearing one.

"I might be too young to remember," Alexa said. She read Harry's thoughts clearly.

"But, you don't believe you were too young?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"I have a pretty good memory, and there's something unsettling about this entire Lex thing. There's a small chance he could be my long lost twin brother, back from Europe."

Harry didn't say anything. When she saw he wasn't going to say anything, Alexa pressed on the invasion.

"But, I think he might be something else entirely," Alexa continued. "What? I don't know what he is. And I've been wrecking my mind trying to figure out what he might be."

Alexa had many good questions regarding the status of her brother . The woman wished she had some good answers to piece together what Lex was.

"The one thing we know," Tess said. caused her older sister's attention to turn completely to her. "Lex built a business juggernaut over in Europe and brought it to the United States. He's done pretty well for himself."

"He's done better than well, he's done excellent," Harry said.

Harry figured he would give the devil his due and if this Lex was anything like the Lex of Earth-2, he would be pretty dangerous indeed. Intelligent and he knew it, which often proved to be a serious problem. Those who were too intelligent for their own good tended to be the most frustrating to deal with.

"You're deep in thought, aren't you?" Alexa asked. She frowned and thought of something else. "And you have a theory about it."

"I met a Lex Luthor on the world I came from, with Karen and Helena and Patricia," he explained. "He grew increasingly mad and obsessed with Karen, and also with the three of us eventually. He tried to protect the world in his own way, but he ended up destroying it."

Alexa whistled when she thought about it.

"He thought he was doing good," Alexa said. "Even if he wasn't doing anyone any good at all. If isn't a common flaw with all Luthors, I can hardly tell you what is."

"You're not anything like he is , though," Tess said.

Alexa turned to her younger sister and shook her head. "I'm didn't turn out like him, because I have someone can put me on the straight and narrow."

Harry had a shift of a smile. "I do the best, but….."

The conference room shook and the entire group was startled. Harry jumped to his feet, and Alexa did as well.

There was another tremor which rocked the entire floor. Alexa staggered and Harry caught her in his arms before she could completely fall backwards. There was a sound of glass falling off of the wall and it shattered.

"I hate to ask what's going on," Tess said.

"It was an Earthquake," Chloe said. She popped into both the bond link and the comm link as well. "And I can tell you this, it wasn't manmade."

"And this is Lex's plan, at least one of them," Harry said.

'_The League is already ready,' _Karen said. _'We're kind of in scramble mode right now, but we're pretty ready.'_

'_Good,' _Harry thought. The League was going to need to be more than ready if they could survive the onslaught which was about to come next. He frowned and prepared himself for the latest battle wherever it would come.

The Earthquake stopped striking and all was calm, which naturally put Harry on edge further.

* * *

><p>Wrath slipped down the hallway. He was a man on a mission. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a dusty looking keycard and slipped it into a slot. The lights around the door began to blink to light.<p>

"Good evening, Mr. Luthor," the computer said.

Wrath didn't even miss a beat; he was going to ignore the inaccuracies of the computer. He needed to get in and he didn't have much time. Luthor's computers were going to be difficult to access, but he was of a brilliant mind. All he needed to do was get inside and get the information.

He suspected something didn't match up properly. His role had been played as the most loyal member of the Light, and now he was going to play into said trust by undermining them all. It was a perfect plan if they would have said himself, and shook his head crisply.

He stepped into the lab and was looking around for what he wanted to. The Earthquakes were felt by everyone, including those in the Light. The Generator was somewhere in this building, he couldn't figure out precisely where it was holed up though.

"What are you doing?"

Wrath turned around and saw Nyssa standing before him in the door. She stepped towards him and she spoke in a rather frank tone of voice. "So, you're the traitor?"

He didn't answer her. He never said anything. Wrath slammed a punch and doubled him over. He went behind him and slammed Nyssa face first into the wall. She tried to take him down, but he sprayed a gas in her face.

Nyssa coughed, and became extremely dizzy. Wrath jumped high into the air and slammed a fist on the back of her head. He held both arms behind her head and jumped up. A vicious curb stomp brought her face first down onto the ground.

"What the devil is going on?"

Lex turned up and he was followed by the Ultra Humanite, Vandal Savage, and Wilson Fisk.

"She's the mole within the light, she's the traitor," Wrath said.

"I saw him looking around this lab, he….." Nyssa said. She was lifted up by Savage, to hold her, as security was summoned.

"I knew there was something off about you, you weren't as loyal to me…to the Light as you should have been," Lex said.

Nyssa's words fell on absolutely deaf ears.

"He was….."

One of the security guards stunned her and brought her down to her knees. It was obvious the Light were not interested in hearing about any arguments she made. Nyssa slumped to the ground and looked up Lex with hatred.

"You won't get away with this," Nyssa said.

"Take her away," Savage said to his security force. "Make sure she doesn't have any surprises. The Light might already have been compromise if she was in contact with Potter."

While the security force dragged Nyssa off, Lex turned to Wrath with an expression of gratitude.

"Thank you for your assistance."

"It was my pleasure to serve you and the Light," Wrath replied. His tone was calm and crisp, without any emotion whatsoever in it.

Lex frowned. He did have a few doubts about Wrath. There was a chance both of them were playing him from different angles, but he threw Nyssa under the bus. Everyone could be out to get him. He couldn't really trust anyone. The world would be his and this time, he was not letting it go. He would have his revenge, and everything would be mine.

"I wish to have a word with you, Mr. Luthor," Fisk said.

"We both do," Savage said.

Luthor looked at both of them and he followed them, departing from the rest of the group.

"The lack of trust and the deception within the Light is becoming a concern," Lex said. "We need to keep an eye on Wrath, I'm not certain whether or not he is on our side. There'ssomething unsettling about him, and we should keep a keen watch on him."

"Some might say we need to keep a closer eye on you, Mr. Luthor," Savage said. "Your father would not approve….."

"Let me make one thing perfectly plain," Lex said. He rose up and got in his face. "My father is dead for a reason. He is not as strong as me and is not as capable as I am."

"What is the deal with the Earthquakes?" Fisk asked.

Lex didn't answer Fisk's question straight away. His little test went on without a hitch, but he wanted more. He was going to bring down the League. There might be some people who would not understand and there would be even more people who would perish, but those were just statistics.

"Call a meeting in thirty minutes and I'll have your questions answered," Lex said. "I prefer to address what remains in the Light only once."

* * *

><p>Karen stared out the window of the League headquarters. There were members of the League rushing around with her.<p>

She felt a hand on her shoulder and she jumped up. Karen turned around and almost smacked into Diana. Diana frowned when she looked at Karen. "You look tense."

"Look it?" Karen asked. Diana responded with a swift nod. "I am rather tense….more than tense. More tense than I should be. And this is somehow worse than the Thanos invasion."

Karen walked across. She could see one of the teams beam down. The Alpha Council were the last members of the League stationed on the Watchtower. .

"This is personal," Helena said. She stepped forward and joined them. "The good news is we have a good idea where the Light is."

"Well knowing where they are is the only good news though, isn't it?" Karen asked. Helena nodded. "The bad news is we don't know the kind of defenses they have around the area. And I'm not even sure if the entire Light knows, because it's Lex."

Karen wasn't going to mince words. Lex, being Lex, would have hid a lot of cards. They were pretty certain this was the same Lex.

"So, you're distracted, aren't you?" Kara asked. She was one of the few left on the ship. She walked over towards her older sister.

Karen shook her head.

"Not distracted."

Kara frowned.

"Then what is it then?"

"Merely concerned," Karen said. "I know history has a pretty bad habit of repeating itself, and I….well it just has a really bad habit of repeating itself, and this is the worst time for it to happen. Lex has some kind of secret weapon."

"What do you think it is?" Kara asked him.

"I don't know," Karen said. She brushed her hair out of her face. She hated not having the answers.

"Well, we'll figure this out," Helena said. Karen blinked. "This isn't the first time we've been through this."

Karen sighed. most certainly could not be the problem to be honest. Her arms folded underneath her chest. She felt a pair of arms wrap around her from behind and Kara lean in and whisper in her ear.

"I've got to go, I'm babysitting the Junior Justice League," Kara said. She was pretty sure she could hear a lot of protests through the bond, but she laughed. "Okay, fine I'm babysitting Whitney, who is babysitting the Junior Justice League."

'_You know, I find it hard to argue when you put it that way ,' _Thea said, shaking her head. caused Whitney to fold her arms and stick out her head. Kara slipped into the teleporting device. _'Oooh, too slow!'_

Karen smiled. She would need all of the smiles they could muster with what was coming. The Light's plan was going to cause them to be a little less able to smile. The Light might not have been the problem though, but rather it was Lex to be honest. It was always Lex.

She couldn't say it enough. It was almost funny how these things had gone full circle, going around the loop.

Those thoughts caused Helena to meet eyes with Karen.

"I know what you're thinking."

"Mostly because you're thinking the same thing," Karen said. Helena didn't say anything. She could see her loading up a high tech crossbow. "So, when we have a shot at Luthor, we're going to take it?"

"Yes, we're not going to give him time to monologue," Helena said. "Not this time. If you can burn his head off with heat vision, then do it."

"This must be serious," Diana said. She strapped her armor and set herself up. A sharp sword proved Diana wasn't messing around, not like she ever did. "But, I'm with you all of the way."

The three of them made their way to the teleporter and they flashed. Diana, Karen, and Helena dropped down into the middle of the designated meeting point. They looked into the shadows and saw Harry standing there. He leaned towards them.

"So, are you ready?"

Karen paused for a second.

"Yes, I'm ready"

* * *

><p>The White Queen settled herself down with the rest of the Light. She turned to Savage. "So, what's this all about?"<p>

"We're trying to determine how strong the Light remains," Savage said. "The Daughter of the Demon turning traitor…. was surprising. But she can still be of some use."

"Are you sure we can trust her after this?" the White Queen asked.

Savage looked at her and spoke in an extremely calm voice. "Those who are with the Light can stray from it, but it's easy for them to be turned back towards the Light. You must have faith."

She did, but there was a loud clearing of the throat.

There were a pair of goons who wheeled out a screen, and it was hooked to a projector. Lex stepped up towards the podium and he addressed the Light. A couple of them frowned. The significance of where he was positioned was not lost on the Light.

"You all wanted answers," Lex said. "I have to say, it's rather disturbing someone betrayed us. It makes us wonder who we can trust. And now the League must be onto our plans. There is no long term plan anymore. We have to act now, or we're going to fail."

The thinly veiled shots towards a certain member of the Light had not been lost. Savage spoke up.

"Get to the point, Mr. Luthor."

"Well, if you insist," Lex said. "I have made a plan to take down the League, or rather a couple of their key members. While I was in Europe, I gathered resources and scoured the globe. This is the device I came up with."

The device flashed on the screen. It was a large black weapon with glowing black crystals on it. It glinted in a sinister manner.

The White Queen's mouth hung open. She got in touch with Karen.

'_Karen, we've got a huge problem…..act natural.'_

This warning was given to Galatea and Divine and the two bodyguards stood in the back of the ground. Their stoic expresses did not falter, although there was a small amount of worry spread through their bodies. They knew exactly what the weapon did and they knew whether or not it was bad news.

"It's an impressive weapon, Mr. Luthor," the Ultra Humanite spoke up. "But I'm at a loss to say what it does."

"This weapon has the ability to take down armies and bring entire villages to its knees," Lex responded.

Lex's words grabbed the attention of the various members of the Light. The White Queen was the first one to speak up.

"Well, you've cooked up extremely dangerous weapon, Mr. Luthor," the White Queen commented. "And as far as we know, you're the only one has access to it."

"Yes, I think we might have a concern, Mr. Luthor," Fisk said. "And when were you hoping to tell the Light about this plan?"

Savage looked into Lex's eyes.

"Well?"

Lex flew completely on the defensive.

"We all must have insurance. We already found one traitor within the Light. For all I know, there could be multiple traitors. How can we tell someone is not on the level?"

"I think trust is important within this group," Savage said. "But, you have given us us increasingly few reasons to trust you."

Lex took a step back. "The Light was supposed to be equals…..but I doubt it works way in the real world. There needs to be a strong leader, and there is no stronger leader than a Luthor."

Savage fists clenched. The super powered caveman looked at Lex with a nasty stare.

"Do not overestimate your importance, Mr. Luthor."

Lex looked extremely agitated and he walked down from the podium. He walked closer towards Savage and closed the gap between the two of them.

"I wouldn't dare overestimate my overimportance, but those who live in glass castles should not hurl stones," Lex said

"I recommend Lex has over the access codes to the device to the other members of the Light," The Ultra Humanite said. "Transparency is the key to all communication and….."

"Perhaps, Mr. Luthor has a good reason for keeping the device a secret," The White Queen said. She decided to go in for the kill. "After all, the Light has already proven to have one mole within it. Perhaps he intends to utilize it if he feels threatened."

"Then he would be the one betraying the Light," Savage said.

"Of course, I'm merely trying to play devil's advocate," Lex said.

The crashes of people falling in the next room broke the attention the Light. Savage got up and he saw his security guards down on the ground. One of them had a rather prominent sword wound and blood was dripping down from his mouth.

"The Daughter of the Demon has escaped," Savage said. He called for the other members of his security force. "She couldn't get far."

Lex scrambled in and gave the orders of the security force. "Do not let her leave, if she leaves, she will inform Potter. She will sink the plans of the entire Light."

The White Queen gave a small smile from the shadows. The other members of the Light scurried around, with the seeds of discontent being sewn in the Light. Nyssa played her role and the person under the Wrath mask played his role.

The wheels were falling out off of the Light bus, and they were about ready to make next great move.

* * *

><p>Harry, Karen, Helena, and Diana made their way up from the lowest levels. They were being lead down the tunnel, with Katrina feeding Harry information from the latest Light meeting when he rushed down the tunnel<p>

"So, what do you have to say about this, Lara?" Harry asked her.

Alura was the one who answered, because Lara was in a tad bit of shock with what she saw. "I wonder how Luthor got his hands on what is essentially a Kryptonian nuke. I wonder if he knows the dangerous power he holds."

"What kind of dangerous power are we talking about?" Diana asked. She was really getting some really bad vibes about all of this.

"We're talking about Earth shattering power," Alura said.

Alura's news put Karen on a huge amount of tension. She was having some really bad flash backs.

The signal allowed them to move. The grate of tunnel was pulled off and Nyssa poked her head out of the tunnel to them.

"So, everything went according to plan, then?" she asked. She was glad to use the Light's preferred go to catchphrase against them. It was oddly refreshing.

"I'm not sure if you nearly stabbing Luthor was part of our plan," Harry said.

"I wouldn't have taken a shot at him, if I didn't know I would be stopped," Nyssa said. "But given the circumstances, I don't think any of you would have complained."

Karen shook her head. Knowing what they knew now, they wished Nyssa did so.

"The private security force is on my heels, you need to get inside, quickly," Nyssa said.

"There's no need," Harry said. Nyssa raised her eyebrow. "I suggest you cover your ears."

"Right," Nyssa said, slipping ear plugs into her ears.

The private security force made their way down the hallway. Savage is leading the charge. A sonic pulse destroyed the wall nearest to them, and caused them to stagger.

Sara slipped inside, dressed as one of the other private security guards. She had been here for a long time, in fact, she was the one who slipped Nyssa the key and the weapons which allowed her to escape.

"I should have known it was you," Nyssa said.

"Planned, just like it's been since the night where Ra's has fallen," Sara said. "And now it's time for the Light to go down next."

Harry made his way up to the tunnel and he could see a rumbling next to him.

"So, I believe ….the White Queen mentioned the Light have amassed an army," Nyssa said. She prepared herself for a fight. "And some of them are the meteor mutants have been broken out of Belle Reve."

"Yes, I know," Harry said. "But they might have an army, but….I have a team."

Another explosion signaled the destruction of a wall. Kara flew out, knocking one of the meteor mutants in the face. An arrow whizzed in the air and caused an explosion.

"And for the record, I'm not too slow!" Whitney said. She bounced off of them one at a time, at a superfast level.

The Ultra Humanite looked on in absolute shock.

"The League and their young friends but….how?"

Luthor slipped out of the side exit of the Room. The Light had been caught with their pants down, and once again, he had been outsmarted. There was a traitor within the Light.

"Mercy, get the panic room ready," Lex said. The doors opened and he entered the elevator. He whipped out a remote control and started pressing in a code. "This should keep them distracted until they get into position."

The Team was dealing with the various meteor mutants, and the Ultra Humanite and Fisk were taken out. Wrath stepped out of the shadows and looked across from Harry, Karen, and Helena, who nodded.

"Luthor left, you better go after him."

Suddenly, several robotic drones came in and started firing at every hero. Artemis rolled in and fired an explosive arrow, which caused the drones to spiral out of control.

"Go!" Artemis yelled. "We'll hold them off."

Karen, Harry, and Helena made their way after Luthor. The tracking device Wrath slipped on him had not been compromised.

'_So is it just you, or are you getting one really unsettling Deja-Vu feeling?' _Karen asked. They left the Team and the League to fight against the drones and the meteor mutants.

It was kicking up to be a rumble, but they had only one thing on their mind.

'_Get to Luthor this time before he starts the Doomsday Device.'_

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on August 30<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	97. Let There Be Light Part Three

**Chapter Ninety Seven: Let There Be Light Part Three.**

* * *

><p>No matter how many times Harry thought it over in his mind, it couldn't be said enough. Things really did go full circle at the most interesting times. Harry, Helena, and Karen all slipped their way down the hallway.<p>

They hadn't really run into trouble for a long time, but they knew in the back of their minds trouble began to brew. The trouble only simmered worse from this point forward. The rest of the League was busy dealing with the Light and their minions, and they were doing rather well.

Karen could feel a supreme sense of Deja-Vu hit her body. It caused her to shiver, to put things bluntly. Harry reached around and grasped her hand. This only eased her tensions slightly.

"Okay, you just have to break down the door and grab Lex by the throat," Chloe said. "Seems simple enough, doesn't it?"

Helena and Harry seemed to be in a race to offer the rebuttal to Chloe's statement.

"With, Lex Luthor, nothing is so simple."

Chloe shook her head and responded with a long sigh.

"Wow, nearly simultaneous response. I should be proud, and scared, and just a little bit frightened as well, but….."

A loud buzzing cut Chloe off. Harry looked over his shoulder and he suddenly waited for something to happen. A couple of drones flashed in front of his face and they didn't look among the friendly sort either. Harry scanned them. There were motion detectors on them, so Harry made them detect some motion from the other direction.

The drones started to fire rapidly on the motion they detected from the other direction. allowed Karen to fire a concentrated blast of heat vision. The heat vision sliced through the drones and caused them to blow up.

Helena, not to be outdone, threw an explosive grenade. The grenade stuck on the back of one of the drones and shorted them out. A pulse jumped across, hitting the other three drones in rapid fire succession.

The attack prompted Harry to nod in an approving manner.

"Very nice."

"I don't think we should pat ourselves on the back just yet," Karen said

A ticking noise reminded them all how much was at stake. They reached over and pushed back a metal piece of equipment. Underneath the metal piece of equipment laid a bomb and it was about ready to go off.

Harry placed an energy bubble around the bomb, and caused the time to slow down. He teleported the bomb outside of the facility, slicing it in half in two separate areas, therefore preventing the bomb to go off.

Chloe broke her silence. "Do you think you're cheating just a little bit?"

"Not really, we are on a time table."

Harry's answer made a perfect amount of sense. He was outside of a long hallway and he was pretty sure Lex's lab was at the end of this hallway. He reached into his suit and flicked a marble out of it.

Several cutting lasers fired out. It was powerful enough to injure even the most super powered of beings.

Chloe whistled. "Well, Lex's security is really impressive, you got to give the man . I might not like his style, but you can't really deny he gets some results."

"Can you shut it down?" Harry asked.

Chloe scoffed at this question. "Can she shut it down, he says? Oh, boy, I think I can. I think this is going to be a cakewalk."

Chloe's calm statement was stopped and she frowned.

"Problem?" Helena asked.

Chloe took in a deep breath and hummed. "Yeah, just a little bit of a problem, I don't think I can do this, at least remotely."

Harry popped out of nowhere and popped back, his arm wrapped around Chloe. Chloe took a moment to shake her head and sighed when she settled down. It was really jarring for her to be brought here, back on the field.

"Okay, guess I'm going to work my magic here," Chloe said. She bit down on her lip. "Back on the field again, right where I want to be."

It went without saying the field was one of the last places in the world Chloe wanted to be right now, but she was here, and here she was. Time to make the most of a less than ideal situation. She started to get to work, and brought up the blue print of the building.

Again, she disagreed with a lot of what Lex did, but his style was another matter entirely. The sounds of battle could be heard above.

'_How is everything going up there?' _Harry asked.

Diana chimed in.

'_There's a few who won't go down without a fight, but the nature of most warriors.'_

'_Keep it up,' _Harry said.

He watched Chloe perform her magic. It was hard not to get amused by the smug look on her face. She turned around with a nice shit eating grin directed towards Harry. "Okay, Lex's security is good, but not the best. I think you'll find his security grids are down and you can knock down the front door."

"Excellent," Harry said. He would have kissed Chloe, but they were kind of on a time schedule here. He checked and sure enough, the laser grids had fallen, which left the path completely and fully open for them all.

It was time for him to rattle Lex's front door and see if anyone was home. The quartet crossed the barrier and was ready.

* * *

><p>Lex Luthor sat in a really large computer chair, and looked over monitors were all over the facility. The League had taken out the Light and their associates one at a time. He could not say he was surprised, but he was disappointed never the less. He casually drummed his fingers when he waited for something to happen.<p>

He made sure everything was ready. This world was his for the taking. He wasn't going to allow anyone to take it, under any circumstances. If the world rested in pieces, it would be his.

The weapon was ready to go. All he needed to do was say the world and everything would be at hand.

The door broke open. Lex spun around in his computer chair and the moment he did, Karen fired a blast of heat vision to burn him.

The image in the chair flickered and there was no Lex in the computer chair. The group heard a loud chuckling as they journeyed further into the room.

"Why don't you show yourself your coward?" Karen asked.

Lex scoffed in response. "I'm the coward? You are the one tried to burn me with your heat vision!"

Karen turned around and could see something step out of the shadows. Lex stepped out and he pushed a button. Purple and green battle armor went around him. He stared down the group and his lips curled into a smile.

"I find it funny this is how it ends, just like this," Lex said. He approached them. He pressed a button. "My weapon will go off in three minutes, there's nothing you can do to stop it."

Harry sent a blast of light towards Luthor. His suit repelled the attack. Lex raised an arm and fired a series of rockets from it.

Karen zipped in and nailed Lex in the chest. It backed him off, and Lex grabbed Karen around the back of the neck and threw her off to the side like she was a piece of garbage. He leaned down to taunt her.

"Surely, you can do better?"

She pursed her lips and started to blow. The super breath launched Lex high off the ground and it caused him to land hard onto the ground. Karen jumped up to her feet and went for a punch. He blocked it.

"The suit amplifies my strength," Lex said. He wrenched Karen's arm back. "I've been thinking about this for a long time, since the time you've defeated me. The last time should have been it, but I had plenty of time to think."

Karen grimace, but she stood back and allowed Helena to bring the point of her staff down onto the back of Lex's neck, which caused sparks to fly everywhere. She pulled the staff out of the back of Lex's neck and stepped back.

He spun around and grabbed her around the throat. He tried to squeeze the life out of her, forcing her to go down to her knees. She gasped underneath his grip, and escaped it suddenly.

Chloe was over towards the targeting computer. She closed her eyes and accessed the weapon. It shouldn't be too hard to access this weapon and hopefully shut it down. Providing of course people were kept off of her back.

Harry saw what Chloe was doing and decided to buy her all of the time necessary. He whizzed on in and nailed his enemy down across the back of the head.

Helena rolled over, and rolled a glass ball underneath Lex's feet. It exploded and disoriented him. Harry moved over and speared Lex through the plate glass windows.

Both of them fell down to the catwalk above. Lex slowly rose to his feet, and turned around. A series of rapid fire punches backed him off.

"Your little magic tricks don't work on this suit," Lex said. Harry grabbed onto the suit and it propelled him back.

Harry dangled over the catwalk and Lex casually punted him in the face. He was sent flying off, almost to his doom.

Lex turned around and Harry flew up. His head snapped around and Harry gave him a wide, shifty grin.

"Hello, genius, I can fly!"

He blew up the ground beneath Lex. Lex staggered back and nearly lost his balance. Harry propelled himself at Lex at a rapid fire rate and he connected with the man, flying him against the wall.

Lex activated a function on his suit and sent a burst of electricity firing towards Harry. Harry was launched back.

Karen caught him before he could connect against the wall. Harry was glad he sit such an obvious crash pad.

It took him a few seconds to recover from his disorientation, and they would need to. Lex fired every weapon on his suit at Harry at once.

'_How's it coming, Chloe,' _Harry thought.

Sweat was rolling down Chloe's face, but she grew more confident.

'_I've got it disabled, almost. It's pretty tricky, but….yes, I've got it disabled.'_

Lex paused and waited for the big bang he anticipated. Harry turned to Lex, the confusion on his face growing more rampant.

"You remember the last time where we did this dance, and the world was ending around us. Not this time, Lex!"

Karen decided to be the one to say it.

"It's over Lex!"

Lex prepared to detonate the power core in his suit. If he was going down, he was taking them all with him with a blaze of glory. "You think you've defeated me, well you've just delayed the inevitable!"

Harry thought Lex had another trick up his sleeve. He waited for the real explosion to hit suddenly. He saw Lex, frantically tapping at the release on the suit.

"Nothing's working," Lex muttered. "Why isn't anything working?"

Harry held up the power core in his hand. He had disabled it when Lex was busy firing off all of his weapons. It left everything opened.

Before Lex could react, there was a loud bang. A bullet nailed him right in the back of the neck. There used to be a shield there to protect him, but now it wasn't.

"Consider yourself disowned, Lex."

Another bullet impacted the back of his head. Lex slumped against the ground and a few more headshots rocked him.

Harry turned and saw Alexa standing there. She just proved one truth and was there was no kill was quite like overkill.

"Alexa?" Harry asked her.

Alexa had been waiting for this moment, apparently. She wanted to be the one to put a bullet in Lex's head.

Harry raised his eyebrow. She responded by giving him a smile and crossing the room to close the distance between the two of them. She took his hand into hers.

"I figured you shouldn't have any more blood on your hands than you really needed to," Alexa said. Harry raised his eyebrow in response. "Besides, this was a family issue which needed to be personally resolved, by me."

Harry wasn't going to argue with Alexa's words . He decided to chime in through the bond with everyone. _'So, is everyone okay?'_

'_We're good, now,' _Diana thought. _'Everyone is rounded up and taken down.'_

'_So, is this the end of the Light?' _Felicity asked.

Harry smiled. was the end of the Light. It was the culmination of an extremely long and convoluted plan. He had been playing chess with this group for years and now all of their resources belonged to him.

* * *

><p>The Kryptonian super weapon shut down. Claire looked around with the extended League and the team and the various associations. She kind of wished she had been more in the middle with all of .<p>

"So, do you think we can finally breathe?" Lois asked.

Lois's casual statement caused Claire's lips to curl into a grin. "I don't know, Lois, what do you think?"

"I think if there's something else bad coming along, I'll scream," Lois said.

She sat down and took a long drink. It had been a very long time since she had a chance to sit down and take a long deep breath. She brushed the hair out of her eyes and considered herself which went down today and recently as well.

Alex stretched when she hung out with Cassie and Rebecca. Seconds passed before Rebecca broke the silence.

"Taking down Generic Light Minion Number Three really wasn't as big of an accomplishment as taking down Lex Luthor."

Alex shook her head. "It wasn't, but, hey, we all played our parts."

Cassie pumped her fists into the air and she grinned. "Yeah, we really kicked some butt, we're awesome."

Cass turned up and eyed Cassie for a moment. "Remember, there's still training I've arranged."

Rebecca shook her head and hung her head. Alex reached over and patted her on the back of her neck. "She really won't let us get over how badly Gamora stomped us . She won't keep reminding us she's going to put us through the paces."

"Rightfully so," Gamora said. She turned up. She had finally recovered from her encounter with Harry. She was hanging out with Shayera, who had agreed to spar with her. "You were adequate opponents, but you weren't the best."

Rebecca raised her eyebrow and she slowly turned to Alex. "So, are you giving us a compliment, a complaint, a critique, or some combination of the three?"

Alex frowned and shook her head. With someone the likes of Gamora, she really didn't know. She wanted to find out all too soon, but she wanted to know.

She caught Harry's eye and she moved over towards him. He was talking with Jaime.

"The Light's resources were all collected," Harry said. "There's nothing stopping another group of villains from forming a similar group."

Jaime nodded, happy to give her expertise on the matter. "It could be a year from now, five, or someone could try something next week. But, it won't be with those resources, because we've acquired the spoils of our battle."

Alex interjected herself into the conversation.

"So what did you get out of the deal?"

Harry was only too happy to explain to her. "Some caches of weapons, some money, some jewels, a couple of properties. There was also another facility had the resources of Cadmus and it might have been used to create more clones in time."

"Oh, again, really?" Alex asked.

Harry smiled and looked at his younger counterpart.

"We believe Lex might have tried to make an army of backup bodies, to harvest the organs," Karen said. She had slipped over to join the conversation. "I think we've clarified this Lex is the same Lex we've been dealing with, since years ago."

Alexa had the body cremated and they were tracking down all of the LexCorp resources. It could be Lex had a few nasty surprises were still left, even after death. He was not the type of person who would just rest in peace. Harry hated to admit it, but Lex proved himself to be the crafty bastard.

Alex nodded in response. made a perfect amount of sense. "So, what about the weapon?"

"We had it dismantled," Harry said.

Alex frowned. "Seriously dismantled, or wink-wink, it was dismantled."

"What do you think?" Harry asked.

Alex pretty much had to draw her own conclusions. She slipped away from the group to go over to Thea and Artemis, who were talking to each other.

"I keep getting sucked back onto the field, despite the fact the last place I ever want to go."

Harry turned around and his full attention was put towards Chloe. She leaned against the wall of the Watchtower.

"Well, it wasn't like the last time you went out on the field," Harry said.

Chloe shook her head. "I don't think nothing could compare to the first time I went out on the field. was a nightmare and a half."

She shuddered to recall her last journey into field work. The times she went out on the field was something she would never forget in her entire life.

Felicity slipped her way into the conversation. "Oh, come on, it wasn't too bad, was it?"

"Oh, I say it was pretty bad," Chloe said.

Harry allowed Chloe and Felicity to chat amongst themselves. Kara pretty much pulled him over and decided to get his attention. Barbara and Donna were extremely amused by her antics and both of them struggled to keep their laughter out.

"So, I think we should take a vacation, after all of ," Kara said.

Barbara shook her head in response.

"Really, this is the point where you think we should have a vacation?"

"Well, it's a perfect time for a group trip to the island," Donna said.

Kara looked absolutely flustered.

"I said vacation Donna!"

Donna placed her hands on her hips and stared Kara down. "It is a vacation, Kara. Monsters, vengeful sorcerers, and evil gods only attack the island about forty seven point three percent of the time."

Everyone received a lot of amusement from the casual way Donna laid down the statistic. Especially from Connie who had slipped over to join the rest of the group.

"Is really down to specific of a statistic?" Connie asked. "And, I'm surprised the Amazons don't have better security, after all of the times someone attacked."

Donna gave her a huffy look and placed her hands on her hips. Kara placed her hand on the top of her head and slowly stroked her hair. Donna pouted and she turned around to glare at her.

Barbara ducked her head to avoid the laughter. She caught Harry's eye, but he looked extremely stoic. It was almost like he was all too used to the antics of the girls.

Then again, his head was grand central headquarters for snarky banter. He better be used to it.

"We have made some improvements on security," Diana said. "But the problem is, our enemies are going to get crafty. And gods get stirred up and stir people up just as much, because they get extremely bored."

"Fair enough," Kara said. "They wouldn't dare try anything with the entire extended League, I think…at least I hope."

"Well, there's always hope," Harry said. He swooped his arm around Kara and pulled her towards him.

Kara grinned, when she received a nice kiss from Harry. She let him off of the hook, mostly because there were a lot of girls really needed attention.

"Harry?"

Harry turned towards her and Mary looked towards him. A lock of her dark hair flipped down her face and she bit down on her lip. She looked rather nervous, to the fact she looked almost adorable with it.

"Yes, Mary," Harry said.

"Do, you think I can see you alone, for a second?" Mary asked.

Harry caught glimpse of Courtney, Stephanie, and Thea, all of them were grinning and Stephanie was mouthing for Mary to go for it.

Artemis caught sight of the three scheming girls and she walked towards them. She placed her hands on her hips. "What are you three up to?"

"Up too?" Stephanie asked. "We're not up to anything."

Artemis didn't buy their supposed acts of innocence for one moment. Especially with the three girls in question, who were obviously up to no good, and she should know because she was like at one time.

Thea linked eyes with Artemis and she offered a cheeky little shrug. "You know, you don't really believe , do you?"

"Not any more than people believed when I used to pull the innocent act," she said.

All three of the girls laughed, it was true. They were up to no good, but it was for Mary's good they were up to no good. made a fair amount more sense in their heads than it did in their minds.

The party rang on and it could prove to be an interesting and chaotic encounter, with many strong personalities there.

* * *

><p>Mary wondered if she was being a bit too soon with this. She thought she knew what she wanted, but she was rather nervous. Mary had the knowledge was necessary thanks to her gifts. In fact, she had more than enough knowledge.<p>

Actually applying knowledge, was another thing entirely. Mary waited for Harry to join her.

"Sorry about the wait ," Harry said. He slipped closer towards her. "I really hated keeping you waiting."

Mary waved her hand in response. "No, fine….I don't really mind."

She thought there were some things worth the wait and one of those things were worth the wait was standing before her. She reached forward and grabbed him by the hand.

"Are you going to actually get a break?" Mary asked.

She could hear Harry respond with a dry chuckle. He shook his head and cleared his thoughts.

"You know, I hope I can take a breath. There are a couple more things to do. The world is safe, from several things."

Mary had to agree with his assessment on the situation. She might be new on the Team, but she really thought she was finding her way in with the team.

"I'm glad I'm here, with you," Mary said. "You know, finding my purpose here. After my brother….I didn't think I could really become Captain Marvel."

Harry flipped her hair away from her face to look into her bright eyes. "You know, you had ability within you this whole time. All you needed was a little bit of confidence to push yourself forward."

"Confidence?" Mary asked. She chewed down on her lip quite cutely.

Harry nodded in confirmation. "Confidence, it what makes everyone push themselves to their limits and beyond."

Mary would have to agree. She needed a lot of confidence of what she was doing. Stephanie, Courtney, and Thea suggested she make the first move. To show she was grateful for what Harry did for her.

And she was grateful, but she kind of wanted to do it on her own terms. This was her terms though. She slipped closer towards him.

Harry was caught with a sweet kiss on the lips. She wrapped her arms around him and her moist lips went onto his.

He wrapped his arm around her waist and cupped her ass. He slipped his tongue into her mouth and she gasped. Their tongues dangled, and Harry pressed her against the wall.

"Well, I think this is the confidence you need."

Harry slipped away from her and then went back in for another kiss which she eagerly returned. caused a burning desire to go through her body.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on September 4<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	98. The Next Step

**Chapter Ninety-Eight: The Next Step.**

* * *

><p>The statement passing through his mind sounded like one of the more cliché things in the world, but Harry Potter thought it was fitting to note he was on top of the world. He was sitting in his office in the RAO tower, just looking out on the entire world.<p>

The entire world just recently started to settle after the invasion. It might be a few days before everyone had a chance to come to any kind of terms what happened. He placed down the documents on his desk and mentally went over everything which had transpired in the back of his mind. He had a few thoughts, a few ideas, and needless to say, many plans of what he expected to happen next.

'_So, you're feeling pretty good about yourself, aren't you?' _Karen thought.

Harry laughed, _'One could say as much , Karen. I am feeling pretty damn good about myself, but after all I've accomplished, why wouldn't I feel good about myself?'_

There was really no real way to argue with what Harry had accomplished. The fact of the matter was he had done so many great things over the years. He had scratched and clawed his way to the top of where he was and achieved heights were previously undreamt about.

He was mostly satisfied with what he had done. There was the matter of him looking to ahead with what was going to happen next.

He looked up and saw Faora standing in the office door. He smiled at her and motioned for her to come in. She did, crossing the office area and approaching him. She threw her arms around him and gave him an extremely passionate kiss, which Harry returned, eagerly.

She pulled away from him, a brisk smile going over her face when she backed off. "So?"

"Such a loaded question," Harry said. He motioned for her to sit down. "Would you care for something to drink?"

"Some of the harder stuff if you have it," Faora said. "Cassandra has finally made good on her promise and ensured the girls get the proper amount of training they need."

Harry thought the team could use a brushing up, and Cassandra would ensure a lot of the rougher edges were pressed out. Sometimes a bit insanely, mind you, but you couldn't fault the woman for offering some kind of results.

"I'll check up on their progress later," Harry said.

Faora laughed, when Harry pulled her a drink, "I'm sure you're going to need to check up on them and make sure they get treated for whatever little bumps and bruises they get when Cassandra works them over."

'_I'm only making sure they're on task,' _Cassandra said. _'Perhaps if Gamora can help me test them.'_

'_It would be an honor,' _Gamora said.

'_Oh, wonderful,' _Alex groaned.

' _Well you can see what happens when you let your skills get rusty,' _Harry warned her.

He actually thought the Team was really doing well with their teamwork aspect, but they neglected their one on one skills. Harry found working on those skills to be the highest priority with what they needed to work on.

Faora surveyed the entire situation, going over the last couple of months and what transpired in her head. There was only one solution came to her mind and she leaned towards Harry, a smile crossing her face.

"You look happy," Faora said.

"Well, you can't deny what I've accomplished so far," Harry said.

He stopped Thanos, nabbed himself some Infinity Stones, got himself a ship, also got himself a few women in the deal. He stopped the Light and shut down the Kryptonian doomsday weapon. Lex was currently out of the picture and he was busy acquiring the multitude of resources from the Light.

Faora pressed on with him.

'_With all you've done so far, one would think it might be time for you to take a vacation of some sort.'_

His statement caused Kara to jump in with an obvious snort.

'_One would think. They would be wrong, but one would think.'_

'_Vacation does sound enticing,' _Harry thought. And he was at least a couple years overdue for one. The problem was it was one big event after another, one big crisis after another. It caused a never ending loop of trouble for Harry.

He rose to his feet. A vacation did sound extremely enticing at this point. The problem was getting everything in line.

"I think the best thing is to think about what happens next," Harry said. Faora raised her eyebrow and Harry decided it would be best for him to clarify a certain point. "Earth is going to be a major player in the Galactic landscape within the next twenty to thirty years, or so. We're already getting attention. The wrong kind of attention, but attention never the less."

Faora raised a glass of wine to her lips and sipped it. She peered over it, her next question directed towards Harry.

"So?" she asked him. "What do you propose we do?"

Harry had plans and he most certainly had proposals. He also had a few business meetings within the next few days with people who he knew would want to get on the ground floor of this revolution was sparking throughout the universe.

He always fancied himself to be a forward thinker.

* * *

><p>Alexa Luthor thought about the last few days and the events which happened during them. She took care of a family dispute. Her supposed brother, who was really just an alternate universe male version of her, really did have some issues. She did share some of the same demons, but for some reason, she didn't let them get to her.<p>

"He was really messed up," Tess said.

" Being messed might be a consequence of sharing DNA with Lionel Luthor," Alexa said. Tess nodded. "We're all messed up in some way."

The two women were waiting for Harry. Kitty was moving down the hallway. It seemed like things had picked up ever since the invasion was over.

"Thanos did offer us one thing, though," Alexa said.

Tess raised her eyebrow, and nodded, "He gave us the ability to fortify the defenses around the Earth. We can never be too careful and we can never be too protected."

"So, he should be arriving at any moment?" Kitty asked.

"In fact, he's here right now."

Kitty jumped halfway up into the air and nearly fell through the floor. Harry grabbed her by the hand before she could completely fall through the floor and pulled her up towards him. Kitty's head snapped around towards Harry, giving him one of those looks through narrowed eyes, when Tess and Alexa looked extremely amused.

"I don't know how you keep sneaking up on people ," Kitty said. She folded her arms together. "I don't know how you keep sneaking up on people like you keep sneaking up on people."

Harry made sure she stood up straight.

"Best, to keep people on their toes," Harry said. He looked the brunette with a smile on his face and she frowned. "And you know you're kept on your toes, when I'm around, aren't you?"

Kitty nodded. She would have to say she would have to concede his point. Harry was pretty good at keeping her on her toes and keeping her head up. She relaxed a little bit, when he leaned forward and gave her a slight kiss on the cheek.

She decided thought a slight kiss on the cheek would not do, so she wrapped her arms around him and gave him an extremely passionate kiss on the lips. She practically drove her tongue into his mouth. She grinned when she backed up, a pretty pleased look on her face when she did so.

Kitty's actions caused Tess to respond with a light chuckle, "Well, you can't fault the girl for reaching out and pretty much getting what she wants."

She had to say, she was pretty glad Kitty was taking the initiative more and more. It seems like she had trained the girl well.

Harry turned his attention to Alexa, when Kitty finally decided it was a good idea to detach herself from his lips, "So, how are you feeling?"

Alexa frowned. She hated to be put on the spot like this, to be perfectly honest. Harry's gaze raked over her face. Kitty decided it was the best time to slip from the office, so she excused herself from the office.

"Hmm?" Harry asked her. "Or did I just ask a loaded question?"

"I did what I had to do," Alexa said. She touched her hand to the top of Harry's. "I thought for a moment Lionel had hidden a twin from me. But I dug deeper, and found out he didn't exist in his world. The paper trail he created to prove his existence was just a shame, a fraud. He tried to use the Luthor name for his own benefit."

Alexa took a moment to calm herself down, before she pressed on. Someone of her intelligence should not lose her train of thought too often. Unfortunately, it had been a long last couple of weeks for her.

"Granted, he was technically a Luthor," she said. Alexa sat down on the couch in her office. Harry joined them. Tess sat down next to him. Both Luthor sisters pressed themselves on either side of Harry and it was a fairly comfortable position for them to be in. "Not by blood in this world, but at the same time, he was technically a Luthor."

Harry personally wouldn't have claimed a relationship to the deranged Luthor himself, but then again, was just Harry himself.

"He should have been dead," Harry said.

Alexa shrugged, "Then consider me killing him correcting the universe's mistakes. And there are many mistakes out in the universe now, just like there always will be."

Alexa shifted herself against Harry. She placed her hands on his shoulder, and she was getting comfortable.

"You didn't come here for a pleasure meeting, did you?" Tess asked. She watched Harry shake his head and she smiled. "No, I thought not."

"Things are changing and our RAO-LuthorCorp-Queen organization is going," Harry said. "We're going global, and the next thing you know, we'll be going galactic. We will go galactic, it's time to start reaching out to other worlds and see what they have to offer."

Alexa's smile grew wider and her blue eyes met Harry's bright green eyes, "Well, you always have big plans."

Harry didn't say anything. He smiled. He always had big plans, the biggest, and he prepared to implement them, one day at a time. He reached into his briefcase and pulled out a folder, placing it on the coffee table.

Alexa whistled when she looked at it, "So this is big!"

"Bigger than big," Tess said. Harry smiled when he caught her grin out of the corner of her eye. "But it's entirely doable."

Tess's statement proved to be music to Harry's ears.

* * *

><p>Nyssa learned patience, at the foot of her father, for a very long time. You didn't live as long as Ra's Al Ghul did, without learning a thing or two about patience and Nyssa learned a whole lot about the entire thing.<p>

She had to admit, when Harry and Sara came to her with the plan, she wondered how they were going to pull this one off. She would have to play a role for an extremely long time and it wasn't one she relished playing. To feign a falling out with both of them, and then join up with the Light, the plan worked out rather nicely, didn't it?

She even kept it from her own sister, which was amazing. There were times where Talia sent assassins after her, to settle the score for the betrayal of the League. And Nyssa didn't fault her sister for , she would have done the same thing had the roles been reversed.

It did also have a wonderful side benefit of keeping her skills sharp and pretty much at ease. Nyssa thought she would have to thank Talia.

"So, are you glad you're back where you should be?"

Sara turned up and Nyssa smiled. The blonde crossed the room and threw her arms around Nyssa.

"What did I tell you about restraint?" Nyssa asked her.

Sara responded by kissing her. Nyssa relaxed underneath her embrace. It was really nice to be honest and she could be in this position forever, if she could manage it. The problem was nothing lasted forever.

"Restraint can be a good thing, but I can assure you there are some times where you really don't want me to have it, do you?" Sara asked. She pulled away with Nyssa and there was a slightly playful smile spread over her face. "So, how are you doing?"

Nyssa allowed herself a small smile.

"Like a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. You don't know how many times I wanted to stab Luthor."

"If I had to make an estimate, it might have been every time you were in the same room with him," Sara said.

"Good guess," Nyssa said. "And accurate as always, but you're always accurate. Which is a part of your charm."

"Glad to be of service," Sara said. Her lips curled into a smile. "So, what happens next?"

"I make my amends," Nyssa said. "Talia must have been furious about my betrayal."

"Harry warned both of us of the consequences," Sara said. "And he couldn't interject, if he didn't want to blow your cover or save face with the League."

Nyssa waved her hand, "I'm not blaming him. In fact, I'm glad. It did wonders in keeping my skills sharp until the point where I could return. I'm surprised Talia wasn't let in on the situation. Or was she and was she just sending assassins after me anyway, to maintain the illusion of betrayal with the rest of the League?"

Sara shrugged in response, "You're going to have to ask her. I think she could have gone either way. But then again, she's just like you in certain respects."

Nyssa smiled. The innuendo was not lost on her. The dark haired assassin girl was waiting for someone else to show up. He was never late, although he would have liked to make his grand entrance.

"He's going to be right behind me, I just know it," Nyssa said. She turned around, and saw there was no Harry Potter there. "Talk about very odd…..perhaps his habit of popping out….."

She spun around and saw Harry standing there. She drew her sword on an instinct, but Harry blocked her attack. He grabbed her arm, spun her and dipped her back, kissing her firmly on the lips.

He pulled back from her, leaving her breathless. Sara looked about ready to break into tears with the laughter she held back. She recalled her training and trained her face into an extremely calm expression.

"You had the right idea," Harry said. "But just the wrong way of doing it."

Nyssa thought one day she wouldn't get caught unaware by Harry just randomly popping out of nowhere like . Today didn't appear to be the day, as much as she was reluctant to admit it.

"Soon," she said. Harry raised his eyebrow. "Really soon, I swear."

"I wouldn't make promises you can't keep," Harry said. "I'd like to thank you for all of what you've done for the League, even if it's put you in peril."

Nyssa had a few questions for Harry. The most obvious one did seem like an ideal place for her to start.

"Did you tell Talia I re-entered the fold?" Nyssa asked. "Or did she know all ready and decided to send assassins after me, to maintain illusions?"

Harry grinned when he looked Nyssa in the eye. She hated when he played the vague game.

"For the record, she knows now," Harry informed her. "Otherwise, you wouldn't have made it to the RAO building, would you?"

"Yes, I imagine so," Nyssa said. "The real question is did she know all of this time?"

"We needed to make this convincing to all and I'm sure you getting targeted by Talia's faction of the League convinced people," Harry said.

Again, Nyssa hated when he made some logical arguments. It frustrated her beyond all belief.

"There was a bit of credibility, because at first, I was angered my father would choose you over me," Nyssa said. "I got over it, because you convinced me and more importantly Sara convinced me. But still….."

"Don't worry, I understand," Harry said. He stepped further into the room and was up against Nyssa. His lips came close to touching hers, but he pulled back.

Sara could tell Nyssa craved his touch, almost as much as she craved Sara's. Actually, it might have been a pretty close race.

"I think it's time to welcome her back to the fold," Sara said. "Now, she's a member of the League again, she's going to have to prove her loyalty."

"Anything," Nyssa said.

Harry had her backed against the wall. She was trapped there, without any place to go, not she minded being in this position. Harry had ability to keep someone up against the wall though.

"Anything can mean a lot of things, beloved," Harry said. He nibbled on the side of her neck and got a fair reaction from her. He pulled himself away from her. "A lot of things, but I know you realize ."

"Yes," Nyssa murmured. She could feel Harry's lips touch hers.

Harry's kiss sent jolts of electricity coursing down Nyssa's back and a whole lot of power course through her body and went between her legs.

She was allowed back into the center of the room and she felt something press against her back and some fingers ease their way between her legs.

* * *

><p>Alex collapsed, the wind knocked out of her lungs. She was actually in the best shape of all of the girls, which was why Cassandra worked her the hardest.<p>

It was actually her decision to wear the anti-power restraints. Rebecca dropped down with grace, thankfully for her not collapsing, although it was close.

"Well it wasn't too bad," Cassie said. She had a sunny tone to her voice and the combination of Rebecca and Alex angrily shushed her. "If you learned with Diana, you'd agree this isn't nearly as hard as it could be."

Cassandra gave them a slight smile.

"Then I better pick up some pointers from her"

Mary sat in the background. She seemed to be even less bothered by what happened than Cassie was and it was obvious to see why.

"So, you took our advice," Stephanie said. She looked Mary straight in the eye.

Even Alex perked up. She was looking at Stephanie, Courtney, and Thea.

"I thought the three of you were up to no good at the party!"

"Oh, like you would have had any room to talk," Thea said.

Thea's words caused Alex to shut her eyes and smile. Alex had to say she was guilty as charged and the look on Thea's face indicated she knew.

"So, you're part of the team proper?" Thea asked. Mary could barely keep the grin off of her face. Thea couldn't blame her. Her first time with Harry, she looked like she had been doused with Joker toxin as well. "So, how was it?"

"Yes, details, all of the dirty details, we must have them," Courtney said. She started to bounce up and down, but she could feel her back was aching.

"Well, you did something stupid there."

Rebecca was glad she had some of the training from hell she did.

"It was….pretty marvelous," Mary said.

Mary's words caused a lot of the girls to groan. Mary seemed confused. Why would they be groaning about what she sid?"

"Oh, yes, marvelous one of the many ways to describe it," Kori said. "I can't wait until it is my turn again to kneel before him and have him pleasure me in all of the carnal ways."

"There's a pretty long line, Kori," Stephanie said.

"Thankfully, he can split himself into hard light hologram copies," Thea said. She smiled knowingly. "Emphasis on the hard."

"Great for multi-tasking," Alex said. "Even with just one girl, it's great for multi-tasking."

Cassie suddenly realized what she meant. She shook her head and she couldn't believe Alex went there, but on the other hand, she could believe Alex went there. Her cheeks became flushed when she ducked her head.

"Oh, you mean he can do the gang-banging by himself," Kori said.

Cassie's ears went read at the casual way Kori said this. She reminded herself of how liberated a society Kori came from.

"Break time is over," Cass said.

"Oh, good!" Kori yelled.

The Princess thought they took a break for too long and her skills were pretty rusty.

There was some grumbling from the other girls. The finer details of Mary's misadventures with Harry would have to wait.

"You know, just because we have access to Lazarus Pits, doesn't mean you have to kill us," Thea said.

The Queen heiress was rather limber, but sore at the same time.

X-X-X

Katrina oversaw the unloading of a few more crates off of the back of a truck. They were cleaning out the Light stronghold. Her role as the White Queen allowed her to get a mostly full inventory and with the information on sight, she was filling in the blanks.

Galatea and Divine walked away from the back of the truck. There was a large crate in their hand.

"Put it down here, I want to check to see if everything is there," Katrina said. She leaned down and opened up the crate. "Good we got this when we did, we wouldn't want this to fall into the wrong hands."

"I think these crates might be the last of it," Galatea said.

For their sakes, she hoped Galatea was right. She didn't want to keep running around and keep looking for bits of technology. Leaving technology in the wild always ended up being a bit of a problem.

Some of it could be destroyed, while other bits were extremely useful. There were a few hard drives with lost data they acquired. As far as Katrina could tell, the Light hadn't had a chance to decipher it just yet.

Thankfully, she would have a chance to look over later. They had all of the resources.

She secured them in a room. There were stacks of boxes. Katrina held the tablet up to her cheek and mentally did a check through. Sure enough, everything was in order and they could move on.

"Let's go," she said.

Galatea and Divine followed her. The three of them slipped into an elevator. The elevator rose them up to the top floor.

They were on the top floor, to where Katrina kept an office/luxury suite, for her business as the White Queen. A title one of Harry's many business associates gave her full blessing to take, for purposes of tricking the Light.

She opened the door and wasn't surprised to see Harry sitting on the couch. There was a bottle of wine and several glasses poured for them.

"I figured it has been a long day for all of you, and you could use a pick me up."

Katrina grinned at Harry's presence.

"You figured right. We've been on a Light scavenger hunt, before any of their former associates, if they're still out there, can pick up the pieces. The last time one of the Light's little toys got away from us….."

"STARRO lived," Harry said. He hated to bring up the past when the future lingered. "Although, I don't think the Light played with anything dangerous again."

"I would like to say they learned their lesson," Katrina said. Her frown deepened and she sighed. "But, give who the Light was, I doubt they would ever learn their lesson."

Galatea lifted up the glass of wine she had and sighed.

"There's something I'd drink to."

"I figured you might," Divine said. She was right there next to her sister.

What was going to happen next, they honestly didn't know. The four of them sat together and drank wine, making some small talk. Throughout the conversation, Katrina decided to give Galatea and Divine more room on the couch, by pushing herself onto Harry's lap.

She turned towards him, placing her hand firmly on his shoulder.

"So, the world is pretty much yours to do what you want to it?"

"I think RAO has potential to go much beyond one simple world," Harry said. He leaned closer towards her and the smile crossed his face. "Wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes, I would," Katrina said. Her lips came close to brushing against his, but she pulled back at the last possible second. "Galactic, a pretty good place to be. It's amazing….the world I left was amazing in its own way, but flawed. You have a chance to build a perfect world and a perfect universe."

Harry thought the world was pretty good in its own way. Perfect might not be the best way to describe the world.

"I thanked Nyssa for the role she played, and I think it's best I thank you for the role you play," Harry said. He spun Katrina around where she was straddling his lap and he slid his hand up her leg. "It's only fair."

Katrina agreed. She kissed Harry, grinding against his crotch.

His hands slowly removed her blouse and worked on the rest of her clothes. She could feel her skin heat up when Harry exposed more of it.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued on September 6<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	99. The Circle Continues

**Chapter Ninety-Nine: The Circle Continues.**

* * *

><p>Things had gotten back to normal, or at least as normal as they would have been in this crazy world people live in. It had nearly been a month and the insanity had just finally tapered down.<p>

Well for the most part. Random bouts of insanity occurred an alarming rate.

One of the places where the insanity was still at the highest was Gotham City. For a few days, thing had gotten eerily calm and when things had gotten calm in Gotham City, you knew an alien invasion happened. There could be nothing other than alien intervention could cause the kind of chaos Gotham City was known for to taper off.

A loud explosion went off. A very familiar figure stepped out of the mists. Dressed in purple with a wide grin on his face and wild green hair, the Joker was back in town and he was ready to bring his own unique brand of chaos back to Gotham City.

"Oh boy, this looks like a chaotic night on the old town!" The Joker yelled. He made his way over towards the guards who were bound and gagged. He cocked his head and looked at them, "I'd say stick around boys, but you're just a little bit tied up at the moment, aren't you? So you aren't going anywhere?"

The Joker's neck cranked and he could see something in the shadows. caused his grin to go even more wider, if was even possible. He started to chortle in response.

"Finally!" the Joker cheered.

Batman dropped down right in front of him. The Joker bent over and started to laugh like a mad man. He walked over and placed his hand on Batman's shoulders, "You have no idea how dull this city has been without you. I'll never complain about your sour puss again."

There was a long pause, and the Joker added, "Well, aren't you going to give me a hug?"

Needless to say, Batman wasn't going to give Joker a hug. The Dark Knight swooped in for the finishing blow. One huge uppercut sent Joker flying. He crashed onto a pile of garbage. He hit hard and grimaced when he tried to sit up in the pile of rubble.

The Joker lifted his head up and he laughed, when Batman pulled him up to his feet. The laughter continued as Batman shook the Joker like a rag doll.

"It's good to have you back!"

Batman threw the Joker halfway across the docks and he landed like a ping pong ball. The Joker grunted when he tried to pull himself back up.

"You know, this is the spot where I died last time," Joker said. He crawled over. "No, it was here….no wait it was here….."

Batman plowed Joker in the face with an uppercut punch and knocked him on his back. He bound the clown and the sirens of the GCPD were heard. Their arrival was Batman's cue to slip off into the shadows as quickly as he had arrived.

The police car pulled up and Harvey Bullock exited the car, with a few of Gotham's finest. He stepped forward and bent down.

"Well, well, well," Harvey said. "I hear a disturbance and it's you…you're back in town. Must be Christmas, when I get to bring you in, Joker?"

The Joker came to with one bleary eye, tied up and pretty much nowhere to go, "Take me to Arkham, it's just another holiday. But he's back, the Batman's back in town and things are going to get much more amusing around here."

Bullock really didn't take the Joker seriously at first. For one thing, it was the Joker. For another thing, there had been dozens of Batman sightings ever since he had left, and all of have been a lot of nutcase pretenders.

"Yeah, yeah, chuckles, whatever you say," Bullock said, hauling the Joker to his feet. The clown didn't put up much of a fight. Bullock pushed him into the back of a squad car and had him there, "Time for you to head back to the looney bin….be careful with this one boys, he's full of tricks."

The Joker laughed in response.

"No, just full of treats, detective!"

It was obvious the Joker was riling him up and surprisingly enough, Bullock wasn't going to be one would rise to this bait. For once, the corpulent detective showed some decorum.

"Look," one of the officers said.

Bullock had taken a donut just now, but the donut dropped out of his mouth when he caught a glimpse of the figure who glided across the night sky of Gotham City. He could not believe what he saw, but yet, he had to.

"Son of a bitch, he's back," Bullock yelled.

Batman disappeared into the night as quickly as he appeared. It had been a long time and he didn't leave his city unprotected when he left.

At the same time, there was no one who he trusted with the mission of protecting his city better than himself. And with those thoughts, Batman disappeared into the shadows, preparing for the next time.

Crime never slept and neither did Batman.

"So, it's good to be back?" Huntress asked.

Batman didn't say anything at first.

"Talkative as always," Huntress said.

"It's not good to be back," Batman replied. "I need to be back.

With those words out of the way, Batman disappeared

* * *

><p>"The future is now for the RAO Corporation, who are increasing their company to even higher heights. Doctor Harry Potter has gone on record in stating he intends to continue and complete the global expansion, before he heads off into the stars and goes into higher heights."<p>

Cat Grant stood outside of the RAO building in Metropolis and a big smile crossed over her face. It was hard not to smile given who she was talking about.

"There are a fair share of skeptics who have no idea how Harry Potter is going to pull this off, "Cat said. She took a deep breath and added, "But despite how many skeptics there are, there are an equal number of people who think this will do a wonderful job in raising the world's profile. After the recent attacks on Earth, a more favorable position in the galactic community would be great and we could have allies. And there are many yet….who have been very critical about aligning ourselves with any aliens."

The League was watching this broadcast.

"There will always be critics for one, unfortunately," Claire replied.

She had known all about the critics ever since she became Superwoman. They would continue to exist for all time.

"Let the critics be critical," Lois said. "They wouldn't know what to do if they didn't hear the sound of their own voices just ranting about everything."

"Wow," Chloe said. "Someone's in a mood."

"Well, it's the truth!" Lois protested. The reporter folded her arms over her chest. She gave Chloe a side long glance, almost as if she dared her to argue with everything.

She was up for review from the Guardians. Granted, the review was set even before this entire mess with Thanos went down, but the timing of it still made Lois pretty nervous beyond all belief.

"So, is this about your review with the Guardians?" Carol asked.

"Yes, well no, well….mostly," Lois said. She was going to take the heat for the other Lantern Corp women being brought into this mess.

It did show something about their character they were willing to fight alongside her and not let her take the rap alone. It was Lois's idea, so she should be responsible enough to take any rap on her own.

"Well, you can always quit," Carol informed her. "I think you've proved you can handle yourself without the ring."

It was always tempting to tell the boss where to shove it, especially when your bosses were the guardians.

"Not sure if I want to quit," Lois said. "I'd much rather spite them for being so good they can't afford to fire me."

Claire smiled. She wasn't going to say anything, but it was just like Lois to be spiteful. She honestly was really proud with how much Lois was sticking it to the man, even though those men had big heads.

could have been taken the wrong way.

"So, what do you think Harry has in store?" Shayera asked.

Dinah smiled and shook her head, "The one thing about Harry is, you never quite know what he has up his sleeve, but it's going to be something with the ability to change the world."

The RAO Corporation really grew. Now LexCorp had been forcefully folded into it and they acquired all of the assets Lex drummed up, things were going to get even bigger. They could hardly wait.

"He is always amazing," Lois said. "Just hopefully he never lets it get to his head too much, because we'd all be in big trouble."

There was much laughing because of Lois's statement. Everyone was in pretty good spirits. The Light had fallen, Thanos was gone, and they were pretty much in a period of calm.

The string of victories made them wonder what form the next storm would take. There was always something to be honest.

Diana popped her head into the room. She decided to join the rest of the team.

"Just got back from Themscrycira," Diana said.

"I'm glad you enjoyed your vacation," Claire told her.

Diana smiled and nodded, "I did, but I'm really hoping to get back on track with things."

"You know, you're not the only one," Lois said.

She didn't want to say she hoped for something bad to happen, because she never hoped for something bad to happen.

"We will have the latest news on Harry Potter's press conference and how it will shape the agenda of the RAO Corporation going forward," Cat concluded. "More news as we get it, and you'll hear it here first. The press conference will take place at three this afternoon and I will be back here with the news. This is Cat Grant, signing off."

* * *

><p>Jaime waited for Harry to show up. Helena and Karen turned up and the man who ran the RAO Corporation was waiting to make a grand entrance.<p>

"He'll be here," Helena said, answering Jaime's unasked question. "The press conference doesn't start until three and it's only about ten minutes till."

Jaime wasn't worried, given it was Harry. being said, she could see the members of the press buzzing. Security was amped up for a reason should be obvious in a matter of moments when she showed up.

"If Harry pulls this one off, this coup really cements him as a genius," Lana said, when she showed up on the stage.

"And here I thought I was already a genius, Lana. Oh well, I guess I'm going to have to prove myself more next time."

Lana spun around and saw Harry standing there. To her credit, she didn't leap in the air in surprise like a lot of girls did in her spot. She approached Harry and threw her arms around him, giving him an extremely intense kiss in response.

"I take it you've been working hard," Harry said.

Lana grinned, keeping her arms wrapped around Harry, savoring the moment. She got more than a few death glares for hogging Harry's attention, "Well, you know me, always working hard. Maybe sometime I can get worked hard by you."

"Maybe, if you play your cards right," Harry said. He pulled away from her. He turned towards Jaime, "So?"

"We're ready to go when you are, sir," Jaime said. She smiled when she wrapped her arm around her. "This is a big step we're taking, you know."

"I know," Harry said. "And I'm glad."

They had more than their fair share of allies in this brave new world they were trying to create. One of them showed up right now, even though she stayed in the background.

The press was assembled, because this was a press conference. Harry approached the microphone and did a few last minute checks.

It was time for Harry to jump forward and knock this one out of the park. He cleared his throat and it was pretty much time for everyone to go forward and see what they could do next.

"Thank you for coming," Harry declared. Their full attention was on him and was the way it should be. He had a really commanding presence which pretty much got everyone's attention firmly on him. "The RAO Corporation is always interested in promoting the future. So far, we've done many great things, with us and our partners throughout the world."

The press conference wasn't going to be a press conference without some random clapping. Harry waited for them to all get it out of their system, before he continued.

"Over the next few months, we will be working on some amazing things," Harry continued. "Many of those things will bring forward communication to an entirely new level. The Red Sun, which I'm sure many of you have, is the tip of the iceberg. We're going to increase communications throughout the planet and have one brave new world, and hopefully the universe follows."

Once again, Harry had to stop and allow the applause to sink in. When it did and only when it did, could be continue his speech. He smiled when everyone stopped applauding.

"For a long time, we have feared our neighbors to the stars. And it's one of humanity's greatest failings. We are an extremely pivotal point in our development. We need to expand our horizons to a brave new set of worlds, with new goals, and new promises. And soon, humanity will prove we're not some primitive species to be enslaved or studied. We have just as much promise as many of the races think themselves to be superior to us."

There was no question about it; many had listened to Harry's words. They might not be to their liking, but many listened to their words.

"And now, I'd like to introduce you to an old friend of mine and one of the people who was responsible for helping the RAO Corporation grow to the heights which you see it at today. And without her, there would be no RAO Corporation to speak of. Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States of America, Martha Kent!"

President Martha Kent made her way to the stage. There was something about title which seemed so wrong to her half of the time. She had quite the mess to clean up with the Presidents came before her, but she made the most of it. She was the first third party candidate ever to become the President and it wasn't easy, but she proved it could be done.

"Thank you, Doctor Potter," Martha said. "My first term as President so far has always been about progressed. The United States economy was not in the best of states when I got here, the unemployment rates were skewed, and the health care system was worse off than ever before. It took a lot of hard work and dedication to fix those problems, but many of those problems have been fixed. And I feel like the world is a much better place."

Martha paused and she got an applause even louder than Harry's. She was still humbled by this.

'_My mother looks embarrassed,' _Claire thought. She chuckled at the thought.

"Doctor Potter has suggested we reach out and work with some of the alien races out there," Martha said. "A team of individuals funded by Harry Potter and at no expense to the taxpayers of the United States have singled out several alien races. While many of the world leaders are a bit nervous about this fact, one thing can't be denied is having allies will allow Earth to be much secure and there will be much to be learned from her new alien associates and perhaps there will be much learned from us as well."

Harry really hoped people would get on board with this idea. There were a few more points, but this new Galactic union idea was a big one. Harry hoped to convince a lot of the world leaders to form under a more unified government across the globe, but such lofty plans might be pushing things.

'_Always plan for the longer term.'_

* * *

><p>The press conference was over and there was no doubt in Harry's mind the people who were there would be looking over things.<p>

"So, it's funny when Lex is gone for good, we really can take the next step."

Harry turned around. Karen crossed the room and grinned at her husband. Helena would be joining them in a couple of moments and it had been a long time since the three of them had been alone.

"Martha did a really good job out there," Karen said. "I mean, she does have her doubters."

"I'm not one of them," Harry said.

Karen smiled and placed her hand on Harry's shoulder, "And neither am I."

Harry snickered. No one expected Martha Kent to find her way into the highest office in the land. She didn't either. Granted, she became Senator and then from there, she decided to run for President when Harry convinced her to do so.

Given the mess the last couple of Presidents left the country in, Martha did have an uphill battle.

Harry's plan was to challenge people's ideas about the two-party system dominated this country for a long time. He hoped to eliminate the idea of political parties all together, because people too often looked at the political party and not the merits of the people involved. The two parties were at each other's throat so much, Martha jumped in. It helped a lot Harry endorsed her publically and he was beloved by the younger voters, so obviously they would get behind anyone he would get behind.

"She's doing a good job, regardless of any kind of intervention," Karen said. "And we know she's all in with your plan."

Harry figured it would be best to implement this plan when Martha was halfway through her second term and accomplished a lot. If he had done it earlier, he might have sank her Presidency and he didn't want to do to her.

"Now, she has the political capital involved, she can go in all the way," Helena said. She turned up with them.

She nudged Karen out of the way and Karen's lips curled into an obvious pout. Helena looked over her shoulder, her hair falling rather nicely. She leaned towards Harry and gave him a soft kiss on the lips.

Karen, not to be outdone, pushed Harry out of the way. She wrapped her arms and legs around Harry and gave him an extremely intense kiss. She shoved her tongue down his throat, pressed her breasts against his chest, and grinded her pelvis against his crotch, creating an immense amount of friction between the two of them.

She pulled back and smiled. She traced her finger down Harry's chest and gave him a sultry grin in response.

"This is how it's done," Karen said.

Helena raised her eyebrow, and turned Karen around. The woman gasped when Helena looked her in the eyes, "Why don't you show me how it's done?"

Karen grabbed Helena and yanked her into a smoldering kiss. Helena returned. The two women swapped salvia and ran their hands up over each other's body. Clothes got slightly rumbled in the process.

Harry watched this and needless to say things got pretty heated. Not to mention, despite his willpower, his pants got constrained. Karen backed Helena against the wall and slowly suckled on the pulse point of her neck. caused her to gasp in pleasure when Karen suckled the side of her neck, licking and sucking on her pulse point.

Her nipples grew insanely hard and she pulled back from her. Karen turned around and caught a glimpse of Harry.

"Oh, I know this is mine," she said, drawing her tongue around her lips.

"If you can take it."

Karen grabbed the bulge and squeezed it, "Oh, I do want it honey."

* * *

><p>It had been a long time since Harry had left his world, broken and powerless. It proved what did not kill you, did in fact make you stronger. One fact no one could deny, Harry included.<p>

Now, he achieved a global presence and there were a lot of things Harry had yet to accomplish. And he would accomplish it all in due time.

Leading Earth to an alliance with several other planets would be the first step for Harry's dream of a Galactic confederation. He was not going to take over the universe by force, but he was going to do it by forging alliances.

The restoration of Kandor and the establishment of New Krypton was just the tip of the iceberg as far as Harry was concerned. There were a lot of other things for Harry to do.

There were many untapped planets and on them, there were many other untapped women. Harry knew this and the fact he knew this made him smile.

Time would judge where he wanted to go next, but one thing was for sure. He was ready for whatever came next.

It would be interesting to see how Harry was judged a thousand years from now or so.

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Concluded on September 8<strong>**th****, 2015. **


	100. The Legend of Harry Potter

**Chapter One Hundred: The Legend of Harry Potter. **

* * *

><p>A large statue of Harry Potter towered over everyone who saw it. A tour guide led a group downtown through the 31st century version of Metropolis. Everyone was looking around and taking a look at the statue. It was larger than life.<p>

"And here we have a statue of one of the greatest heroes in the world for many centuries, Har-Zod, better known as Harry Potter, among other names," the tour guide commented. He sounded rather detached, but it was a living and one he had to make.

He gave a long pause for the ooohs and the awws of the people in the crowd. He got a lot of those oohs and aws when dealing with Harry Potter.

"One day, we might know what happened to this great hero," the tour guide said.

There was a long time where the RAO Corporation building, still preserved, stood in the middle of Metropolis, as a monument for the great work Harry Potter accomplished. Everyone who was anyone acknowledged the fact and more importantly celebrated it. The excitement grew when the tour guide continued to speak.

"We know one thing," he said. He gave a long pause for dramatic effect and took a long sip of his coffee. "This young man will forever have inspired several generations of heroes and he has brought the people of Earth closer to the people of the galaxies."

It was obvious all of what Harry Potter accomplished couldn't be described by mere words. Thanks to him and his work, Earth had become a meeting place for all kinds of alien races. The galactic confederation had over thirty alien races joining it and they had worked as a support network for everyone around there.

A red haired female slipped inside of the RAO Corporation, which looked like a museum now. There was a large case and she gasped.

"Wow, is that what I think it is?" she asked.

The girl stood there, with bright blue eyes. Her red hair came down to her shoulders. Her two friends approached her. One of them had blonde hair and bright blue eyes, with a white suit fitting nicely against her features. The other girl was dark haired, with violet eyes, and she had a more innocent vibe.

"It's his original suit," the blonde commented in an excited voice.

The dark haired girl let out a soft "wow" and to be honest, she wasn't really alone to be honest.

The redhaired girl looked at the suit, with adoration in her eyes.

"It was said to be pretty efficient, given it was just made in a cave with a box of scraps."

"Are you sure you're not mistaking with someone else, Ayla?" the blonde asked.

"No, Imra, I'm pretty sure I know Har-Zod," Ayla said. She placed her hand on her hips and asked ,"Don't you?"

The blonde, Imra, shook her head and answered, "I don't think I would hear the end of…. an original Red Sun, Model One, isn't it?"

"Model Seven was the height of it, I think,' Ayla said.

"Came out in the year 2206," Imra said. She gave a smile, and pure and wonderful nostalgia went over her body.

There was a snap of a picture and they realized they were missing their dark haired friend. They moved outside and she was standing in front of the statue of Harry Potter.

"Tinya?" Imra asked her.

"What?" Tinya asked.

"What are you doing?" Imra asked.

Tinya gave her a look indicated she couldn't believe Imra asked such an obvious question. She hopped down from beside the statue, holding her Red Sun Model 19, the last one ever released before Har-Zod and company seemingly vanished from the face of the Earth.

"I'm taking a selfie, with the statue," Tinya said.

Imra threw her head back. There was a part of her didn't believe this, but there was another part of her believed Tinya was doing what she did.

"Are you really?" Imra asked.

Ayla spoke up, "And here I thought selfies were a fad that went out a thousand years ago."

"Well, some people are bringing it back," Tinya said, placing her hands on her hips. "Besides, wouldn't you like to get photographed with Har-Zod?"

"Technically, it's his statue," Imra reminded her. The pouty look on Tinya's face was almost adorable.

She made her way over and wrapped her arms around Tinya's waist. Tinya continued to speak in a soft voice.

"It really would have been interesting to meet him, at his peak. I mean, we've got….we've got the records, but isn't the same. A lot of the video reels before the 30th century have been lost."

"And not to mention the entire Internet being wiped out in the year 2760," Ayla added.

"So much porn lost, one of the greatest tragedies in the universe," Imra said. It was hard to tell whether or not she was serious or not.

Tinya laughed, and smiled, "Well, you really can't…..you really can't deny we built something better, and it was off one of the projects Harry started before he disappeared. The Galactic web, really is the best it's ever been."

"Yes, and only instead of pedophiles, it's evil alien cannibals who wish to the devour the organs of small children," Ayla said.

Tinya pulled a face and she looked at her friend, "Really, Ayla?"

"Hey, we get all of those lectures of the dangers, so it likely would have happened, sometime," she replied.

The three of them continued the tour. There were some of the greatest achievements in the world.

"STARRO!" Tinya yelled, jumping back.

"Relax, it's just a model," Imra said. She placed her hand on her neck.

"Guess you're right," she said. She slumped her shoulders in embarrassment.

They didn't have the real STARRO stuffed and mounted. The real STARRO being stuffed and mounted would be extremely cool. Really weird, but extremely cool, and it would be kind of creepy.

"Bottled city of Kandor," Imra said, before the other two girls could say it.

"So, obviously a model," Tinya said. She blinked and she added in response, "A good model though, not a bad one."

"Har likely restored the city and duplicated it," Imra said.

"He would find a bottled city where most of the population is women," Ayla said.

She didn't say her wordsas a complaint, rather pride. The trio of girls made their way down the hallway and they looked around. There were a lot of absurd exhibits all around and some weapons.

The disclaimer these weren't all the real weapons was something reminded them how much things change. The very annoying 20th/21st century practice of placing items in a museum which could be used to take over the world or even the universe had ended and thank heavens for .

"There's the amplifier the Siren used to try and take control of the Amazons!" Tinya yelled. She was in geek even.

"Yes, and when she turned it on Har-Zod, she was put underneath his control and humbled," Ayla said.

And they all knew being humbled really meant having immense amount of anal sex.

"You know, it would be amazing if….well if we could continue Har-Zod's legacy."

"He was something, wasn't he?"

They turned around and saw a young man approach them. He must have been one of the museum security guards. He had dark hair and blue eyes when he approached them.

"What do you think happened to him?" Ayla asked.

Imra nudged her, "Sorry, she's….."

"Well, we're not sure what happened to him," the security guard commented. "Some say he vanished. Others said he figured with the Earth in good hands, he moved to New Krypton with his many wives. He may come back and visit the Earth under numerous guises from time to time. You never quite know when he's talking to you."

"I'm sure he's inspired many though," Ayla said. She sounded awe struck and excited.

The security guard chuckled, "Inspiration can be found anywhere, if you know where to look for it. All you have to do is reach out and seize the moment."

He pointed over to a display case and there was a ring laying in it.

"One of his last inventions before he left….no one is sure what happened to the real thing, but it has the ability to travel through time and space."

Ayla knew about this invention. Her brother had been trying to obsessively recreate it. He had dubbed it the Legion ring. The problem was it could only flash him a few seconds into the past or the future. The quantum processor didn't function like it should have.

There was something missing he couldn't figure out.

The three girls were left to look at the final invention of a great man. They walked off.

The security guard stepped into the shadows. His blue eyes shifted into green when they had moved onto the next exhibit.

"See you in the future, ladies. And I'll be meeting you for the first time, really soon. Don't worry, you'll figure out how to get the quantum processor to work. "

The thing about Harry Potter was he was closer than you could think, always, whether it be in the past, or the present, or the future.

Or in another life.

* * *

><p><strong>End. <strong>


End file.
